Parents, you’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.

Or just as likely, we’ve got questions and you’ve got answers.

Challenge: Halloween Parade

8 Crazy Cute DIY Halloween Costumes Your Kiddo Will Love

22
Vote up!
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email this article

Never settle for a cheesy, didn’t-have-time-for-anything-else costume again. These eight DIY costumes aren't only insanely cute — they're also insanely easy! With one of these fabulous costumes, your kiddo is sure to take home lots of candy and the award for Best Costume! Get more spooky good Halloween ideas now over on Style Me Pretty Living!

BUBBLE GUM

I love this costume because it's crazy simple to make and can be scaled from the little ones up to the bigger kids. You really only need felt and cotton pom poms that you can get at a craft store and a whole lot of hot glue or fabric glue. If you want a little boy to wear this, just skip the tutu and go with black sweat pants or a black onesie. Total time was again about 2 hours.

11c34a0492a3e1eea41f2f33642d45b040e882a6.jpg

Supplies

  • Red Onesie
  • Black Pants
  • Black Tutu (optional)
  • Black infant / baby hat
  • Colorful Pom Poms
  • Hot Glue
  • Black Felt
  • White Felt
  • Gray Felt
  • 3-4" Styrofoam Ball or plastic ball pit ball (optional)
  • Scissors
  • White Chalk (optional)
  • Elastic (optional)
  • *Fabric glue

Instructions

  • Cut out your felt numbers - a number 2, a number 5 and a cent mark. If it's helpful, you can use white chalk to draw out the numbers first, cut them out and then wipe off the chalk.
  • Cut out a 1-2" gray circle. Cut out a slightly smaller black circle. This will be your $.25 slot.
  • Cut out a 3" x 1" (approx) rectangle in your gray felt. Repeat with your black felt, making a slightly smaller rectangle. Cut out a black or gray circle, approx .5" around.
  • Cut out a larger rectangle from your gray felt - approximately 5" x 6" (doesn't need to be exact, just needs to fit your felt numbers and your machine details).
  • Using hot glue or fabric glue, adhere your large gray felt rectangle to your onsie.
  • Begin layering in your coin slot, your numbers and your handlebars.
  • Coin Slot: First gray circle, then black circle at the top of your gray rectangle.
  • Numbers: First "2" then "5" then your cent mark.
  • Handle: First gray rectangle, then black, then circle.
  • Using hot glue, begin adhering your colorful poms to your hat. There is no pattern, just a dab of hot glue and a pom sprinkled all over the hat.

Optional: Cut your styraphome circle in half and spray paint it red. Using hot glue, adhere it to the top of your gumball hat. Add a final red pom to the top of that.

Optional: Add an elastic strap to your hat using hot glue.

Finish the costume by adding black tights and a black tutu.

POPCORN

This costume has 2 ingredients — popcorn and felt. And it's perfect for the really little ones that need to be tucked into a baby carrier because the costume itself is adhered to the carrier. We used pieces of felt and hot glue to create the popcorn box then glued as many pieces of store bought popcorn as we could to a plain white infant hat. Total time was about 2 hours on this one.

86b67d0817e0d032992cc55655255a21e33df412.jpg

Supplies

  • Large bag of popcorn
  • White Hat
  • White Onesie
  • White Felt
  • Red Felt
  • Baby Carrier
  • Hot Glue
  • Acrylic Spray Sealer
  • Velcro or safety pins
  • White chalk

