Original Halloween Costumes

Who says Halloween is just for kids? Part of the fun for an adult, being that most of us no longer feel comfortable wearing a tutu or cowboy boots and hat out in public any more, is to create an outfit yourself for your child to wear instead. You can find dozens of costumes in stores to buy for your child but with a little time, effort and imigination you can really come up with some great ideas yourself. Get together with your child and look in his or her room, is there something in there that fascinates them? Turn that into a costume! It can be an object or something real. Maybe there is a favorite mascot on television, make that his costume. Make a list of ideas then decide which would be the easiest to make without having to spend a lot of money buying supplies. Be sure to search through closets and craft bins for materials laying around which you may have forgotten about.

The following are two costumes I made, each with their own step by step instructions, if you'd like to try one.

One year my son was a tree. This is the simplest yet most effective costume you can make. All you need is a long-sleeved brown adult size turtle neck sweater, preferably one you no longer need. Ribbed knit works best as it gives a neat "tree trunk" appearance. If you don't have a turtleneck, a cardigan will work too. You can even put it on your child backwards and have it zip or button from the back so that the front is plain. Pull that over your child's head and he has become an instant tree. If the knit sweater is long enough, it could come down below your child's knees, which is perfect. Have him wear brown pants underneath and brown or even black shoes. This will bring the trunk down to the ground. Check your closet. If it's any shade of brown, it will work.

Now the base of the trunk is done (how simple is this). Go outside and snip off several thin tree branches that have autumn turned leaves on them from a tree in your yard, or anywhere you find them. Depending on the size of your child, I'd say start with maybe 6 different branches. Just keep in mind, they must be thin as your child will be wearing them! Take a single little branch, insert it thru the sleeves of the turtleneck he is wearing by weaving the stem in and out of the fabric.. Knit works best as holes are easily accessible in the fabric. Keep weaving until the branch stays in place, arranging the leaves to spread out around the arm. You now created a "branch" for your tree using an arm. Do the same for the other arm. You may need to use more than one branch per arm, use your judgment on how full you want the branch to be. Thread can also be used to tie branches in place around the arm.

So what to do with his head? Dig out a safari hat, or any hat with a decent rim. Khaki or brown, it doesn't matter. Take more branches and safety pin them to the sides of the hat or tie them to the hat with thread. You can hot glue single leaves all around the rim and sides and top to fill in gaps. Make some thin branches jet out from the sides and top of the hat so that the branches have free movement to "blow" in the wind. Be sure you no longer need this hat. A brown knit ski cap will work too, only be careful as the hat will sit directly on your child's head and you don't want to stick branches into his head!

There you have it. Your child is now a beautiful Autumn tree. If you decide to make his face blend, grab some of your brown and green eye shadow and brush it in leaf shapes all over his face. You can hot glue a few single leaves to the upper body of the tree trunk as well but keep the neck area clear as it will have to be pulled on and off your child if using a turtleneck. I recommend making the arms while your child is wearing the turtleneck. You can always add to it after if you see gaps. My son looked so real as a tree that during the Halloween Parade at his school, which took place outside in the school yard with about 100 children, he was the only one to get stung by a bee! What are the odds of that?

Another year I made the "White Cloud" come down to earth! Remember the commercial? Using a white adult sized turtleneck for my son to use, I hot glued clumps of cotton all over the shirt and sleeves. You can use blanket snow for Christmas displaying, and you can use cobwebs from party stores as well. Just stretch the cotton material out to make it nice and fluffy. I bought a "White Cloud" toilet tissue 4 pack, carefully slit the back of the package, removed the rolls from inside and re-stuffed the package with more cotton. Leaving the toilet paper rolls inside would have made it too heavy. I safety-pinned the package to the turtleneck from the inside of the shirt all around the sides. I bobby-pinned clumps of white cotton to his head as well. With white pants and sneakers on, even khaki pants or any light grey sweat pants will do, the "White Cloud" descended to earth!

Creating costumes is fun. Having your child participate in the process of it all makes him feel special, too! Consider all safety issues when making a costume, as you don't want anything too long that may cause your child to trip and fall, or have sharp objects that can hurt him or anyone else. All you need is a lot love and a little imagination....

Happy Halloween!