With two weeks left until Halloween, the last place I want to be is anywhere that sells Halloween costumes. I don’t need to leave the house to hear the sounds of chaos or multiple children pleading for something they don’t need all at the same time. But don’t get me wrong, I am SUPER excited for Halloween and to share a few more costume ideas that you can make for your whole family, still in time for Halloween!
I would be such a disappointing mother (a frightful thing indeed!), if I didn’t feature one of our most beloved read/sing-alouds, Room on the Broom. It’s not a Halloween-specific story, but we tend to read it more around this time of year.
If your little ones also love this book, then easily win their hearts by dressing up as the characters. You can also read on for additional themed ideas at the end!
For Room on the Broom, here’s the quick and easy (and I mean easy, even if you aren’t too crafty!) way.
The Witch: Red shirt, purple skirt, white tights, black shoes, black cape from any black fabric pinned with something green (a button, a fake gem, or whatever you’ve got lying around), a witches hat, braid, and bow. Don’t forget your broom. Go ALL out with temporary dye or a ginger colored wig, braided down the back. And add/paint on a wart. Voila, you have a witch (without fries…read the book).
The Dog: White sweat shirt and sweat pants. Add spots by attaching brown felt (I’d use a glue gun or a basic stitch) or painting them on. White shoes. Attach dog ears made of brown felt to a headband or beanie. Roll up some white felt and add a brown spot to make your tail then use a safety pin to attach it. Paint on a cute doggy nose and some whiskers.
The Cat: Easy peasy with orange sweats. Paint the stripes. Add a tail in the same fashion as the dog tail (see above) but with orange felt and painted stripes. Add cat ears to a head band or beanie (glue gun fun again!). Paint on a nose and whiskers.
The Frog: I think by now you get it. Green sweats. Add spots if desired. What will really make your frog are the buggy eyes. Make from hard white felt, color in the pupil, and attach to the top of a green beanie or headband.
The Bird: Green sweats. Cut out some cardboard wings to put around your birdie’s arms. You’ll attach them with armbands just under the armpit and reinforce them if you want with an extra band just above the elbow. You can paint them green and be done with it. But I’d add some craft feathers or at least green construction paper to layer it so that they’ll look more like wings. If you have some elastic, simply add the right amount to fit snugly (but not too tightly) around your birdie’s arms (as described above). Your glue gun will work great. If you don’t have elastic, just add some ribbon that you can tie around your birdie’s arms or pin to the sleeves.
The Dragon: You could go ALL out with this one if you had time, but here is the easy way. Red sweat pants. Use the hard felt to cut out some spikes and glue them along the back with hot glue gun of course! If you create a groove-like crease to hold them upright, they’ll look and stand upright best! Cut out cardboard to make wings. Paint them accordingly. (By the way, I prefer acrylic paint because it really covers well, leaving no trace of markings previously left on the cardboard.) I would attach ribbon or elastic to the wings so that they can be worn around your shoulders. You’ll just slip them on like a jacket.
For the horn, add a cardboard cutout (painted white with lines, of course) to a headband or a red beanie along with the ears cut out from felt. Glue gun fun again! People should know you are a dragon even without all the hard work of making a tail, but if you are quick and crafty, simply use red felt, some batting, and sew or glue a tale together then safety pin it to the bottom of your red sweatshirt. For extra fun, paint some red jagged lines along your dragon’s jawline and maybe some line across his or her nose. You could also use yellow around the eyes to give your dragon an extra spooky look.
ADD GLOVES (add felt triangle cut outs for claws when appropriate) to match and complete your animal costumes. The beanies and gloves are a must if you live in cold climates! You can keep everyone warm as part of their costume rather than covering up a costume.
If Halloween weren’t just 2 weeks away, or if you have knitting talents or a friend who does, I’d get knitted hats to really make these costumes pop. Then you have cute hats for the winter too! Here are some examples to inspire you!
Other fun family-themed ideas:
Paw Patrol – Next year, I might have to team up with one of my fave families to not just represent Ryder and all of his pups but some of the other Adventure Bay Characters too.
I would look for the community helper hats in children’s and educational costumes or make them from ball caps and add ears or the proper logo for each pup. Your pups could use long sleeve shirts and pants that resemble the appropriate fur color then wear puffer vests (or any vest, even a sweatshirt with sleeves removed) that are the right color then add their pup badges, which you could easily print and laminate. (My quick and easy at-home lamination process involves using thick shipping tape to cover the item I want to laminate.) Any of the human characters would be super easy after that!
Lion Guard, Safari, or Zoo – Last year my family represented a variety of safari animals and Hubby was our zookeeper.
This was mostly inspired by my 3 year old son’s love of the Lion Guard show on Disney Jr. although oddly, he didn’t choose any of us to be Lion Guard members. If you know this little guy, have read about him on the blog, or noticed the feature image above (Isn’t my little helper so focused and cute?!), then you’ve probably already figured out that he will be a crocodile! See pictures of our 2018 costumes on the Facebook Page, and on Instagram! I’ve gotten good use of my grandmother’s old sewing machine, and I think she’d be proud if she could see these costumes!
Don’t miss my prior Halloween post , with ideas for:
- Winnie the Pooh and Friends (Step-by-step)
- Sesame Street (with photo and tips)
- If You Give a Mouse A Cookie
- Mickey Mouse and Friends
- Charlie Brown and the Gang
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