Fall is officially here. The leaves are changing colors, the weather is getting cooler, and of course – Halloween is near! For many kids, choosing a Halloween costume is exciting; but depending on what costume your child picks, where you shop, or how many kids you have, this may end up being costly.
This year, why not go the do-it-yourself route and make a creative and inexpensive costume at home? Not only can you save money, but if you decide to include your child in on the process, you get the added bonus spending time together.
At first, the idea of a homemade costume may seem time-consuming or difficult, but this doesn’t have to be the case. You can make a unique costume with little prep time, some creativity, and a few common items you may already have in your home. Here are some ideas to get you started:
If you are pressed for time or maybe not particularly skilled at crafting, assembling a “couch potato/tired person” costume is easy and can be put together in little time. All your child needs is a pair of pajamas, a robe, and a pair slippers. Add a remote control or plastic coffee mug in hand and “messed up hair” to complete the look and voila! You have a “couch potato” costume.
Have old sports equipment lying around? Pair together a football jersey and helmet or a basketball uniform and basketball and you have a ready to wear “athlete” costume.
If you are feeling crafty, a simple to make “crayon” costume will help your child to stand out among the crowd this year. All this costume requires is a solid colored sweatsuit or long johns, a matching party hat, a large piece of poster board in the same color, black permanent marker, a stapler, and two 6-inch pieces of thick black string or fabric.
Start by wrapping the poster board comfortably around your child’s body in a cylinder shape to get an idea of how it will fit. Make sure to leave enough room for leg movement. Trim off any excess poster board if needed. Now lay the poster board flat and draw two thick black lines across the top and bottom, and write the word “crayon” vertically down the poster board. Wrap it in a cylinder shape again and staple shut. Next, staple the two pieces of black string or fabric to the top of the cylinder as shoulder straps. Have your child get dressed in their sweatsuit and place the poster board cylinder over them. Finish by having them put on the hat and you are done!
Characters from kid’s movies also tend to be popular costumes each year. The good news is homemade character costumes from this year’s biggest movies are not difficult to create at home.
Are you the parent of a Harry Potter fan? All it takes to transform your child into this famous wizard is putting together a black robe, white collared shirt, a red and gold tie, a pair of round glasses, a wand and Harry’s famous lightning bolt on the forehead which can be drawn on with face paint.
Maybe your child is a Smurf’s fan. Look around for a white pair of pants, white shoes, white hat, a blue shirt and some blue makeup. Add a rolled up pair of blue socks pinned to the back of your child’s pants as a tail, and your child has a complete Smurf costume. For a Smurfette, substitute a white dress and blond wig instead.
Of course, these are only a few ideas out of hundreds of possibilities. The internet is a great tool for finding new and creative costume ideas. A quick search for “do-it-yourself Halloween costumes” on Google will yield pages of websites with hundreds of do-it-yourself ideas for kids and babies. Additionally, Youtube has videos available that will show you step-by-step instructions on putting together costumes at home.
If you still aren’t sure about making a homemade costume this year, there are still ways to save money this year no matter what you choose. Maybe you have family members or friends with costumes they no longer need. Borrowing or trading costumes with them is an easy way to not spend any money on a brand new one.
If you are shopping the typical Halloween costume stores, be sure to check out clearance shelves or simply just buy accessories like wigs, hats, ears, tails, etc., that you can pair with things you already own to still give your kids’ costume a unique touch.
Finally, to save even more money, don’t forget to shop after Halloween, when stores often mark down items a significant amount, which you can then save to use next year.