Halloween Costumes for Kids in Wheelchairs
First, design your costume so it will fit through a standard door frame. Avoid anything that sticks out too wide from the sides of the chair. Extending the costume to the front and back is usually ok. Use Velcro for the easiest way to secure costumes around the chair. This also makes things easy to take off if the costume gets tangled or dirty. You can also use elastic to sew around opening which you want to fit tighter to your child or the chair.
Also, have your child do a dry run in the costume through a few doorways and up and down the sidewalk. Make sure any flowing or extended pieces of the costume do not get caught in the wheels or make it too hard for your child to move. If a parent, older sibling, or another attendant is helping your child wheel through their trick or treating, have them dress as an accompanying costume. Be sure your child is the star and the attendant is a secondary character to complete your child’s costume.
Genie or Aladdin in the Flying Carpet
Use cardboard to make a rectangle shaped like a flying carpet. Cover it with cloth and add tassels on the front and back ends. Cut a hole in the center and pull it down over your child’s head and the chair back so it rests on the chair’s armrests. Stuff a child’s pair of sultan costume pants and sew on genie shaped shoes. Arrange them on the flying carpet in front of your child to appear like your child is a small version of Aladdin sitting on the carpet. Your child wears the Aladdin or genie top and gets to roll around all night like a sultan. Get puffy balls of cotton stuffing and thin blue to create a sky around the bottom of the chair under the flying carpet.
Flower in a Garden
This is adorable for really young children. Cut a piece of flat cardboard with a hole in the center so it rests over your child and the wheelchair back. Remember not to make it too wide to go through doorways. Make a cardboard picket fence and glue it standing up around the cardboard base. Cover the base with Astroturf or green cloth. Dress your child in a standard flower costume so their face pokes out of a big daisy mask. You can make your own by gluing felt flower petals around a cardboard circle base and using elastic to keep it on your child’s face. Let them wear a green shirt and pants as the stem. Finish decorating the fenced in garden with fake flowers, toy bugs and butterflies.
Fireman in a Fire Truck
Use cardboard to create a box shape around the wheelchair. Paint it to look like a fire truck. Include a steering wheel from a toy car if possible. You can also use small battery operated lights for headlights. Dress your child in a basic firefighter costume. Include a toy hatchet, stuffed Dalmatian puppy and fake hose depending on the age of your child.
Kissing Booth
This is great for really young children as well as flirty teenagers. Make a box around the wheelchair and use four poles (out of thin PVC pipe or wooden dowels) to brace a canopy above. The easiest canopy is made of cloth with a little scallop drape in the front but you can also make a cardboard roof to match the booth. Paint the front and sides of the box to look like rough wood and make a sign that says “Kiss Booth.”
Jack in the Box
This is another costume that works best for younger kids in wheelchairs. Make a square box around the wheelchair. Make the sides high enough to come to your child’s neck. Make a lid that, when closed, will cover your child if they bend over a little. When you arrive at a home, wait until the owners open the door before your child pops out of their box to say trick or treat. If your child is unable to move his or her upper body that well, don’t worry about the popping action and just make the box a little lower. Let them wear clown like face paint and a jester hat. You can even decorate a shirt to resemble the accordion neck on a Jack in the Box.
Robot
Kids of all ages love to be robots. Make a box around the wheelchair and paint it silver. You can use several small boxes with holes through the ends to string up your child’s arms. Give them silver gloves and paint their face and hair with silver cosmetic paint. Add details using knobs and odds and ends from broken machines. Teach your child how to do the robot dance and talk in a robot voice.
