Trick or treating just isn’t much fun without a knock ‘em dead costume.

Even for adults, a Halloween party loses its luster without a spectacular disguise.

If throwing a sheet over your head is as far as it goes when it comes to being creative costume-wise, the pre-packaged costume route is as easy as it gets for donning a new persona on the 31st.

Shelley Carroll, manager of the Halloween Boo-tique in Roseville has a warehouse full of wall-to-wall options for last minute costume buyers.

“This year we’ve seen a big mish mash of kids doing superheros like Batman, Superman and Iron Man,” Carroll said.

Kids are also going the “local hero” route and as police and firemen costumes are flying off the racks, Carroll said.

And then there’s the homemade zombie and vampire costumes that have been made hot with movies like “Zombieland” and “Twilight” hitting theaters this year.

Roseville trick-or-treater Alex Donaldson said he used to dress up every year as a “Star Wars character like a Clone Trooper or Darth Vader. This year, he is breaking his tradition with a zombie skateboarder costume he’ll make at home.

The older crowd has their selection of “Alice and Wonderland” costumes, a hit this year with the buzz of Tim Burton’s version of the film due out next year.

And no different from any other Halloween, for the ladies,sexy-anything goes.

“There’ll be a lot of sexy pirates running around this year,” Carroll said. “And we also have a cop costume, which is always a big seller.”

Moms-to-be shouldn’t feel left out of the dressing-up fun, thanks to forgiving costumes like roomy witch gowns and empire waist Roman princess dresses.

The staff of the Halloween Boo-tique moonlight as volunteer spooks at Roseville haunted house, Callson Manor, and are old veterans at coming up with or modifying costumes to create new characters or ideas.

The seasonal store also boasts hats, accessories and household décor to take the Halloween theme from head to toe and home again.

Grass Valley resident Robin Tamietti made the trek down to the Roseville boutique to pick up extra accessories for her homemade “cereal killer” costume.

“I saw a version online and decided to make it my own,” Tamietti said. “I’m basically covering myself in cereal boxes and sticking knives through them.”

If braving the scary crowds of costume shops and rentals proves too much to bear, fear not, with a few household items you may already have, a unique, comical or witty costume is at your fingertips.

You have:

Starch, an old suit and tie, lots of hairspray, newspaper

You are: Windblown

On any other day, this look is a disaster. On Halloween, it’s perfect. Starch the suit so it looks rumpled, but make sure it’s rumpled in one direction. Starch or tape the newspaper to the side of your leg, chest or arm. A grocery bag or other trash that you’d find blowing down the street can also be used, but make sure you’re adding it to the side that the “wind” is blowing. If you’re wearing a tie, a wire hanger looped through the knot and the tail will allow it to be molded to look as if it’s blowing in the wind. Knot and tease your hair then hang your head to one side and kill a bottle of extra-hold hairspray, better yet, use two to make sure it really holds the wind-blown look. For more authenticity, head outside for weeds, leaves and sticks to put in your hair. Smudge your makeup for the finishing touch to the costume. Extra accessories could include an umbrella turned inside out or a hat askew and crumpled.

You have:

An old prom dress, make-up, fake blood

You are: Half prom queen, half dead prom queen

The half and half makes for two costumes in one. Not to mention, the gasps you’ll get from others after you surprise them from turning from the made-up prom queen to the bloody, gory side are sure to keep everyone entertained all night.

Make up half your face to look glamorous, like any other prom queen. With the other half of your face, drizzle on the fake blood and sculpt lesions and peeling skin with latex for more gore. You can continue the blood down the same arm or make bloody handprints and smears. Fix your hair as usual, but for the gory side, tease it and tangle it. Throw in leaves, weeds or sticks if you want. Rip, smear blood, dirt and grass stains on the same half of the prom dress to make it look like you crawled from your grave or were dragged. If you want to add more, find a tiara and crumple or break it in half and twist it into your hair, make a corsage to look sloppy and a little destroyed and drizzle blood over it. Finally, when trick or treating, point the pretty side toward the door and after they open the door, slowly turn so they can see the other half.

Happy Haunting!