How to Make Your Own Beetlejuice Costume | Stripes To The Grave

Make your own Beetlejuice costume with a striped suit, white shirt, black tie, pale makeup, and teased greenish hair—no licensed gear required.

For the full breakdown, see our best Beetlejuice Costume guide.

Building a Beetlejuice costume yourself costs a fraction of a licensed set and lets you nail the look his way: rumpled, moldy, and fresh from the grave. The whole effect comes from five elements—the black-and-white pinstripe suit, the white shirt and black tie, the deathly pale face, and hair that looks like it has been underground for a while. Here is the stripped-down method that working tutorials use, plus the shortcuts worth stealing. If you would rather buy the whole thing ready-made, we have tested the best options separately.

What You Need For The Classic Beetlejuice Look

The character’s outfit is deliberately simple, which makes it one of the easiest movie costumes to assemble from scratch. Collect these pieces and you have the base covered:

• A plain black-and-white pinstripe or striped suit jacket and pants
• A white dress shirt and a skinny black tie
• White face makeup plus yellow, purple, and red cream paint for shading
• White hair spray, yellow and green temporary color, and a fine-tooth comb
• Optional props: moss, fake snakes, creepy-crawlers, and a belly pad

The suit is the anchor. Thrift stores are the best source because the look works better slightly oversized, and you can distress an old suit without guilt. If the stripes are too faint to read from across the room, you can paint them on yourself—that is the DIY core of this costume.

Painting Stripes On A Plain Suit, Step By Step

You do not need to find a striped jacket if you can paint your own. The method is straightforward if you protect the fabric properly.

1. Lay the jacket and pants flat on a covered work surface, smoothing out every wrinkle—paint settles into creases and ruins clean lines.
2. Use painter’s tape to mark where each stripe will go, pressing the edges down firmly. Weak tape adhesion is the most common reason stripes come out messy.
3. Line the inside of the garment with poster board so the paint cannot bleed through to the back layer of fabric.
4. Apply fabric paint in even strokes within each taped section, then let it dry completely before handling.
5. Peel the tape away slowly, then distress the suit by crumpling it, rubbing it with dirt or gray chalk, and tearing a few small holes for the buried look.

Skip the painting entirely if you find a suit that already has the right stripes—many costume shops sell pinstripe jackets that work as-is.

Beetlejuice Makeup And Hair That Reads From Across A Room

The face and hair are what sell the undead effect. Both take about fifteen minutes once you have the supplies out.

Start hair by teasing it thoroughly with a fine-tooth comb to build volume, then spray it white. Lightly dust yellow and green color near the roots for that moldy, decaying look—the effect should be subtle, like grime rather than paint. For the face, prep your skin with a barrier cream or primer, then apply white cream makeup to your entire face, neck, and ears. Add yellow shading around the eyes and temples, purple under the eyes and in the hollows of the cheeks, and a little red around the mouth and nose for a rot effect. Blend the edges so the colors look sickly rather than painted on.

Finish with the moss and props: tuck a few fake snakes into a pocket, scatter creepy-crawlers on the shoulders, and stuff a pillowcase under the shirt if you want Beetlejuice’s potbelly. If you’d rather shop, Spirit Halloween carries officially licensed suits, blazer-dress variants, plus-size pinstripe sets, and kids’ sizes, with adult suits around $30 and deluxe versions near $45 on Amazon.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I Use Fabric Markers Instead Of Paint?

Yes, fabric markers work for stripes, especially on a lighter suit where you need to add black lines. They are easier to control than paint and skip the poster-board step since markers do not bleed through as aggressively. The trade-off is speed: markers take longer to fill large areas, and the color can look less uniform than painted stripes. For a quick, low-mess job, markers are the better call.

How Do I Stop The White Makeup From Smudging?

Set your cream makeup with a translucent powder immediately after applying it, then finish with a makeup setting spray. This locks the white layer down so it survives an evening of dancing and photo ops. Carry a small powder puff for quick touch-ups on the nose and chin, which wear first. Avoid touching your face; the oils from your hands break down the cream base fast.

What Should I Wear Under The Suit In Warm Weather?

Swap the heavy white dress shirt for a thin white t-shirt and skip the blazer lining if you can. The character’s look reads fine with a simple white layer under the jacket, and you will stay far more comfortable at a packed Halloween party. If the jacket itself is heavy wool, wear a moisture-wicking undershirt beneath the white layer to stay dry.