Creative Halloween Costumes for Kids!
MILK AND COOKIE
The year my daughter was 5, she was a milk carton. It was her choice and she loved helping to make the costume! Here’s how to make it:
1. Take a box that your child can fit her body into. It should be longer than it is wide. Cut holes for the arms and one for the head. The box should rest on the child’s shoulders.
2. Take two pieces of cardboard and make a “tent” on the top of the box. In other words, tape one piece of cardboard to the right side of the box and one to the left side. Bend the two pieces toward the center and tape together, forming a triangle over where the child’s head comes out of the box.
3. Paint the box white. When the white paint is dry, label it as “Milk” You can even print your own nutrition information on one side.
4. Wear white sweat pants and white sweat shirt under your box and you are “Milk!”
The same year that she was “Milk,” my husband dressed up as the “Cookie!” He simply took brown wrapping paper and cut it into two circles. He painted chocolate chips on both circles and wore the cookies by attaching string to each circle so that it hung over his shoulders. My daughter and husband were the cutest “Cookie and Milk!” They even won a prize in our town for “most original costume.”
TELEVISION
A television can be made out of a box in the same way as a milk carton. Cut the box the same way but you can paint it any color you may want. You also don’t need to make the “tent” on the top of the box. Instead of labeling the box “milk,” have your child draw a “television scene” on a piece of paper and glue to the painted box. You can add painted knobs or dials or use buttons to make these items. You then may choose to make antennae on top of the television using pipe cleaners covered with aluminum foil.
JACK-O-LANTERN
A very simple costume to make is a pumpkin. This works very well on babies and toddlers. Buy a pair of orange sweat pants and sweat shirt. These are available around Halloween time at WalMart. Buy some black felt or black fabric paint. You can cut three triangles out of the felt for the eyes and nose and then cut a toothless jack-o-lantern grin. Then you can use ordinary white glue to glue them onto the costume. Just know that the costume is not washable after you glue the felt on. Alternatively, you can paint the face onto the sweat shirt with fabric paint. You can use black for the features and then a glitter outline or you can use colors and be creative! If you heat set the paint before washing, it will be permanent and can then be washed as needed. Add an orange hat with a pipe cleaner stem and this costume is ready to go! It is very simple to make and very inexpensive too!
SKELETON
A skeleton costume can be made by an older child. Provide a pair of black sweat pants and sweat shirt and white or glow in the dark white fabric paint. You may have to buy two separate paints, one white and one glow in the dark paint. Your older child can then paint the bones of the body either as he thinks they should be or while looking at a picture of a skeleton. He may have to paint over the white paint with the glow in the dark paint so that it will glow in the dark when he goes out trick or treating.
POPCORN
A great costume I saw someone else wearing was “popcorn.” The child wore sweat pants and sweat shirt that had popcorn glued ALL OVER it. It sounds pretty strange and the kid was probably chased all over the neighborhood by the dogs but it was actually very cute! There was even a hat that had popcorn glued to it! This is definitely a one time costume though because it would not be washable!
So, have fun and be creative. Your child will remember for years and years the costumes you make together! You can have just as much fun making the costumes as your child will have wearing them!
