Scary Kids Halloween Costumes

Every year at Halloween, I pride myself in the creation of my children's Halloween costumes. I have been making homemade costumes for all four of them since they were babies until the oldest went off to college, and even she still comes around for a "motherly tip" once in awhile. Every year at Halloween, their schools will hold a Halloween carnival which will include a costume contest. We have won 6 times out of 7.

The costumes I will present to you are easily made and also afford ably made. Kids love to dress up scary and creepy for Halloween, so use a few of these ideas for "scary kids halloween costumes" , but remember we don't want it to be so scary that they end up running into our rooms at night for refuge. You can come up with what I like to call "Friendly-Frightening" kid costumes. The more creative you get, the better the costume becomes.

The Top on my list for scary kids halloween costumes:

1. Little Freddy Krueger. This costume is a classic horror film character, but when it is transformed into a youngster, it softens the horror side of it. This costume is so easy to make too. Find an old fishing hat, spray paint it dark brown if needed, burn the edges of the hat or if fire frightens you too much to attempt, you can cut or "fray" the edges and paint them to look burnt.

A normal pair of beige or tan pants that you can "dirty up" either by using real dirt to stain them with (grass stains work nicely and are fun for the kids to create) or by adding a few sprays of paint and a scissor number on them. The shirt should be a stripped long sleeve shirt, if unavailable you can buy the actual costume shirt at your local Halloween store for around $10. Add some realistic tears or slashes in the shirt and be sure to add a few "burn marks" as well.

The infamous claw hand. This is an item that you may want to purchase, but it too can be made at home with a garden glove and plastic knives. Take the glove and make very small slits at the ends of the fingers, just enough to have the knives barely come through. Once you have all the plastic knives in the openings of the fingers, be sure to wrap the knives with silver electrical tape to resemble actual metal knives but also this keeps any sharp edges smooth for safety.

Add a little makeup to look like a burned face, very easy to do with a darker shade of foundation and charcoal Grey eyeshadow. The costume is scary and brilliant, not too mention, cheap!

2. The Mummy Child. I did this costume for my Son one year and people were absolutely amazed, they wanted to know how I created that mummy head. It is a hard costume to recreate though if it needs to be worn more than once, so my suggestion is to have a "spare" waiting if you are planning on using it more than once on Halloween.

Start by finding a football helmet, it could be a costume one or maybe a real one that your neighbors son had. But a football helmet works the best. You will need to find an old sheet that can be ripped and stripped, then you strategically wrap the sheet strips around the helmet and mouth piece of the helmet in layers, the more the better so that every part of the helmet is covered and not showing through.

For the body you will be doing the same technique, wrapping layers of the sheet strips around their body, make sure to angle them in different directions to look like a mummy wrap. Garden gloves or mittens can be used on the hands and snow boots or rain galoshes work nicely for the feet, both of which will also be wrapped in the sheet strips.

Once the entire body and helmet are wrapped, start adding random pieces of gauze to the costume. This can be done by going to a fabric store and buying a yard of gauze, rip the gauze into different sizes and shapes (the kids love to do this part!) and start attaching the pieces to different locations. Use face makeup to create that "dead" look. Simple as that! This one won us 1st Place at our carnival too!

3. Werewolf Boy. My personal favorite! What ever clothes you will be dressing them in will work, but remember it is a costume, so use only clothes that either do not fit properly anymore or clothes they do not want to keep.

Cut the pants off to about just below the knees, make a small cut right in the seat of the pants for the tail to come through. To create a tail, I used a Halloween witch wig, that had black and Grey colored hair. Cut the wig or hair into the length you desire and fasten with a knot at one end, then wrap tightly with duct tape to keep in place. Insert into the opening at the seat of the pants.

Find an old long sleeve shirt to rip up and be sure to add many tears across the chest area to resemble claw marks. To create fur paws or hands, you can buy werewolf hands/gloves, or you can create them on your own with simple winter mittens. For the head, all you need to do is "frizz out" their natural hair and spray it different shades of brown, black and Grey, it will transform into "fur". Grab a pair of the rubber elf ears or werewolf ears from any novelty costume shop and apply. This costume is really the easiest and can be done up or down in the scary department depending on teeth, fake blood, or makeup job.

4. Dead Bride. Totally creepy and can be frightening for the younger kids if not careful. Run to a thrift store to find a bridal gown, the older or more vintage, the scarier it will be, Tear and tatter the dress, adding a few "blood stains". Purchase the standard netting to make a veil or maybe try to pick one up where you get the dress. Add cob webs to the veil and hair. The bouquet should be made with either dead dried up flowers (best result) or silk flowers that have been spray painted black or Grey. Add any props you like, my daughter used a large butcher like knife (plastic of course!) And hollow out your face with Grey shades of makeup around the eyes and mouth.

5.Two Headed Monster. This takes a bit more work but is most definitely worth the time and effort. To create your masterpiece, one must first find a head...a real life-like head. OK well I suppose you could just run down to the Halloween store and pick up one of those "display heads" used for decorating your home or yard. Now the fun part, what will your monster look like? They always say two heads are better than one, and this should be true with your heads! Be creative, make "your" head (the real one your child has) different looking than the second head (the fake model head). On the second head make it extremely creepy by adding lot's of blood, props and maybe a few nuts and bolts. On your own head create the "three eye" look by painting a single eye on the forehead right between your own. This effect looks awesome! You can Even paint eyes on the eyelids so that when they close it looks like they are still open.

The body can be made to look however you want. Always remember to rip up any garments for that true Halloween affect. And be sure to be safe on Halloween. Never let your children trick or treat by themselves, and what ever you do, make sure all props have been checked for safety. No sharp edges or heavy material that could be dangerous. Never use paint that may contain lead and check all makeup for allergic reactions prior to use.