For the last four years, my younger son has requested a travel-themed costume for Halloween. It’s no surprise as we do Amazing Race-themed birthdays and get geography games for Christmas gifts. The first two years were flag-related – the flags of China and Nepal. China was selected because he was born there and Nepal was chosen because it is his favorite (and mine) due to its unique shape. Plus, Nepal is on our bucket list. Last year he was a map of the world, and this year the best so far – he is a globe, all in its 3D glory.

I am not crafty at all. I’m creative, but execution is not my forte.

But my desire to fulfill his wishes for his globetrotting custom outweighs my inabilities, so I hunker down and get crafty.

Here are three unique travel-themed costumes for kids and how to make them:

Flags:

For the non-crafty, I have learned that big bolts of felt are your best friend. I have fashioned rectangles with cut-out holes for a head into a leprechaun, St. Francis, flags, Peter Pan, a knight, and other costumes. They were the primary way I created the flags using the background color for the large piece and then cutting out the shapes and tacking them on with craft glue. I try to dress him in complementary colors underneath. The benefit of this outfit is that you can really tailor their clothes underneath to the weather.

Doing flags with large, easy to cut out shapes isn’t that tough, but I just hope your kiddo isn’t a fan of Swaziland or Mexico as they both have intricate symbols in the middle.

World Map:

This also falls into the category of the cheapest costume I’ve ever made. As a card-carrying member of AAA, I was able to get two world maps for free. I had some left over foam core from an event I hosted and then created the straps out of elastic velcro.

I unfolded the maps and put big books on them for a few days to try to get rid of the creases. When it was time to adhere the map to the foam core, I used some tacky craft glue. So, for about $8 for the glue and elastic, we had a costume!

Globe:

I had a bit of a headstart with this one, but I think I still get points for the idea. We have these crazy inflatable bumper ball things that kids wear and then crash into each other. They used them once and then I banned them because of potential emergency room visits. However, I thought the blue one would make a fantastic globe (and perhaps as its last hurrah before being tossed out). All I needed to do was add the land masses.

So, to make this travel-themed costume, I invoked the help of my trusty old friend, felt, and cut out all of the continents except Antarctica and used double-sided tape to adhere them to the ball.