| When it comes to Halloween costumes, we always | | | | round cardboard tube and painting it with acrylic paints. |
| decided to make our own because we felt it was | | | | Punch a hole in each side of the tube and attach twine |
| foolish to spend $35 and up, for a costume that our | | | | for a carrying strap. You can fit 3-4 plastic golf clubs |
| child was only going to wear one time. Over the years, | | | | into the holder and have your child carry it over their |
| my sister-in-law and I have made numerous costumes | | | | shoulder. |
| for our children and I thought I would share a few | | | | Nurse - You will need: white skirt, shirt, tights and shoes |
| simple ideas with you. | | | | which your child most likely already has in her closet. |
| If you are concerned about safety, I recommend | | | | To add to that, purchase a child's size nurses cap at a |
| purchasing some reflective material patches at your | | | | costume store along with a plastic doctor's kit at your |
| local fabric and crafts store, and sew or glue them | | | | local dollar discount store. We also accented the white |
| onto your child's costume. This safety measure will | | | | shirt with a name badge and a red felt first-aid cross |
| help car drivers to see them at night as they are | | | | that we hand drew and safety pinned to the shirt. |
| crossing the street. I always recommend that a | | | | Mummy - You will need: white clothing, white ski mask, |
| responsible adult accompany children on Trick or Treat | | | | white sneakers, several rolls of white first aid |
| night. | | | | bandages and numerous safety pins. We cut the |
| Here are the Halloween costume ideas we came up | | | | bandages into 12-24" lengths and safety pinned them |
| with over the years. | | | | around the legs, arms and abdomen of the outfit. We |
| Lady Bug - You will need: red leotard, red tights, 4 | | | | chose to use fabric glue to attach them to the white |
| sheets of black felt and fabric glue. Cut out some | | | | ski mask. If you are making this costume for a small |
| circles and ovals from the felt and glue onto the red | | | | child, then I recommend using non-toxic fabric glue |
| leotard so that it looks like lady bug spots. To make | | | | instead of the safety pins. |
| antennae, purchase a black headband, 2 round 3" | | | | Black Spider - You will need: black jeans, black |
| diameter Styrofoam balls, 2 pencils, black acrylic paint | | | | sweatshirt, 2 pairs of black little girls tights, 1 bag of |
| and gorilla glue. Paint the Styrofoam balls and pencils | | | | fiberfill stuffing, black thread. You need to cut the panty |
| black and let dry. Glue pencils to the center of the | | | | portion off of the tights and just use the legs. Stuff |
| Styrofoam balls, let dry and then glue the pencils to the | | | | each leg firmly with fiberfill and then sew the end shut |
| top of the head band. | | | | with thread. Do this for a total of 4 spider legs. You will |
| Note: You could use the same concept above and do | | | | want to hand sew (or machine sew) the stuffed legs |
| a bumble bee and substitute the red clothing items with | | | | onto the sides of the black sweatshirt about 4-5" |
| yellow clothing items and make black felt bee-style | | | | below the sweatshirt arm. If desired, you can paint the |
| stripes. | | | | child's face black or lime green with face paints. |
| Construction Worker - You will need: denim blue jeans, | | | | Crayon - You will need: your choice of colored clothing, |
| white T-shirt, flannel shirt and a yellow plastic hard hat | | | | we selected orange to fit with the Halloween theme, |
| found at a discount toy store. You can borrow a | | | | along with several sheets of black felt, fabric glue and |
| man's tool belt or purchase a canvas-style apron with | | | | a black fabric paint. Grab one of your child's crayons |
| pockets at a local craft store for a few dollars. If | | | | and use it as an example on how you should cut out |
| desired, visit your local dollar discount store and | | | | designs from your black felt. Attach those designs |
| purchase a plastic tool set to stick into the pockets of | | | | onto the clothing items so that it resembles a crayon. |
| the tool belt. | | | | You can use the black fabric paint to paint on the |
| Golfer - You will need: khaki colored pants, polo-style | | | | crayon-makers name on the front of the shirt. To |
| shirt and a plaid golfers cap. You can purchase plastic | | | | further fit with our theme, we machine sewn a |
| golf clubs and balls at your local dollar discount store. | | | | triangular hat out of matching orange felt, so that 'our' |
| We made our own golf bag by emptying out a large | | | | little crayon had a pointy crayon top. |