Easy Bible Character and Saints Costumes for Halloween or All Saints Day

Whether you celebrate Halloween and trick-or-treat and have children dress as saints, or if you celebrate All Saints Day with a costume party, here are tips for easy, creative saints and Bible character costumes. Recycle bin and no-sew costumes, too.

Bible character and Medieval mendicant saints costumes: For St. Peter, St. Paul, Jesus, any of the apostles or disciples, old testament prophets, Moses, David, Daniel, Joshua or any of the patriarchs, a simple brown or tan robe works well for a cloak. You can also use an over sized man's tee-shirt (2X-5X). Cut the tee-shirt up the front to make a cloak. To make a short tunic, leave the tee-shirt uncut and cinch at the waist like a dress. Another easy way to make a tunic is by using a large rectangular piece of fabric (long enough to hang at or below the knees). Fold the rectangle in half lengthwise. Cut a head hole in the middle. Place this over the child's head so that the long sides of the rectangle form a 'dress' or skirt'. The sides will be open. Cinch the robe around the waist to form loose sleeves. This should be over-sized and baggy. It can also be ragged.

For weathy or royal saints, make the garment from purple or blue fabric. The edges should not be ragged. For Joseph, son of Jesse, use brightly colored fabric for his 'coat of many colors'. For St. John the Baptist, make costume extra ragged and dirty.

Female Bible characters and saints costumes: Blessed Mother Mary, St. Anne, St. Elizabeth, St. Veronica, St. Mary Magadalene, Mary and Martha. You can use the cut cloth robe or tee shirt, but the shirt should be long sleeved as women did not often bare their arms in Bible times.

Use rope or twine for a belt. Include sandals and a stick for a walking staff. For head covering, use an old neutral color towel. Tie the towel around the head with a piece of fabric twisted to make a rope. Head coverings for men are tied in back over the towel. Head coverings for women are tied around the face and under the hair. Make a belt from twisted fabric also, if you wish. To identify each character, include a prop. For a list of Bible character symbols, visit the linked blogs.