This Halloween, you don’t need much more than store-bought items and no-sew techniques to win the prize. You’ll get step-by-step directions on making our costumes for kids, adults, and even parents, as well as some great advice from craft blogger Amber Kemp-Gerstel on making your costume.
An outfit based on The Lorax.
Most children prefer to dress up as a well-known figure. To illustrate his point, Kemp-Gerstel brings up a fictional character from a child’s book. “It’s a good middle ground,” she says of it. “You get the satisfaction of creating something one-of-a-kind, and your child gets the joy of playing with others.”
Simple paper mask; scissors; fake yellow fur; hot glue and gun; body paint; paintbrush; plain yellow molded paper mask; these are the materials you’ll need
- It’s easy to make:
- The base for Lorax’s eyebrows and mustache will be cut out of the center of the paper mask.
- Cut out two 3″x6″ diamond-shaped pieces of yellow faux fur for the mustache. Each mask should be glued on the bottom, with the fur pointing outward in different directions. To shape the mustache, cut the backing under the fur (to keep the furriness) before trimming the fabric.
- Cut out two 1.5″x3″ faux fur ovals for the brows. Using hot glue, attach the fur to the mask’s top, ensuring that the skin is facing the other direction.
- You can paint the mask to match your child’s skin tone if any of the show is still visible.
Wear a costume inspired by the Truffula Tree
What you’ll want to know: Ponchos made of faux fur, regular pom-poms, embroidery floss, and beading cord stick and cannon of hot glue; No-frills hat
Making the necklace: Create your favorite necklace pattern by arranging a mixture of faux fur and ordinary pom-poms on a flat surface. To make a necklace, thread a needle with floss or cord to the desired length, plus a few inches for a knot, and tie a knot at the end. The pom-poms’ centers should be sewed together. Pom-poms with two loops are made by threading your needle through the first loop, back through the second loop, and back through the first loop. Knot the necklace shut when it’s the proper length.
Glue pom-poms to the top of the headband with a hot glue gun, then wear!
Costume for a “Wonderful” Baby
Using a Leveret Striped Footed Pajamas Sleeper and a handful of balloons, you may make the baby from Emily Winfield Martin’s picture book The Wonderful Things You Will Be.
Costume for a baby shark
Infants in Halloween costumes are adorable, but they don’t seem to enjoy themselves nearly as much as their parents do. Thanks to its plush hood and easy zipper, this easy-to-make baby shark Halloween costume passes with flying colors.
A grey sweatshirt, pink, white, and black felt, and a hot glue gun are all you’ll need. Comfortable pajamas with grey footie socks
- Here’s how to do it:
Measure the aperture of the hood and cut a piece of pink felt that is the same length and width as the shark’s gums.
To attach the felt to the outside of the hood:
- Fold it over the edge of the hood and hot glue it in the middle of the long edge.
- Apply glue to the hood’s whole border.
- Use hot-glue to adhere the other end to the interior of the hood.
To make the teeth, cut out 12 3/4″ x 1 1/4″ white felt triangles and glue them to pink felt gums.
To create eyes, cut out small white and black circles of felt; hot glue them together and place them on top of each other above your gum.
Dressed like a Donut
Making a costume from scratch isn’t the key to a successful DIY costume. Use pajamas or sweats in a basic solid hue as your base instead. These can be obtained on the Primary.com website. As a child, Kemp-Gerstel avoided making Halloween costumes because they looked “too complicated and time-consuming,” she tells her Parents. “I used pajamas as the framework for my family’s superhero costumes last year, and I followed the same strategy for this collaboration.”
What you’ll need: Tracing paper, round things to trace, cardboard, pencil, scissors, craft knife, tan or brown felt, and a hot glue gun. Batting; Fabric glue and paintbrush (optional); Captain Creative Magic Nuudles (optional); Pink puffy paint; 1-inch grosgrain ribbon; self-adhesive Velcro squares; optional pink felt; (optional)
- It’s easy to make:
Cut a 16-inch circular out of cardboard using scissors or a craft knife and trace it onto a tray, large bowl, or garbage can lid. Once you have traced a little bowl or roll of tape, cut it out with a craft knife to make a donut hole.
On a large piece of felt, place the cardboard doughnut. Then, using a larger circle, trace around the doughnut to ensure you have enough felt to wrap over the cardboard. Make a circle out of the paper and cut it out.
Replacing the cardboard donut atop the felt circle should be a simple matter. Hot glue the felt in place at four points around the circle, so it folds over the cardboard. Batts should be stuffed between the felt and the cardboard. To complete the process, continue to glue the outer edge down. To prevent the felt from bunching up, cut little ‘V’ notches in it as needed.
Make a small hole in the middle of the felt with scissors. Cut the hole slightly larger using scissors, but leave enough touch to fold over the cardboard donut’s an inside edge. Cut slits in the felt and glue them to the back of the doughnut to help you fold it down.
Hot glue a 20-inch ribbon to the back of the doughnut to make a neck strap. Attach the other end of the Velcro using self-stick Velcro after checking the placement on your child.
Make a pink “frosting” for your donut by cutting off a piece of pink felt. Apply fabric glue on one side of the doughnut and stick it down. To make sprinkles, cut the craft noodles in half lengthwise. Use hot-glue to attach them to the donut.
To “frost,” the chocolate donut cut a slightly wider hole in the puff paint bottle’s opening. Donuts should be placed on paper or newspaper, and the paint should be squirted back and forth quickly.