Lean, green, and fit to scream

What's scarier than a not having a costume idea yet for Halloween? How about the fact that most costumes found in stores are made of junky plastics and non-recyclable stuff you won't be caught (un)dead in next year.

This year, reduce, reuse, and recycle your way to a greener Halloween. We found these sites helpful.

The Dollar Stretcher lists nearly a dozen classic costumes that you can make from sheets, old clothes, makeup, and accessories. Black stretch pants are the basis for a ninja. Sheets become angels and ghosts. You get the picture.

There are several toddler-friendly paper-and-glue-gun ideas to be explored at Paradise Found, the "ramblings" of "an eclectic home-educator" living in Hawaii. Our favorite: an adorable yellow duckie costume made out of paper plates. Unlike store-bought plastic, paper can be recycled after the holiday. This same paper-plate technique can be used for kiddie armor, too.

If you sew, your kid is in for a real treat.

Instructables, the "world's biggest show & tell," details a five-step Jedi Knight costume that's better than the pre-packaged kind. Plus, this one recycles old clothes, and I bet your kid will wear it for dress-up until it falls apart. (And speaking of "Star Wars," it's probably a bit late to start, but maybe you can knit Bleu Arts' Princess Leia wig hat for next year.)

Something for the adults? Try this squid head made out of office supplies. If you have some brown paper, file folders, binder clips, and old CDs lying around, this one's perfect for the company Halloween party.

Zombies are trendy these days. And, hey, they're the ultimate in reuse. You'll find plenty of ideas for the undead at 365 Halloween. This costume is super-simple: wear any old clothes—a little dirty, maybe splattered with fake blood—and paint your face to look dead and gruesome.

Sail the seven seas with a sexy pirate costume for the ladies, recycled from common thrift-store goods. ThreadBanger has a handy video that shows you how to sew up a cool tricorn hat and leather corset with dental floss, and turn an old button-down shirt into a sweet peasant blouse.

Love a bad pun or a visual joke? Check the Costume Idea Zone for a list of costumes that can be assembled quickly from things you already own. How to be an iPod commercial? Dress in black, carry an iPod, dance! Static cling? Mismatched clothes and dryer sheets. "The Catcher in the Rye"? Don't ask.

Don't forget the accessories. You can easily find a plaid shirt and cowboy hat at a thrift store (or in your closet), and throw on some jeans and boots for a Wild West costume. But you gotta have spurs on them thar boots. Grab a cardboard box that's headed for the recycling bin, and cut yourself out a pair of spurs using these handy instructions on Flickr.

Halloween is almost as big a consumer holiday as Christmas in the U.S., but that doesn't mean we have to shop like crazed fiends and create piles of garbage in our wake. In the time you'd spend scrounging for parking and hunting for your child's exact size in plastic at the mall, you can make your own awesome costumes that are treats for the environment.

In addition to saving time, getting creative this Halloween may save money, too—so you can buy plenty of fair-trade and organic candies for your favorite ghouls and boys.