FOR THE KIDS : Some Ideas to Help Youngsters Get Decked Out for Halloween : You don’t have to buy expensive outfits. With a little creativity, scary costumes can be turned out at home.

You’ve done it again. It’s only three days until Halloween, and your children are still costume-less.

The selection at the stores by this time is ho-hum, and if you don’t want to buy one, there is only one alternative: do it yourself. Or, better yet, have your kids create their own. They’ll have fun and you’ll save money.

So, now you’re stumped for ideas? Well, we asked some art teachers, parents and child-care people for some help. Here’s some quick, easy and cheap get-ups they came up with.

Skeleton: Dress the child in a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants or tights. Use white reflective tape for the bones. Then make a mask from black poster board and the white tape. Use elastic to secure the mask.

That idea came from Cheryl Russell, a mother of three and director of child care services for YMCA’s in Ventura, Camarillo and Santa Barbara County.

“We never had store-bought costumes as children,” she said. One year Russell said she was a volcano, made from poster board her mother had dripped hot crayon onto. For added effect, she carried a bag of powder that “erupted” every so often. Russell had some other ideas:

Clown: Apply puff-paint or glitter to an old necktie. On an over-sized shirt add glitter or paint to the buttons. Make suspenders out of strips of ribbon or elastic strips pinned inside pants. A hat or cap can be painted, glittered, or feathered. Then create a silly hairdo.

Pirate: Make a black eye patch from black poster board. Use a scarf or an inch-wide strip of fabric to tie around the forehead. For the shirt, use an old curtainor sheet and fold in half. Make a six-inch slit into the fold to slip it over the head. Tie it around the waist with a rope. The edges of the fabric can then be cut ragged. Girl pirates can wear this over a skirt and boys can wear dark pants. Add rings, earrings and bracelets.

Russell is a great believer in thrift stores. “There is wonderful fabric to befound in used garments at a fraction of what you pay in the fabric store,” she said. If you don’t sew, she recommends safety pins, tacky-style glue, and even duct tape to hold things together.

Christina Houlberg, who teaches a Halloween workshop for kids through the Ventura Recreation Department, has some suggestions for masks. She recommends using a cheap paper plate that can be cut and decorated with markers, rick rack, glitter and other adornments.

She also advised that paper grocery bags make great space helmets or other headgear that don’t cover the face and obstruct vision. Just roll up the top edge of the bag so that it sits on top of the head. It can be decorated with stars and planets cut out of aluminum foil, or pipe cleaners and even magazine pictures.

Anne Matsuk, another Ventura arts instructor, never buys a ready-made costume. Here’s one she’s done.

Bat: Dress the child in dark tights and a dark turtleneck shirt. Create bat wings out of poster board. Use felt or construction paper to make the ears and attach them to a headband. You can even highlight the ears with pink on the inside. But Matsuk’sfavorite idea came from a friend:

Garbage bag: Take a garbage bag and slit holes for the head and arms. Then tape trash (maybe recyclables?) to the outside.

Lori Olbrich, a recreation coordinator for Conejo Recreation and Park District, came up with this untried, but novel idea:

Christmas tree: Get out your old Christmas decorations. Dress the child in green, then drape with garlands, taping them in place. Attach tree ornaments. For the top, use a handmade star or something else attached to a headband.

For some really last-minute Halloween costumes, “Nickelodeon Magazine” offered these dubious suggestions:

Letter: Cover yourself with stamps.

Smog: Dress in gray shirt, gray pants and gray shoes.

Italian flag: Dress in a red shirt, white belt, and green pants.

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The Tickle Tune Typhoon is swirling back into town. The musical group from Seattle is returning to Ventura on Friday for a 7 p.m. show at the Ventura High School auditorium. The group, which includes six musicians and two dancers, does a warm and exuberant show. Advance tickets are $10 for children, $12 for adults, $1 more at the door. To reserve tickets by credit card, call 650-5900. Tickets also are available at Kideos (next to Adventures for Kids) in Ventura and Serendipity Toys in Ojai. For information, call 646-6997.