Halloween Costume Ideas for the Physically Challenged

People of all ages and abilities should be able to participate in the fun of the Halloween season. From "Trick or Treating" to costume parties no one should feel left out. However, physical impairments can make the choice of costumes require more creativity than just going to a store and purchasing an off the shelf costume. Costume ideas vary with the type of impairment and the age of the participant.

For anyone confined to a wheelchair there are actually many options and ideas available. A younger person can dress themselves up to appear very old and in need of wheelchair. For an older teen or adult, reverse the idea. You can dress as an infant and dress the chair as a baby stroller. Use your imagination, add pacifiers, bibs and baby rattles to an infant costume. For an elderly costume, make a cone shaped old fashioned hearing aid and add a cozy quilt. Gray hair and some good makeup should help to complete your transformation.

Dress the entire chair and make yourself the centerpiece. With a bit of creative work the wheelchair can become an Easter basket and the occupant an Easter egg or chocolate bunny. If you have a friend to join in the fun they can dress as the Easter Bunny! The same principle can be applied to creating a box of chocolates, a T.V. set, computer monitor .... the list can go on and on, the only limit is your imagination. For an easier to create costume, you can be a hospital patient, complete with gown, or a mummy. Again if a friend or parent can join in, they could dress as a nurse or mummy hunter to complete the effect.

If you are not completely wheelchair confined and have a partner to work with, a little red wagon could also provide ample costume opportunities. With simple creativity the wagon can be dressed in a variety of ways. Cardboard pieces large enough to cover all four sides can turn the wagon into a washing machine and the occupant can be covered in laundry. You could try a "jack-in-the-box" costume by adding a lid to your four wagon sides and popping out to say, "Trick or Treat!"

For the visually impaired or anyone with a service dog simply try a costume that reverses the roles. Buy or make yourself a dog costume and dress your service dog with small glasses, a hat and a bandana. The creativity for dressing your dog will depend on it's temperament but you might even be able to add a pair of pants. Just remember that your dog is vital to you and it's comfort and safety are paramount.

Searching any website for Halloween costumes should give you beginning ideas to work with. The only true limits for costumes for the physically impaired are creativity and imagination. Everyone no matter what their limits are should be able to join in the fun!