Five last-minute Halloween costumes for kids

Tomorrow is Halloween, which means if your kiddo still doesn't have a costume, there is likely an alarm bell ringing in your happy home. We're here to help. Here are five quick and easy (and cheap!) costumes that you can likely assemble with stuff laying around your house (or with a quick trip to the hardware store). In the slideshow above, we cover the bases from robot to paper doll, with a stop-off at hot-air balloon. Because, why not? It's Halloween. And if you've already made your costume, don't forget to send us a pic to win a cool prize!

Above, you'll see the costume I made for my son in about a half hour (not counting small tweaks). The robot body is made from a pull-up box flipped inside out and re-fastened with duct tape. And i ran to the hardware store to pick up a strip of reflective tape and a package of small reflectors to function as buttons. I also picked up a small tap light (it runs on two AA batteries, and lights up when pressed) and duct-taped it to the front, for authenticity's sake. I also ran a couple of strips of red duct tape up the forearms of his shirt, to simulate lasers. That's exactly how lasers work, right?

I did splurge a little bit and buy silver leggings at American Apparel. And it's still kind of hard for me to believe that I just wrote that sentence. But, the robot legs kind of make the costume. (The trash barrel, wasn't my idea, but my son declared his robot needed a helmet. Be advised).

Easy robot costume:

• $2 Eight-pack mini-reflectors
• $4 Silver reflective tape
• $1 tap light
• ($21 for the silver leggings, but let's not talk about that)

Here are some more ideas to get you on your way: