Kids Costumes Tips

Kids love dressing up, and Halloween is an excellent time to have fun with all sorts of costumes from the traditional ghosts and ghouls, to popular children’s characters like Spiderman and Power Rangers. You can buy a vast range of kids costumes ready made with all the accessorises included, but this can be expensive and often the most popular characters sell out very quickly around Halloween time. A much cheaper option is to create costumes yourself at home, and you can do this from a number of items you already have around the home.

Cardboard costumes – One of the most popular children’s cartoon characters at the moment is Spongebob, and his bright yellow square shape lends itself perfectly to being made out of a cardboard box. Try and find a big enough box that your child can fit into, so that their arms can come out of holes in the side and hold the box in place. If you can’t find a big enough box, then you could use trouser suspenders or elastic to hold the box in place. Use acrylic paints, and paint the box with a white undercoat, then when this is dry cover with a nice bright yellow coat. Paint Spongebob’s face on the front of the box, and also the little tie that he wears. Cut holes for the arms and head, and completely remove the bottom of the box to allow the legs to move freely. Match the main box costume with yellow trousers and jumper/shirt, and chunky black boots. A very simple, cheap, but effective costume for Halloween!
Old Clothes – you can make a huge range of costumes using old clothes you have lying around at home. A black sweat suit or a leotard matched with thick tights can be easily transformed into a cat costume, with some homemade ears crafted from painted cardboard stuck onto a plastic headband, and a tail made from black felt.
Hand Sewn Costumes – if you are handy with needle and thread then there is no limit to what inventive costumes you can create for your kids at home. There are some excellent ideas on familycrafts.about.com, such as a batman outfit created from a basic black sweat suit, with a cape and cowl mask sewn up from lengths of black fabric, and also a very cute bumble bee costume, which can be hand sewn from some thick yellow and black fuzzy fleece material.