3 Halloween costumes that can stay in your wardrobe past spooky season

Halloween allows for creative costume choices, but some may be looking to stretch their spending past spooky season.

The National Retail Federation projects that the average person will spend almost $34 on a costume this year. While pre-packaged costumes are easy, many of them are only usable for the holiday.

Being able to create costumes from clothes that are usable the other 11 months of the year frees you from having to exactly duplicate a character. A secondary benefit is the reduction in clothing waste, which researchers at Boston University estimated to be 34 billion pounds of used textiles in 2022.

Here are three costume ideas that will work in your wardrobe past Halloween.

Cosmo Brown in "Singing in The Rain"

While the old Hollywood film is a treasure trove of sartorial excellence, much of the tailoring required makes the costumes less than ideal for Halloween.

However, the showpiece for Donald O'Connor's physical humor features an outfit that would look equally at home on a modern backlot as the fictional Monumental Pictures lot.

The "Make 'Em Laugh" sequence sees O'Connor's Cosmo Brown remind Gene Kelly's Don Lockwood that the whole point of show business is to keep the audience laughing through increasingly outlandish set-pieces.

The outfit is comprised of a white t-shirt, grey shirt-jacket, brown pants and brown loafers. The key to pulling this off is to look for a roomier fit jacket and high-rise pants that are commiserate with the 1927 setting of the movie.

Mimicking the facial expressions O'Connor makes after clamoring into the stage wall will help sell it, though we at USA TODAY are not responsible for the aftermath of any attempts at a backflip.

Kim Possible in "Kim Possible"

Kim Possible, the mid-2000's cartoon spy from the Disney Channel show of the same name, is an easy put together for women who want to have a costume that is useful after the 31st.

The outfit is a black long sleeve t-shirt over a pair of olive-green cargo pants and black boots. A wide tan belt can stand in for the utility belt.

Each piece can used separately and the outfit can be repeated on its own without being a part of a character.

Lumberjack

The combination is simple: a buffalo plaid overshirt, white t-shirt, dark jeans and boots. If you are less than likely to wander into the woods as a result of purchasing the costume, your choices can prioritize aesthetics over function

The overshirt can be put over chinos and an oxford button down shirt or blouse the rest of the year and we should not have to explain the value of a good pair of jeans.

The costume can also be sold as a "mid-2010's hipster," providing greater flexibility if it needs to be called upon for multiple Halloween events.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Halloween 2024: 3 costumes that can be used after the holiday