(Note: excuse the blurry pictures, my kidlets do not stand still normally but especially not when they are waiting to go get candy!)

So by now you know that I like things to be easy. Stress free. I don’t like a whole lot of planning and I don’t like a whole lot of work. ;)

Same goes for Halloween.

So every year I try to come up with costumes that are a combination of clothing items the kids already have, some dollar store additions and some parts that may have be created or adapted or made. But I try to make it easy on myself and usually come up with something pretty effective and affordable.

So here are my last few years of costumes and some tips on how to create something without a lot of expense:

1. Think of what you have – I remembered as I was looking at items at the dollar store that Little Miss’s vest was purple, that was our starting point. For Little Man, I thought of costumes that would incorporate his glasses.
2. Pick a colour scheme – If you put a bunch of pieces together that look the same colour you get a really great visual costume. Once I remembered Little Miss’s vest, the purple and black leg warmers and gloves (dollar store) just brought it together. Some ribbon and tulle attached to the hat (all from dollar store also) and that was the extent of her costume. The black outfit underneath was all her own clothing, the belt was mine and those are her normal rainboots.
3. It doesn’t have to be perfect – Little Man’s hat wasn’t a perfect red and white striped hat but it worked. I added a pom pom from my old winter toque to make it more Waldo like.
4. It only has to last one night – Waldo’s shirt was created by cutting apart two dollar store tshirts (one red and one white) and quickly sewing them back together to make one striped shirt. The seams were not perfect, nor were they straight. His glasses were black pipe cleaners wrapped around his real glasses. Both those things were just thrown together quickly. It only has to last one night.

Total cost of her costume: $7 (leg warmers, gloves, hat, tulle and ribbon)
Total cost for his costume: $6 (red tshirt, white tshirt, hat and pipe cleaners)

5. Let them wear it again – If they want to be something again, I say let them. Being original is sometimes more for you and why stress? I mean, it is not like too many people other than you remember what they were last year. Little Man already wore Indiana Jones in 2009 (see below) so we had most of the pieces already. It is a dollar store gangster hat painted with brown craft paint. And the clothes were all his own brown and beige pieces I could find (colour scheme). Little Miss was Sleeping Beauty and had the dress from our Disney trip and the crown was dollar store. Super simple!

Total cost of his costume: $1 (we had to recreate the hat – first one got lost)
Total cost for her costume: $1 (crown)

6. One item may make the whole outfit – Little Man wanted to be Mario so the most important part was the hat. I searched for this early (he was obsessed with Mario this year and knew this would be his costume) and found a red newsboy cap online for $5. The rest of his costume was cheap broadcloth for the overalls, painted cardboard for the “M” on the hat, painted cardboard for the yellow buttons, makeup for the moustache and his own red hoodie and my white gloves.
7. It doesn’t matter if no one knows who they are – When ordering Little Man’s hat, I saw the same hat in pink which made me think of the new Strawberry Shortcake, so I ordered it too. I stitched quick dots all over the hat and a strawberry on her vest and created a quick bubble skirt out of polka dotted fabric. Little Miss had enough pink pieces to put together for the rest of the outfit (colour scheme) but didn’t want to wear a wig. She was adamant against it! So no one really KNEW in the dark she was Strawberry Shortcake but she felt like she looked like her, she was happy, and that was all that mattered.

Total cost of his costume: $13 (fabric & hat)
Total cost for her costume: $15 (fabric & hat)

8. It doesn’t matter if YOU don’t know what they are – I collected from Little Miss’s room, a light blue turtleneck, a light blue tutu, found light blue wings at the Halloween store, a silver wand from her dress up bin, and everything else was white/cream. Because she also wore (outside) her cream sweater and beret, we decided she was a Winter Fairy making snowflakes. Works for me! :)
9. Things look good from a distance – Little Man’s rope was actually cord I had in my sewing stash, looped and tied with burlap ribbon and attached to his belt. Looked good to him and to me.

Total cost of his costume: $2 (hat & toy gun)
Total cost for her costume: $10 (wings)

10. If you buy, buy for re-useability – Both of these costumes came from things I purchased knowing they would wear again

    Because Little Man wanted to be a pirate, I knew he needed a white blouse-y style shirt. I bought a simple collared shirt a couple sizes too big and after he wore it on Halloween put it in his closet. It worked for the next few years for his Christmas Concert and dress up shirt. The rest of his costume was a dollar store pirate kit and a womens black and white scarf also from the dollar store. I put black electrical tape over the Diego on his rain boots and drew a Jolly Roger. Done!

    For Little Miss, I actually saw the sweater and striped turtle neck first and thought it was cute just for wearing, but it was my starting off point to find the other pieces for her fairy outfit.

Total cost of their costumes: I don’t remember but these costumes were the most expensive since clothes were bought with the intention of wearing again. They did wear all of these pieces again (her purple outfit was one of her favourites that winter!).

So there you have my tips on making Haloween simple, cheap and stress-free.
Hope you had a good one. :)

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Posted by Janet under create, life
Tags: create, dollar store, holidays, kid, kids