A pair of yellow, rubber kitchen gloves can become a duck's feet. A garage-sale prom dress can be transformed into a king's cape. Add some embellishment to a pair of old pjs, and you have a super superhero costume.

For some, Halloween just isn't Halloween without homemade costumes.

"It's a labor of love," said Cindy Aebly of Monroe, who made her daughters Halloween costumes every year when they were growing up and now makes costumes for her granddaughters in Racine. "It just makes the child feel special."

Aebly said she has always enjoyed making the Halloween costumes of her daughters' and now granddaughters' dreams. Her daughter Amanda DeSonia of Racine says Aebly is an incredible seamstress.

"You could make it special," Aebly said. "You can pick out certain colors; make it personalized. I would make it to what they wanted."

Aebly's costumes made her daughters feel good about themselves. DeSonia said she was always very self-conscious as a child because she was tall for her age.

"I remember feeling really insecure," she said.

But on Halloween, she felt magically transformed. "I remember putting on my Halloween costume every year," DeSonia said. "I felt great."

At their school each year, a costume contest was held. "The other kids would anticipate what we would be," DeSonia said. "We would parade around and the teachers would judge the costumes. It was a given every year that we would win."

A project to do together

Parents who collaborate with their kids on their Halloween costumes say it's a bonding experience.

"It's fun to see what sparks the imagination," said Patty Dobrowski, who has sewn most of her daughters' Halloween costumes.

She and her daughters, Erena, 4, and Autumn, 7, usually discuss what each girl would like to be. Then they go out to the store and see what patterns and fabrics are available. They also go through what Dobrowski already has.

Dobrowski said it is definitely a bonding experience for her and her girls.

Aebly agrees. She recalls the year she made DeSonia an autumn tree costume for the annual parade and festival their community hosts each fall. All of the other children showed up in Swiss costumes, as was custom. DeSonia saw them and was upset. She told her mom she looked stupid and wasn't going.

Aebly made her daughter participate in the festivities, including the costume contest. "She won first prize," Aebly said. "I told her, 'That's because you didn't look like everyone else.' After that, I was the greatest costume maker ever."

DeSonia said it was a lot of fun to come up with ideas for their costumes and then go with their mom to pick out fabric. "We didn't go to Walmart and pick a costume off the shelf," she said. "It was a bonding thing with my mom."

Over the years, Aebly has created dozens of costumes, including a mermaid, a genie, a southern belle costume out of an old bridesmaid dress, and a jester costume for her daughters. For her granddaughters she's made a Medieval princess costume, a band stand girl costume with a poodle skirt, and this year both DeSonia's daughters - Maren, 4 and Violet, 1 - will be clowns.

Dobrowski has made costumes for her girls including a bunny, Winnie the Pooh, Tiger, Cinderella, a pirate, a witch and the Little Mermaid.

Better quality can be budget friendly

Making a Halloween costume instead of buying it off the shelf can be less expensive, but sometimes more elaborate costumes can cost just as much, according to these crafty ladies.

However, homemade costumes are a much better value because they are typically made much better and can be used over and over again, they say.

"I will typically spend $20 on fabric and a pattern, but you know it's going to be better quality and you generally get better use out of it," Dobrowski said.

The Cinderella costume she made for her daughter Autumn when she was 3, was worn again last year by her daughter Erena - after it was used for about two years as a dress up garment. And the Tiger costume she made several years ago, will be worn by her young nephew this year.

"One advantage to making a costume is they're not made out of flimsy material," Aebly said. "They can be used over and over. I made Amanda a jester costume once. We used that several times. I wore it to a costume party."

The clown costume she is making for her granddaughter Violet this year will be able to be used as a pair of pjs after Halloween had passed, Aebly said. "Everything is washable."

DeSonia said when her daughter Maren was 2, she was invited to a 1950s party for Halloween. She decided she could put together a band stand girl costume with a store-bought skirt. She ordered a poodle skirt for $35 online.

"It was cute, but you could tell it was cheap," DeSonia said. She showed it to Aebly, who told her to send the skirt back. Her mom whipped up a better skirt in no time. "The quality is beyond compare," DeSonia said. And there are ways of saving on the materials, Dobrowski said.

She shops for the patterns and supplies she needs when there are sales. She uses coupons and tries to use clearance fabric.

Sometimes, a trip to the fabric store isn't even required, Aebly said. She's made costumes from decorated cardboard as well - which is extremely inexpensive.

However, she remembers one cardboard costume that ended up being the most costly creation she'd ever put together. It was a juke box costume for her daughter Betsy.

Aebly began with a cardboard box, and had her daughter standing inside the box in the kitchen.

"She was maybe 5," Aebly said. "The box was taller than she was. I saw her start to go backwards. I couldn't grab her fast enough. She fell back and hit her head on the microwave. I felt terrible."

Betsy had to be taken to the emergency room for stitches.

"That was not a cheap costume," Aebly said.

Creative creations"I love seeing Halloween costumes," DeSonia said. She especially appreciates homemade attempts at something cute and creative.

"Other people appreciate it too," she said. People have always oohed and aahed over her daughters when she brings them out on Halloween, much the same way that they admired the costumes her mom made for her as a child.

"My mom is such a talented person," DeSonia said. "She could have designed costumes for a Broadway production. I'm really proud of her."

DeSonia said although she had no interest in learning to sew growing up, she has been trying to learn over the past few years. "There's something about having kids that has made me want to learn," she said.

Dobrowski learned to sew from her own mother. She not only creates her daughters' Halloween costumes, but also makes them clothes.

Although both Aebly and Dobrowski are accomplished sewers, they both said you don't have to know how to sew to make a costume.

"I've seen a lot of great no-sew costumes," Dobrowski said.

She suggests parents looking for ideas go to the Web site http://www.familyfun.com

An entire page of no-sew costumes includes some really creative ideas including: an airplane made from cardboard and paint; a blue bird costume made with feathers, a hat and face paint; an elephant costume made with an old gray jogging suit; a sushi roll made of cardboard and white packing peanuts; and a spaghetti costume made from a mop head, colander and red jogging suit.