Homemade Halloween Costume Ideas

One of the best memories I have of Halloween as a child is making my own costume. I never had a store-bought one, not in all the years we went Trick or Treat. It gives the child a feeling of accomplishment, they do not look the same as the 14 others who bought the same costume at the five and dime. And who knows, depending on what you do in your town or school for Halloween, they might be a prize winner. Where I live, we have a Halloween Parade, which ends across the street from us and they have a competition each year with prizes for one person costume, two person costumes and multi person costumes, And the winner is always a home made one. So get your imagination out of storage, get together with the kids and have some fun time

The first thing to think of is Halloween Safety. They will probably be out at night, and hard for drivers to see, so as we look at different Halloween Projects, we will also look at ways to make them more visible and safe. Those snap strips, the ones that light up when they are shaken or snapped are a great safety item. If you can work them into the Halloween Costume it adds to the safety and the kids love them.

My friend’s son and his friend won a prize for this on at a Cub Scouts Halloween Party They went as a pair of dice. What you need to do is get two boxes from the grocer, the big one like the ones that paper towels come in. Leave the top of the box open and put a hole in the opposite or, bottom side, big enough for the child’s head to go through. Paint the boxes white with the black dots like on a pair of dice. The head is the number one Put black Halloween makeup on the face to look like the single dot. Have them dress all in black with black gloves if possible and you have an easy to do costume. This one is good for the 6-10 age group. For safety, use iridescent paint for a trim

My son did this in his class. It was not for Halloween actually, but it is a great idea. They had just finished studying Egypt and as a class project they broke into groups and one of them got o be wrapped as a mummy. The store was short on toilet paper after this one. It is easy Just do the wrap with toilet paper Use your imagination to decorate the paper, red paint for blood etc. Do a good goolish job on the face too.

The little ones love animals and bugs. They can become a skunk by simply painting a white strip, with iridescent paint again, down the back of some old black clothes( Hint if you do not have any clothes that are right for the costume, try the local second hand store you can get practically anything for very little cost.) An old black sweater, and old back leggings work well you can make the tail from a piece of oak tag, One of the prize winners up here was a butterfly. This was an older child, about 12, and she simply cut the wings out of cardboard, decorated them with sparkles’ made the antenna out of pipe cleaner, the large ones like you would find in a craft store. She simply made a ring out of them that fit Snugly around her herd, and put the two up right antennas on the back. She wore a frilly dress and bingo she was a butterfly.

If you have a girl who likes to dress up, the second hand store comes in handy. You can get an old dress that you can cut down, probably an old hat and beads and you have a future movie star. A touch of mom’s lip stick and powder and you have one happy child.

There is always the ever popular Halloween Ghost, but how about giving him a personality. You still start with the sheet, but if you dress it up with a neck tie and carry a brief case, you have a business man ghost. Use some of the beads and a floppy hat, you have a glamor girl ghost. Use your imagination and you can have any kind of Halloween Ghost. Instead of going as a soccer player, go as a a ghost soccer player. Or a ghost ballerina. You can do the same thing as a witch also. A witch ballerina would be quite a sight to be sure.

A dog is another favorite Halloween Costume for the little ones. With a bit of fake fur from the craft or fabric store, you can create a costume every easily Just fold it in half, cut a hole in the fold for the head and then sew it into a vest. If you have sewing skills, you can do it fancier. The fun part is the ears. Cut out the correct shape from the same material and attach it to ear muffs.

Since candy is a Halloween tradition, how about dressing up like a piece of candy. An M&M is easy to do Cut two circles out of oak tag big enough to cover the child front and back in the color you want the candy to be. Attach them with thin string, that will be invisible, at the shoulders, sandwich board style Paint an M on the front. Have the child dress all in black. Or be an ice cream cone. Here comes the oak tag again. Cut it out in the shape of a cone, front and back sandwich board style, Use black markers to put the cone design on and make a headpiece to look like the ice cream. Use an old hat for the base and make the ice cream out of material or pieces of foam, anything that you think looks like ice cream.

The ideas are only limited by the imagination. Instead of being a witch, be the witch’s broom, instead of being a soccer player, be the soccer ball.

Don’t wait until the last-minute Start early, make your plans together and get to work.