Quick, Easy Last Minute Halloween Costumes for Kids: Native American-Indian Girl

Make a Simple, Affordable Costume from Items in Your Home

Lyn Lomasi
It's Halloween already and you still have no clue what to put on your little girl. By the time you both had come to an agreement, the costumes were cleaned out of the stores. Now what do you do? There's no time to sew a costume and even if there was, the stores are all out of the good fabric. The stores that do still have costumes only have the expensive ones left. You need an affordable costume. Don't worry. Here's an easy last minute Native American Indian Girl costume that you and your kids can make together fairly quickly.

With simple instructions and a few items you likely already have in your home, dress up your little girl in a fun, unique costume that won't mirror everyone else's store bought looks. Best of all, since the supplies are gathered from your home, you'll have the bonus of a super-affordable Halloween costume. Think of all the money you'll save. If you have more than one kid straining your budget, this is a huge benefit. Why not dress up all the kids with homemade costumes? They can often look better and cost far less than store-bought ones.

Quick, Easy, Affordable Native American Indian Girl Halloween Costume
If your kids enjoy arts and crafts, chances are that you have many items that can be used to make a unique Native American Indian Halloween costume for your toddler. If not, surely you at least have construction paper for crafting. Either way, here's how to make a quick Native American Indian Girl costume for your child to enjoy wearing this Halloween.

You'll need craft feathers, glue or tape, construction paper, scissors, a package of safety pins, a plain white or brown dress, and some brown shoes. Moccasins work best for the shoes, but if you don't have any, that's alright.

The first step to making your Native American Indian Girl Halloween costume is to make some simple Native American jewelry out of construction paper and safety pins. Take some light blue (preferably turquoise) construction paper. Tear off square shapes about 2 inches around. Crumble them up into balls. Slide these balls onto safety pins. Leave the safety pins open for now. Once you have 20 or 30 safety pins filled, it's time to make them into a bracelet, an anklet, and a necklace. How many you use for each depends on the size of your little girl. Did you know that Native Americans often crafted their own jewelry from handmade turquoise beads? This is a fun fact you can share with your little girl as you create the Native American Halloween costume together.

Start fastening the safety pins together until you make a circle that will easily slip on for an anklet and a bracelet. You'll also want a necklace long enough to slip over the child's neck with plenty of room left over. You can create a belt the same way you created the other jewelry. The belt will need to be tighter, of course. Since you are using safety pins, one can easily be unattached and reattached to put the belt on the child. In addition to the paper beads, you'll also want to use feathers every so often for the belt. If you cannot find craft feathers, you can make some from construction paper by cutting out the feather shape and then using the scissors to cut strips all around them to make them look more real.

An alternative to the construction paper is any other type of paper that you and your little girl can color turquoise or whatever color you have closest to it in a crayon or colored pencil. Color both sides of the paper.

If it is long enough, put two braids in your child's hair, allowing them to hang over the shoulders in front. To secure the braids, take a square piece of construction paper and wrap it around the bottom of each braid about two or three inches up. If you want to also create a headdress, simply make a construction paper band that fits around the top of your little girl's head. Glue or tape feathers all around it. These can be craft feathers or construction paper feathers. You can also create two extra safety pins filled with paper beads to pin to the child's shoes.

Now on Halloween, simply slip the dress on your little girl. Next, put on the shoes. If you chose to create safety pins for the shoes, you may have already secured those ahead of time. If not, do so before putting them on your child. Now put on the belt, necklace, bracelet, anklet, and headdress. Don't forget about the braids. Your child is now ready to go trick-or-treating or to go enjoy a Halloween party or school celebration.

If you and your child will be out at night, don't forget the glow sticks or flashlights. Have a safe and happy Halloween.

*For more Halloween and parenting tips and ideas, click on the author's name or picture above the article.

Published by Lyn Lomasi - Featured Contributor in Lifestyle

Lyn's the Community Advocate at Yahoo! Contributor Network. Contact her with community issues & ideas. She's been contributing since 2007 and previously acted as a Community Guide. Read her tips for success...   View profile

6 Comments

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  • Vivian B. 10/30/2010

    Great ideas! You and your mom are such talented writers. I'm new on here and your mom has really given me some great advice. She is very proud of you!

  • ss 10/31/2009

    because i have all of those things lying around at home...

    great idea and great costume but it's not really last minute things around my home kinda costume.

  • Nikki 9/24/2008

    simple, affordable and cute ... doesn't get much better than that :D

  • Rae Lynne Morvay 9/24/2008

    Wonderful idea!

  • CJ Mathis 9/24/2008

    Fantastic last minute idea.

  • Charlotte Kuchinsky 9/24/2008

    I love this one for obvious reasons.

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