It’s that time of year again. The time that our children have to come up with THE costume. If yours are anything like mine, on November 1, they are saying “Next year for Halloween, I think I’ll be. . . . ” My daughter Amanda never runs short on creativity in coming up with her costumes. I don’t know if it’s her creativity or my frugality, but between the two, we usually end up making her costume. My very favorite was when she was four (or five?), and she told me she wanted to be a “girl superhero.”
I took an old baby blanket, attached some ribbon with the no-sew adhesive glue stuff, and made a cape. I bought a navy T-shirt and leggings and attached the A for “Super Amanda” to her shirt (although this led to a few guesses that she was Alvin, and this was even before the Chipmunks movie). She wore classes, so I attached her felt mask to her glasses frame. A bow matching the cape string for her ponytail and a dog temporarily playing the part of sidekick Shadow rounded it out.
How about trying a costume based on your children’s favorite literary character this year?
Scholastic Parent and Child magazine is a great resource in general, and especially right now if you are strapped for a creative costume idea for your child.
They offer step-by-step instructions for 6 easy costumes to make at home. Check out these ideas:
- Captain Underpants
- Angelina Ballerina
- The Very Hungry Caterpillar
- and three more!
Check out their article for all the facts and pictures of each of the costumes.
Would you like to win a set of Halloween themed books targeted to your child’s age (U.S. shipping addresses only)? Just leave a comment here. Tell us about a creative costume you’ve come up with, or if you don’t get creative, tell us what your child is going to dress up as this year. We’ll draw a winner on October 22, so that you’ll get your books in time to enjoy for the season!
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan is a contributing editor at 5 Minutes for Mom. She has been blogging at Snapshot for over two years.
We aren’t even sure what our 2 year old is going to be for Halloween yet. We are thinking Super Man. His dad is big on super heroes!
My five year old daughter is going to be a peacock! She always comes up with elaborate ideas!
Thank you for the giveaway!
I think the most creative costume was when my husband my the youngest boy a lion costume. We had the lion mask (cloth mask from Dollar tree). He sewed a lion outfit out of fur for the body and put a tail on it. It looked pretty good
My daughter is currently at the age where she REALLY wants to pick her own costume. She is going to be a very tween (she’s 10)Goldilocks. My son is a skeleton (he’s 8) but only because his favorite Pokemon and/or Bakugan characters were not in MY reportoire creatively.
My six-year old wants to be Hermione from Harry Potter. I’m just not sure what to do with her very-red hair.
Deidre
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My daughter is going to be glinda the good witch this year and I started two months ago on her costume..
No creative costumes – but this year I have a baby turtle, Spiderman, a Princess Pirate and the scariest of them all – Hannah Montana!
These would be so cool to win leading up to Halloween.
I think Frankenstein is still a great costume.
My son is going to be a lion.
I don’t so much get creative. I let my children dictate what they want to be for Halloween. This year my littlest one is going to be Elvis, as he loves the King’s music.
My son is going to be dressed up as a monkey. This will probably be the last year that I get to decide what he’ll be wearing.
My son is going as a football player
my girls are both going to be hannah montana
I was a table one year! My head stuck out as the centerpiece. My daughter will be a banana this year.
For my daughters first Halloween my mom made her a pink dragon costume. She had shiney silver wings and when we took her trick or treating, a random person asked if they could take a picture of her because she was so cute.
My daughter is dressing up as a cat this year. (I am soooo not creative) I wish I was.
My son is going as a zombie and my daughter is going as a witch.
My daughter is dressing up as Pipi Longstocking. Orange braids and all.
WELL, I have a really creative idea, but my kids won’t do it. I wanted everyone in our family to be a BEE. (for the dissappearing bees). Then when we walk around together we would be a swarm.
But my kids are too cool for this. They want to be Slash and Axl from Guns N Roses, my 6 yr. old boy wants to be Skelebones, and my 3 yr. old daughter wants to be a cowBOY NOT a cowGIRL. Then I will be what I am every year (who’s got money after all those costumes) a giant yellow crayola crayon. But my dog-she will be a BEE. I have to make it for her, but she has no choice!
She will be the voice for the dissappearing bees!
I am going as cat in the hat and my children will be thing 1 and thing 2
My son is going to be a Star War Clone Trooper and my daughter Belle this year!
My son decided he wants black angel wings and a reaper’s outfit, so I guess he’ll be the angel of death, or something to that effect! I once dressed in a bridesmaid dress (at least I wore it more than just once), had a tiara and a large stuffed frog. I carried him around all night kissing him – YET – he never turned into a PRINCE!!!
I am so not creative when it comes to costumes – decorations and crafts yes, sewing nope. My daughter is going to be a cheerleader for the 3rd year in a row.
My granddaughter is dressing as a banana. Organic of course!
My 13 year old is dressing up as a vegi vampire!
We did the recycled costume thing this year
My son is going to be spiderman this year for halloween. It is his favorite holiday!
My son is going to be a fireman and my daughter will be a vampiress this year.
my daughter isn’t too creative as she wants to be Hannah Montana
We always just buy our Halloween costumes. This year my son is going to be a monkey courtesy of Old Navy!
chrisandamyward(at)comcast(dot)net
My kids are dressing up as a giraffe and a zebra.
Not very creative, but still cute – my daughter is dressing up as Princess Leia.
My daughter went as Peppi Longstocking one year. I braided her hair and used pipe cleaners to make the braids stand out.
we exchange costumes with the relatives-this year the boys will be batman and spiderman
My daughter is going as Hermione from Harry Potter this year.
One wants to dress as an intelligent Sarah Palin!?!
My son will be a MN Viking football player and my daughter a dinosaur.
My daughter will be a pirate!!! The whole family is pirates!!!
he is going to dress up like the killer from the movie scream weird cause hes 4
I found a partial cowboy costume at the resale shop and my son thought it looked like Indiana Jones, so with the addition of a whip…voila, Indiana Jones for under $10.00!
I once had an ear of corn costume.
not being too creative this year. I have three girls so it’s pretty much Princesses for awhile now. My oldest is going to be Pocahontas, middle child-Cinderella, and the baby girl is going to be a little golfer! totally going to be cute!
I made my twins into a package of Twinkies for their first Halloween. I put them in yellow sack pj’s, then put them into their double stroller. I got some plastic sheeting and drew on the Twinkie logo then put that across the front.
We made my daughter an Egyptian princess last year, bought Egyptian traditional jewelry online and sewed the costume ourselves.
Princess Alien… shirt or leotard and some gaucho pants… Then some beautiful weird makeup designs and BAM for 5 dollars of makeup a Princess Alien… wiicked13 [at] yahoo [dot] com
Mine is going to be a pumpkin.
Well, my son is going as the frog prince and my daughter was supposed to be the princess but now decided that she’d rather be a penguin!
Haley will be Sleeping Beauty this year . . . store bought.
Last Year we were invited to a last minute halloween party and I hadn’t had time to get my daughter a costume yet. So we took her white sweatsuit and colored black rings around it, and I colored a styrophome craft ball silver and tied it around her leg and she was a prisoner/chain gang member…awful I know, but it turned out really cute, and she ended up wanting to be that for halloween night, so it was cheap also.
We bought a ladybug costume for her last November so it was on clearance and will fit her this year.