Fast Halloween Costumes for Toddlers

Usually, you have plenty of time to pick up that perfect Halloween costume for your little one -- but once in a while, you can be taken off guard. Perhaps it's a party you weren't aware of, or a short-notice event at preschool, or even an out-of-season costume party when Halloween costumes aren't generally available.

Fortunately, costumes aren't all that hard to put together, and you can do it pretty easily with elements you probably have at home.

What Not To Do

While it's easy to default to the ghost costume, with a toddler this may not be a good idea. Sheets and other long, drapey costumes can create a tripping hazard, and if there's open flame anywhere they can present a fire hazard as well. You're better off sticking with costumes like the ones described below.

Items You May Need

* Solid-colored sweatsuit, preferably white or black
* Hypoallergenic makeup, especially eyeshadow
* Glue, staples, tape, and other quick and easy fasteners
* Construction paper
* Colored fat-tipped markers (washable if you want to reuse that sweatsuit)
* Cardboard
* The contents of your garage and basement
* Your creativity

Before starting, make sure tht the costume you've selected is as much to your child's tastes as it is to yours. Part of what makes a costume work is the person wearing it. If you dress him as a pirate and he acts like a dragon, it's not going to work.

Simple Ninja Costumes

Probably the easiest quick costume is that of a ninja. You'll need black sweats and black socks, a black bandanna or square of any black cloth in about the same size and shape (I've cut the backs out of old black T-shirts for this), and solid-colored Christmas ribbon in a shade your child likes. Also, you'll need either his normal plastic ninja toy weapons, or cardboard and silver duct tape to fashion your own.

Dress your child in the sweats, and then tie ribbons around his forearm, leaving ends trailing. The socks -- and these will be ruined by the end of the evening -- should be pulled over his shoes and the bottom of his sweats. Then another length of ribbon should be tied around each leg, crisscrossing it from just below the knee to just above the ankle. Tie this off as well, and leave just enough ribbon trailing that he won't trip over it. Tie one last ribbon around his waist, looping it around him several times before fastening. Don't leave ends trailing on this one.

The bandanna should be wrapped to cover his head and tied in the back; pull the front down over the eyes. Mark spots to snip eyeholes. To keep the mask from fraying, soak the eyehole sections in school glue and allow them to dry before cutting the holes. (Make sure there is no glue residue to flake off and get in his eyes!) Tie a ribbon over the mask and leave ends trailing. You can also fashion another bandanna so that it covers his lower face -- leaving only the nose exposed -- like a veil or the traditional Old West bandito's mask. This can also help cover the neck.

Toy or created ninja weapons should be stuck into the waist ribbon and the ribbons on his legs. You now have a dangerous armed warrior standing in your living room!

Simple Angel Costume

Ideally, for your angel costume you'll need a white nightgown or white dress; in a pinch, you can use a white pillowcase with holes cut out for the neck and arms (as in the ninja costume, soak the parts you're going to cut with glue to prevent fraying). If it's cold in your area, you'll also need white sweats to wear underneath. In addition, you'll need lots of glitter hairspray; three easily-bendable wire clotheshangers; silver, gold, or white tinsel garlands left over from your Christmas tree; sparkly shoes in silver, white or gold, or just white slippers; and large-size white tights.

Halo: Shape your halo with one wire hanger, one circle at the top and another at the bottom to slip over her head. This should NOT fit tightly. Cushion the headpiece part with glued-on felt, and fasten to her hair later with hairclips, a tie around her chin, or whatever works well for you and her hair. Wrap a piece of tinsel garland around the halo part thickly enough to partially obscure the wire -- then tie, reverse, and wrap it in the other direction all the way around again. (This anchors the tinsel and makes the "halo" stand out well.) Tie off in the back, and tape
securely over the tie.

Wings: Shape the other two wire hangers into small wing shapes, ensuring you have two spots that fit against your child's back so they can be securely fastened. Wrap the loose ends of the wires in white tape (first aid tape is ideal). Now take the large white tights and pull them over the wings so that it stretches them out to cover the entire wing. The remaining end of the tights can be used later to help fasten the wings on. Alternately, you can tie them off and use white Christmas ribbon to fasten them later. Edge this by gluing more Christmas garlands all the way around the edge around the wing.

Putting It Together: The dress or pillowcase goes on first, with an optional belt made of part of the garland, curtain ties, or even simple white ribbon, and then her shoes. Cover your little girl's eyes and spray her all over to make the dress glitter. Tie the wings at the waist and just inside her shoulderblades; this is the hardest part, so it might be worth using very long white or gold ribbons, tieing them all the way around her and even crisscrossing the ribbons over her chest. This won't ruin the look, and will make sure the wings stay put. Fix her hair, then spray that down again with glitter spray. Top her with the halo, and you have a picture of innocence that you wish she matched all the time.

Note: because glitter hairspray gets on everything, it might be better to spray it in the garage or outside to prevent your bathroom from being semi-permanently beglittered. I spray in my bathroom; I kind of like the resultant glittery walls.

Simple Pirate Costume

This one's really easy. You need a white top and black bottoms from the sweatsuits, white close-fitting socks (like trouser socks) and black shoes. A red bandanna will come in useful to tie over the hair, and a wide red piece of cloth makes a fantastic sash, into which pistols, knives, and swords can be thrust.

The top is the hardest part. To get that piratical look, you'll need a garish vest, another red sash to loop over one shoulder bandolier-style, or you'll have to draw on lacings at the throat in black marker (the easiest way is to draw an X with circles at the four tips).

The socks should fit snugly on the legs; for the best effect, pull them up to the knee, and then pull the bottoms of the sweatpants up to the knee but over the top of the socks, mimicking breeches worn in the 1700s.

In the sash, thrust play daggers, swords, and other piratical weapons. The more you have, the better the effect. When doing makeup, boys should receive a 5 o'clock shadow, and maybe a blacked-out tooth. Dark gray smudges from your eyeshadow can create soot from battle. Girls should have their hair frizzed a little, but a little pretty makeup is fine for them. Still, they too should have gray smudges. Otherwise, the costumes can be the same for either sex.

Other Costumes

You can use the same techniques listed above to create your own quick, easy toddler costumes, and add your own ideas.

For instance, need a dragon's tail? Snip a hole in the back of green sweatpants, and pull the tail of a green stuffed animal through it, anchoring with quick stitches or staples. The rest of the stuffed animal can be used as a hump, hidden under the sweatshirt, giving your little one a really beastly look. Knight costume? Snip armholes and a head hole in a white pillowcase, color in a red cross on the front and back (for a knight templar), and use gray sweats sprayed with lots of silvery
glitter, then accessorize.

With your creativity and things you literally have laying around the house, you can come up with dozens of costumes that will delight your little one.