DIY for your Kids--Children's Halloween Costume Ideas-How to make Superman Witch Cat Smurf Indian or Care Bear!

Since our kids were tiny, we have made their Halloween outfits--it was the most enjoyable part of the holiday for us, and the kids always loved their costumes!

It really isn't hard, and most times there is very little cost involved--you can use clothing items you have already, and decorate them up in no time! Of course, I've always had odds and ends sewing and craft goodies around, but if you don't have them, they are easy enough to buy--either online, or at your local craft or fabric store.

Once, when my oldest daughter and son were about 4 and 5 years old, I used an old blue fuzzy bathrobe to make their costumes. My daughter was a Smurf and my son was a Care Bear. All I did was use part of the robe for the blue top of the Smurf, and the rest for the body of the Care Bear.

I had each child lay down and I traced their form on an old sheet, then I cut the "pattern" out adding a couple of inches all the way around for fit. Then I took the robe apart at the seams, and used the sheet pattern to cut out the robe fabric, doubling it, of course, for front and back. I then sewed the pieces up, then used a part of one sleeve to make the "head" of the Care Bear, which was more of a hood with ears.

The thing about these is they weren't perfect, but they looked so cute on the kids. I had some white felt that I sewed into a simple cone-shaped hat for my little Smurf, and I used some colored felt for the heart shape on the front of my little Care Bear. My little Smurf wore some white shorts, with blue tights, and I used blue face paint on both of them to complete the outfits.

 Felt is one of the best fabrics to use for Halloween outfits--it doesn't fray, and most of the time you can glue it with a hot glue gun, instead of sewing, if you're sewing-impaired!  You can buy it in approximately 12" squares, or buy it by the yard--whichever suits the costume idea.  It's so easy to work with, and you can use it for little projects, or big ones!

Also--invest in a hot glue gun--they are so useful!  You can get the type that uses a low temp glue stick, and the melted glue doesn't get quite as hot--it took me many burned fingertips to finally realize that you could buy these low temp sticks.

Other fabrics you can get at fabric stores, Wal-Mart, or other stores that handle fabric.  Usually you can find reasonably priced bolts of fabric which are on clearance for as low as $1.00 to $2.00 a yard sometimes.

Or just use old clothes--depending on what you're making!  I've found many things in our closets that we could use in the past, or a quick trip to your local Goodwill or Salvation Army stores can sometimes find you what you need!

 One year, I made my son and daughter into Superman and a witch.  My son had a pair of blue thermal pajamas that made the perfect Superman suit, so I just used some yellow and red felt to make a Superman emblem for the front, and another for his cape, which was just a piece of red silky fabric.  I used strips of the red fabric and wound around his shoes and up his legs to make Superman's boots, then just basted them onto the pajama bottoms.  I used more of the red to just make a simple little pair of shorts and some more yellow felt for the belt.  Since my son was blond, and Superman has black hair, I just put a black sock hat on him!  You can see in the pic that he has a hooded sweatshirt on, too, because Halloween in Ohio is often chilly.

My daughter, the witch, was so easy to do.  I used an adult-sized black long-sleeved shirt, and just cut the bottoms of the sleeves and hem into strips, so it would flow as she moved.  I bought a cheap plastic witches hat, and glued a strip of red felt for a hatband, and cut out a yellow "buckle" for it, too.  The long gray hair was just yarn, cut into long lengths and glued onto the back of the inside part of the hat.  I did buy her a witch face mask that year, because she begged, but she only wore it for about five minutes--she didn't like it at ALL!

 One year my oldest two wanted to be a kitty and a soldier...it turned out to be the simplest outfits I'd ever made.

I used an old white sweater of mine, and basted black felt spots on it, because she wanted to be a black and white kitty cat.  I had a black scarf, so I made a couple of black felt ears and glued them onto the scarf--positioning them to where they'd be on the top of her head--then I just tied the scarf on her head!  She wore black pants, with a pair of saddle shoes, and I painted her nose black, and added whiskers to her face with face paint--and that's all there was to it!

My son was the most simple, though.  He had a set of camoflauged sweats, so all he needed was a camoflauge hat, and some green and brown face paint, and he was ready to go--and he loved it!

As the kids got older, the costume making became more challenging, but at the same time, lots more fun...

We've made pirate outfits, punk rocker outfits, dead bride outfits, werewolfs, skeletons, the list goes on and on....honestly, all it takes is a little imagination, patience and time, and don't forget to HAVE FUN--that's what it's all about! My husband and I, and the kids, had many hours of laughter, putting together these costumes through the years--you can, too!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

If you've decided that you'd rather buy an outfit or part of one, be sure to check out the special sales on Amazon, up to 70% off, just in time for Halloween! Their kid's section offers tons of ideas and costumes for your child!