Instructions

  • Using your hot glue, begin adhering individual pieces of popcorn to your hat. You can use as few or as many as you like. It helps to fit your hat over a large vase while you do this so that you can easily fit popcorn into all of the spaces for better coverage.
  • Measure the front of your baby carrier. Cut your white felt to the same dimension.
  • Cut 2" strips from your red felt, in the length that you cut your white felt.
  • Cut a large 6-8" circle from your white fabric. Cut a slightly smaller circle with your red felt (about .5" smaller), then cut the center out so that you have only an outline of a red circle. Finally, cut a third red circle, about 1.5" smaller than your largest.
  • Cut out the letters P-O-P-C-O-R-N with your red felt. You can free hand or you can write out the letters in white chalk then wipe the chalk off after they are cut.
  • Using hot glue, glue your red stripes onto your large white rectangle leaving a bit of room in between for the white to poke out.
  • Glue your largest white circle on to the center of your striped felt "box." Next, glue your red outline on top of the white circle. Finally, glue your smaller red circle onto the white circle.
  • Lay your letters directly onto the circle, adjusting them at an angle until the fit and look finished. Lift one side of the letter and glue. Finish gluing the other side. Continue until all letters are glued.
  • Using safety pins or small adhesive backed Velcro, adhere your popcorn box to your carrier.
  • Dress your child in a white onesie and top with the popcorn hat.

BUBBLE BATH

It doesn't get any easier than this - a red wagon, covered in white fabric and decked out with clear balloons. You use rubber cement to get the balloons to stick without popping them then you can add rubber duckies to up the cute factor. Perfect for little ones that need a ride around the neighborhood.

84bd4db630a40a2610de513b6ffe81796a3e2101.jpg

Supplies

  • Red Wagon
  • 5" clear balloons
  • 9" clear balloons
  • 5" white Lumina balloons
  • Rubber Duckies
  • White headband
  • White fabric
  • Rubber Cement
  • Glue Dots

Instructions

  • Drape your white fabric over your wagon and cut so that there is enough drape to cover the sides. Using glue dots, adhere the fabric to the wagon.
  • Blow up your balloons. How many or how few you use is up to you. You can always add more later! You can let a little bit of air out until they look more round.
  • Using your rubber cement, start by gluing about 10-12 9" balloons to your fabric. This will create a nice base for you to layer on the smaller balloons.
  • Using your rubber cement, begin to cluster your balloons together in groups of 3-5. You can then glue these clusters to the other balloons on the wagon and to the fabric draping the wagon.
  • Continue clustering and adding various balloons - using about 80% smaller white/clear and about 20% larger balloons.
  • Adhere 3 small balloons to your white headband.
  • Finish by gluing rubber ducks to the top of a handful of balloons. You can also add one to the headband if you want!

HOT AIR BALLOON

This is probably the most popular costume we've ever featured on Style Me Pretty. And you can amp it up as much as you want with sandbags - that we made from paper lunch bags, with felt bunting, etc. — or you can keep it really simple. All you need to do is cut the base out of a basket large enough for your child to step into and tie it to a foam floral wreath painted gold — then you use a 3-foot latex balloon that you've tucked into balloon netting (Amazon) attached to the wreath as well. Not counting the spray paint drying time, this was one of the fastest projects up here.

e4f93e957667ce61ca4b5774b832dc72b333f720.jpg

Supplies

  • Basket
  • Red Duct Tape
  • 4 Brown Lunch Bags + Newspaper for filling
  • Red Felt
  • 36" balloon net
  • 1 3ft latex balloon
  • Red yarn or cord
  • Twine (optional)
  • Hot glue
  • Red straps
  • Floral Styrofoam wreath
  • Gold spray paint
  • Scissors or wire cutters

