I have three boys and in general they all like the same costumes, so I’ve been able to reuse our costumes year after year. One year the littlest one didn’t want ANY costume! He didn’t like having to put the costume over his clothes (a common thing in our Northern climates). Well, I was determined. He was agreeable to wearing his red hat and sweatshirt, so with some felt I had on hand, I made eyes and ears for his hat and he went as Clifford, the Big Red Dog.
This experience got me thinking of other ways you can create costumes out of what you have OR by getting basic sweat shirts and sweatpants (or regular shirts and pants depending on your climate and clothing) which can be easily reused after Halloween.
The cowboy and cowgirl look are common and easy with jeans/shirt and hat. Oh, don’t forget the red bandana which can be found very cheaply at craft stores.
Ideas for Red Clothing:
• Lady Bug- By simply getting self-adhesive felt (available in craft stores) you can cut round spots and make your little trick-or-treater into a lady bug. A bit more creativity will allow you to make a red cape that can be easily held at the corners to make wings.
• Clifford the Big Red Dog-Like I did, just make ears and eyes (I looked at a Clifford book to see how to make his eyes) and quick sew (or hot glue if you’re so inclined) onto red hat and you’ve got Clifford the Big Red Dog!
• An Apple- Use green fabric and a bit of craft stuffing to create a stem (stem of an apple) and either glue or sew it onto a hat OR use ribbon sewn to the stem to make two ties which can be used to tie the stem onto the top of the head (remember to use two ties and tie with a bow which comes under the chin and can be quickly untied for safety). You’ll have an apple for Halloween.
Ideas for White Clothing:
• Black, irregular spots of felt and you’ve got yourself a cow OR smaller irregular spots and you’ve got a Dalmatian puppy. You can add to the costume and make a LOOSE fitting brown collar with your puppy’s name on it OR add a Christmas bell for your cow.
Ideas for Grey Clothing:
• How about having a mouse or cat slinking around on Halloween? Again, cut ears for a hat from the felt. Black eye liner makes easy whiskers drawn on the face and if you’re REALLY creative, go for felt mitts for their hands (simple mitts, no fingers and add paw pads to bottom for realism).
Making M&Ms
• Okay, you know the colors, red, black, brown, yellow, and now a few extra colors like blue. Cutting an “M” out of white felt, you’ll need two. There are several ways to proceed from here. You can either use self-adhesive type Velcro dots to attach the “M” as it is to a M&M colored sweatshirt OR cut the “M” out of the self-adhesive type felt.
Creating Flowers:
• Purple, pink, yellow and other “flower” colored clothing are great for sending your little ones out as flowers OR having them wear green so that they are the stem of the flower THEN cut flower petals from your felt and attach to a coordinating hat. If you’d like to add a bit of stiffness to your petals, you can buy a yard of sizing that can be ironed onto your felt and provides the desired stiffness.
The bottom line is attaching items so that they can be easily removed later on and you can reuse the sweatshirts, sweatpants and hats. It doesn’t take much to create inexpensive, cute Halloween costumes that will quickly go from costume to everyday wear again (which is a huge plus in this economy!)
Tammy Paquin is a work-from-home mom of 3 boys and the owner and publisher of Frugal-Families, an online resource for frugality, finances, budgeting and everything else related to stretching every dollar. For more quick, easy and reusable Halloween costume ideas visit, Fast and Reusable Halloween Costumes Ideas.
