DIY Halloween Costumes for Mom and Baby

For the gamer mom and baby, there is the "Mario and Mushroom" costume. You will need a large pair of overalls, a red long-sleeved shirt, white gloves, a red hat, white paint and a fake mustache for Mario. The only crafting required for Mario is painting a white "M" on the front of the hat. For the Mushroom, you'll need red and white yarn, elastic, some stuffing, and crochet skills. Crochet a pointy beret with the red yarn, adding in white circles for the "mushroom" pattern. Use elastic to make the inside band stretchy. Fill with stuffing, dress baby in all white, and place the stuffed hat on baby's head.

One fun idea for a mom and baby Halloween costume is the "Apple with a Worm". You'll need 4-6 yards of red fabric, 1-2 yards of beige fabric, 4-6 yards of 1 inch elastic, strong craft glue, and 3-5 yards of padding, such as this, enough to reach around your body loosely. Bond the rectangles of padding together, lengthwise, in a line, using the glue, and then glue the elastic to the center of the line, so that at least 6 inches is left at either end of the line of padding. Cut holes for your arms. Glue the red fabric to the padding, cutting X's where the arm holes are and gluing into the holes, and folding and gluing the fabric around the edges of the padding line also. Secure over a body suit and tights or stretch pants by tying the elastic together and tucking inside the suit. Wrap the baby in the beige fabric to make the "Worm".

There are several mom and baby Halloween costumes that can be made using variations on the above design and materials. For "Bread & Butter", substitute red and beige fabric for beige - 4 yds, tan - 2 yds and 1 yd bright yellow. Glue the padding together to form 2 large squares, glue elastic as with apple, cover squares with beige and tan (crust) fabric to create slices of bread. Cover another small square with the yellow fabric and secure to the back of the baby's preferably yellow outfit. If you substitute yellow fabric for purple, and use it to cover a small circle instead of a square, you can create "Toast & Jam".

Another variation on the above is "Pancakes & Butter". The fundamental difference here is that the padding is glued together to form a ring, with a hole in the center for your waist. This can either be secure with elastic as above, or simply pulled on like a skirt.