Instructions

  • Spray paint your foam wreath and your netting gold. Let it dry completely.
  • Cut the base out of your basket and line the edge with red duct tape.
  • Fill your 4 brown lunch bags with newspaper leaving a bit of room at the top. Close and tie off the top using either twine or red yarn, leaving enough to tie these to the basket.
  • Thread the twine/yard holding the brown bags through each of the four corners of your basket.
  • Cut out 4 red triangles from your red felt. Hot glue each triangle to a length of red yard. Thread the yarn through one corner (the front) of your basket, tying a knot to secure. Drape your flags across the front and thread through the other corner, tying in a knot to complete.
  • Measure your straps to your child by having them step through the basket and hold the basket up to their waist. Thread your straps through the basket OR hot glue them to the interior of the basket. You'll need to measure both the length (how they will hang) and the width (where they will sit on your child's shoulders).
  • Line the top of your basket (both the inside and the out) with red duct tape. When lining the inside, it's helpful to go as far down as the straps so that you provide extra stability for the straps themselves.
  • Have your child step through the basket and place the shoulder straps on. Measure where you want the base of your hot air balloon (the foam wreath) to hit. Cut pieces of red yarn or cord to that height and tie to the foam wreath — 2 on each side — securing them also to the 4 corners of your basket.
  • Blow you your balloon.
  • Drape your balloon with your netting and tie your netting to your foam wreath.
  • Dress your child in a bomber jacket and add a cute aviator hat/glasses for an added touch of cute.

SHARK

I LOVE the simplicity of this project and it's perfect for little ones and big ones alike. This is a gray sweat suit, some hot glue and some felt. You can use a pair of good scissors to cut out the teeth, line the hood with red felt, then if you want, you can add the white belly of the shark and the fin — which we made with a little foam core.

972292cd481e2f1184da143121e99c1c95ce61ec.jpg

Supplies

  • Gray hooded sweatshirt
  • Gray sweatpants
  • White Felt
  • Black Felt
  • Red Felt
  • Hot Glue
  • Foam Core
  • Gray Spray Paint

Instructions

  • Cut a triangle (either an equilateral or isosceles - we did an isosceles) from your foam core - ours was approximately 12" at the base and about 7" from top to bottom.
  • Spray paint your triangle gray.
  • Measure the interior edge of your gray hoodie. Cut a 4" (wide) strip of white felt to that length. Cut an 8" (wide) strip to that length from your red felt.
  • Cut "teeth marks" into your white felt. It helps to use a mat that has measurement markings but you certainly don't have to. Shark teeth aren't all uniform so you can have fun with this and make them as jagged as you want. Make sure to leave room at the top without cut teeth so that you have space to glue onto your hoodie.
  • Glue your teeth onto the interior edge of your hoodie so that the teeth go past the edge. Layer and glue the red on top of the teeth towards the back of the hoodie.
  • Measure your hoodie from the top of the zipper to the bottom of the zipper. Subtract 4". Measure your hoodie in the front from left to right. Subtract 4". Cut a piece of white felt to these dimensions. Then, cut the corners at a diagonal.
  • Lay your large white felt onto your hoodie, over your zipper. Cut your felt from bottom to top in half to accommodate your zipper. Using hot glue, adhere each side of your white felt to the front of your hoodie.
  • Using hot clue, adhere your fin to the back.

RAINING CATS AND DOGS

This costume is definitely going to get smiles and props. And there is basically no real crafting involved. All you need is an umbrella, some fishing wire and some stuffed cats and dogs. Hang them at different heights, then add a few on top for effect.

1633c6041e9ddc3366c12605af7964cdd5c6fdb1.jpg

Supplies

  • Umbrella
  • 10-15 small stuffed cats and dogs
  • Hot glue
  • Clear fishing wire
  • Sewing needle with a large eyehole
  • Raincoat & boots

Instructions

  • Thread a piece of fishing wire (anywhere from 10" - 16") thru your needle.
  • Poke your needle and fishing wire through your umbrella. For the best reinforcement, do this close the bars of the umbrella. Thread the wire through so that even pieces are on either side of the umbrella.
  • Tie around the neck or legs of your stuffed animal.
  • Continue working your way around your umbrella with stuffed animals, varying the length of string you use so that the animals hang at different heights.
  • Using a small amount of hot glue, adhere one animal to the top of your umbrella. Adhere another to the side - making it appear that that the animal is sliding down. Again, do this at the bars so that the umbrella will close properly.
  • Dress your child in rain boots and a raincoat!

