How Many Days Until Halloween? 15 Days Left on Oct. 16

Two weekends and one working week is what stands between now and a finished costume. Halloween is 15 days away, on Saturday, October 31, leaving ten weekdays, five weekend days and two Saturdays.

Two weekends and one full working week is the last stretch in which an assembled costume is realistic, and it is also the last weekend when secondhand shops still have anything worth buying.

The thrift window closes before the holiday does

Consignment and thrift shops stock their Halloween sections from mid-September. By the third weekend of October the best pieces are gone, which makes this the final useful weekend for a costume built from ordinary clothing rather than a warehouse.

Price is the obvious advantage of that route. Clothing fits better than a packaged costume, photographs better, and can be worn again in November. Shop for the silhouette rather than the character. A long coat, a formal dress or a work jacket becomes a costume once two or three accessories make the reference legible.

The pieces worth buying new rather than secondhand are the ones that touch skin. Hats, wigs, makeup and anything worn over the face are better new, partly for hygiene and partly because a used wig is usually used for a reason. Clothing, boots, coats, capes and props are all fine secondhand.

Sizing is the other consideration. Secondhand clothing comes in real sizes rather than costume sizes, which is an advantage, but it also means an assembled costume has to be tried on before the weekend ends. A return trip on October 30 is not a plan.

One evening of work, not five

With two weekends left, a homemade costume is realistic if it takes one evening to finish. Fairy and witch accessories, a solid-color outfit with a single prop, and anything that is essentially clothing plus a headband all qualify.

Projects that reliably fail in the final fortnight are the ones people choose anyway. Sewing from scratch, papier-mache, complex makeup that has to be practiced, and anything with electronics or lights. A child who wants one of those is better served by a simpler version that will be comfortable at hour three, which is when photographs actually get taken.

Costume prices fall sharply in the final week of October, and selection collapses at the same moment. That trade is worth taking if the exact character does not matter. It is not worth taking if a specific character does, and that decision has to be made now rather than on the twenty-ninth.