The street carnival is imminent: from Weiberfastnacht to Ash Wednesday, people in carnival strongholds such as Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz will once again parade through the streets in disguise.
Although pilots, police officers, princesses and animal costumes are still among the absolute favorites of the carnival people, there are also more and more homemade and above all very creative costumes to be seen on the streets.
BILD has the best DIY costume ideas for men and women!
group costumes
Celebrating carnival is always fun, but the best thing is when you can spend the fun days with your friends. A group costume can be helpful to find yourself in the hustle and bustle between Kamelle and Kölsch.
★ Hogwarts Students: The Harry Potter books have captivated millions of people worldwide and fans are looking forward to the release of the game in the week leading up to Mardi Gras „Hogwarts Legacy“ for PC, Playstation and Xbox.
At carnival, fans can slip into roles: Whether Harry Potter, Voldemort or Hermione Granger – there are no limits to creativity. Hogwarts students from the same or a different house make a great group costume.
▶︎ This is how the last-minute costume works: Black pants or black skirt, white blouse, gray jumper, a tie and socks in the color of the respective Hogwarts house – the costume is ready! Print out the emblems of Hogwarts and the respective houses, such as Gryffindor and Slytherin, on normal paper and glue them to the sweater with a glue stick. The advantage: simply peel off after the carnival days, wash once and the emblem is gone again.
★ Poker: Who says poker is only fun in Vegas? Disguised as a playing card, you can snag the jackpot with your friends.
▶︎ This is how the last minute costume works: Choose a discarded white T-shirt and paint a motif with red or black paint (fabric or watercolour) – add red or black pants or skirt to which you can stick playing cards – the poker look is complete!
★ Pizza Delivery: Has anyone ordered a pizza here? Food costumes have been trending for the last year. Depending on the size of the group, one half can dress up as a pizza and the other half as a pizza delivery boy. But beware: Especially late in the evening it could be disappointing if your pizza boxes are empty!
▶︎ This is how the last-minute costume works: The next time you order a real pizza, ask for an empty box – you already have the first part for your costume. What you also need: A pair of jeans and a white shirt that you can paint with the name or logo of a delivery service. With a cap in the colors of the Italian flag (red, white, green) you make the costume perfect.
You can also make the pizza costume yourself. Get a large cardboard box (about 4 feet long and about 3 feet wide) and cut a pizza slice out of it. You can cut a hole at the top edge for the head. Paint with watercolor – done!
Submerged in the underwater world
★ Costumes that let us dive into the underwater world are particularly trendy this year: mermaids, captains or fish – everything is allowed here. There are mainly uniforms and mermaid fins to buy. But if you like it a little more creative, you can try it as an octopus.
★ Octopus: If you want to make your own underwater costume, you can use fish or octopuses. It looks impressive, but it doesn’t involve as much work as you might think at first glance.
▶︎ This is how the last minute costume works: For the octopus you need tights – LOTS of tights! They are cut apart and filled with crumpled newspaper, for example – this is how the octopus arms are made. The ends of the tights can be attached to a belt. Wear either leggings or trousers underneath and a plain T-shirt – the octopus look is complete. For the head you can either make a plain hat or a headband with eyes.
Inspiration from Netflix & Co.
Anyone who wants to start the carnival season on 11.11. celebrated, who will have already noticed: Netflix & Co. serve as an absolute source of inspiration for many carnival fans!
Especially popular: “House of Money”! Hundreds of people wandered through the party streets in red overalls and Dali masks – great group costume, but with the flood of gangsters it can happen that you join the wrong group.
★ Other films also inspire: Thanks to “Bohemian Rhapsody” you will certainly see some Freddy Mercury imitations at carnival.
▶︎ This is how the last minute costume works: For a good imitation, you should actually have almost everything in your closet: A white tank top or undershirt, a pair of jeans and maybe you can also find a studded belt or bracelet somewhere. Nevertheless, the costume takes a long time to prepare, because if you want to look particularly stylish, you can leave the razor for a few weeks: the mustache, chest and armpit hair have to sprout in order to imitate the real Mercury look.
Yummy – der Candy-Look
★ At the forefront and sweet enough to eat: food costumes! Whether sweets, chocolate or cornflakes – the cute costumes are proudly presented on Instagram and can easily be made yourself with slight modifications.
▶︎ This is how the last minute costume works: The costume consists of a top and bottom part. Depending on the candy you want to represent, grab a plain t-shirt and pants or a skirt of the appropriate color. It gets creative with the inscription: you can paint the brand print on the shirt with a little fabric paint. Also possible: Use the same trick as with the Hogwarts costume and simply print out the branding and stick it on the t-shirt with a glue stick.
Off to space
★ The hype about Astro-Alex and the universe doesn’t stop even after his return from the ISS to earth. That’s why some astronauts, aliens and NASA experts should also be on the road at carnival.
▶︎ This is how the last minute costume works: You need a little patience for the astronaut costume. The astronaut suit is imitated with a white painter’s overall. The spaceman’s helmet is made out of papier-mâché. Blow up a balloon (slightly larger than your own head) and cover it with newspaper. Let it dry, paint and cut a viewing hole. The rocket pack consists of a shoebox wrapped in aluminum foil, painted plastic bottles and black tape. If you want, you can attach a hose to represent the oxygen supply.