INSTAGRAM SELFIE

Okay, this project is super simple though it does involve your local print shop which needs about 24 hours to turn a poster around.You'll need to snap a picture of yourself then screenshot it. From there, you can have the print shop create a poster tat you can adhere to a piece of foam core, cut out the center and dress in your best selfie attire.

9b19ecdf3a559c7e16258ccb95732cd2ed5f5108.jpg

Supplies

  • Foam core - 24" x 36" or cut to size
  • Spray adhesive
  • Instagram & iPhone
  • Computer (optional)
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Clear Sealant
  • *Duct tape (if you are combining 2 pieces of foam core)

Instructions

  • Take and post an Instagram photo. While it's on your screen, take a screen shot.
  • Optional: upload the screenshot to adobe Photoshop and "cut" out the photo itself, erasing the area around the "heart" should there be one. You can also skip this step and just hand-cut the photo out.
  • Have your local print shop print the photo out to 24" x 36." Glossy or Matte works.
  • If you haven't already, cut out the interior photo. You will end up with 2 pieces (top and bottom). If you cut your photo out in Photoshop, you will have one large piece.
  • If you have a foam core that is sized to fit, use a spray adhesive to glue your Instagram to the top and bottom (or the entirety) of your foam. Go slowly and adhere in 2 parts to avoid warping. **If you buy foam at the craft store, you will likely need to either cut it down or combine 2 pieces using white duct tape.
  • Use a pencil and a ruler to mark your center photo square. You need to make sure you have 2" on either side to create a complete box. Use a box cutter or x-acto knife (we found that a box cutter worked better) to cut out the center square.
  • Spray with a clear sealant to protect from the elements.

PINATA

This costume looks so involved but it's SO simple. You are basically layering crepe paper that you've made slits into with hot glue on whatever outfit you want. Overlap the layers so they create a pinata effect Our hat is actually a baseball cap that we fit two Styrofoam cones on and covered in that same layered crepe paper.

af6618093f71617949ddab483f00cc24a81143c0.jpg

Supplies

  • Pants & Long Sleeved Shirt (if costume is for a girl, you can also sub in a shift dress)
  • Baseball Cap
  • 2 Styrofoam cones
  • Hot Glue
  • Multi-Colored Crepe Paper
  • Scissors

Instructions

  • Cut as many 3" x 12" strips (or longer) of crepe paper you can. You'll need a lot! No need to measure, this is a very forgiving costume and can easily be adjusted to look even. We stacked about 6 sheets of different colored crepe paper on top of one another to cut the strips.
  • Cut a 2" x .5" (again no need to measure) slit into the crepe paper. We also did this with stacked crepe.
  • Starting with the cones, hot glue your first layer of crepe at the bottom of the cone. Continue layering all the way up using different colors until you reach the top. Optional: cut about 10 strips of 8" x .5" pieces of crepe, fold in half and glue to the top of the cone.
  • Finish the top of the cone so that no green foam is showing. Glue each cone to the top of your baseball hat.
  • Begin working on your hat by starting at the tip of the bill and working your way to the top. You'll need to trip your crepe to just a little bit longer than your bill so that you can wrap a very small part around the edge to reinforce. As you reach the top, you'll need to trim your crepe to fit the size of your hat.
  • Turn the hat around and repeat up the back until no portion of the hat is visible.
  • Follow the same procedure with your pants and your shirt. You will want to use longer pieces here, as you'll need to wrap and glue on the back.
  • *Helpful hint: When wrapping your crepe, don't cinch the fabric. Make sure you are wrapping without pulling the fabric in tighter as this will make putting the costume on a bit of a challenge.
  • *Helpful hint: Leave the top 3" of your pants clean, particularly if there is an elastic waste to allow the pants to give and slide on easily.
  • When complete, cut the back of the shirt from bottom to top to create an apron of sorts that you can slip right on. Add 3 pieces of Velcro to the back so that you can re-secure.

This post comes from the TODAY Parenting Team community, where all members are welcome to post and discuss parenting solutions. Learn more and join us! Because we're all in this together.