Easy & Quick Sewing Ideas for Halloween

Instead of spending too much money this year for either your kids' costumes or your own for something worn once and then, usually, disposed of, do something worth keeping.

You will need:

Large white or light colored shirt or sweatshirt (large enough to be worn over other clothing - the bigger the better). Visit your local thrift shop or second hand store and explore.

Paper bags or paper boxes.

Rubber gloves or other gloves if disposable.

Colored markers (Permanent - not washable). and/or Fabric paints and/or Spray paints.

Children's washable glue for paper and scissors.

Costume Idea #1 for Adults: You're a Walking Scrapbook / Tattoo; The shirt you will wear over your regular clothes. Carry the markers, etc. in a paper bag or a tote and the markers are for others to write on you. Remember your yearbooks? Or when you had a cast everybody wrote on it? This will be the year when they can tattoo you. Whatever. And then, you get to keep the shirt just like you would a scrapbook page. If a mask is desired, a used one can be purchased from a thrift or secondhand shop and sanitized prior to wearing. Add hats, wigs, scarves, etc. if desired.

Costume Idea #2 for Children: Before Halloween, have your kids try the paper bag or box on their head and decide which way to wear it for a mask. Cut out eye holes, nose and mouth areas. From the Internet, download images of their favorite cartoon characters, superheros, etc., print out numerous copies in color and have the kids cut out the shapes and paste on their "mask" and on the backs of their gloves to create 'superhands'. Doing the artwork on the backs of the gloves is very important because then the kids can see the identity/artwork they chose where they won't be able to see the mask once they're wearing it.

On the shirt, have your child decide what they want to put on it - but they have to draw it themselves - not you. Do they want to cover it all in their own writings and drawings or do they want to leave some space for their friends to help them? It's their artwork that makes it special. If you want it to be washable, do not use crayons or colored pencils - only permanent products.

Can you do colored transfers instead of cut & paste? Sure, if you want to get that involved and spend the money, but ultimately, it won't matter what medium you use - it's the message & the memory that counts.