Need a Peter Pan costume for a play or costume party? There are many Peter Pan costumes available for purchase. If you want to save money, you can make your own costume with easy instructions found below.

Peter Pan is the brainchild of J.M. Barrie. Barrie's story is about a boy who lives in a land called Neverland. On the island of Neverland, children can choose to not grow up. Peter Pan is an adventuring, playful, rascally character who plays with mermaids, Indians, pirates and fairies. In this magical land, Peter has a fairy friend whose dust can help him to fly. Sometimes he flies off and meets other children around the world.

In the stories by the original author, Peter wasn't described in any particular costume or style. He wanted the reader to use their imagination to picture both Wendy and Peter. The only definitive description is that Peter is beautiful and wears skeleton leaves. Thus in the play Peter and Wendy, the Peter Pan costume was made of cobwebs and dead leaves.

The Peter Pan costumes we're most familiar with, today, is the green tunic with tights and a pointed cap with a feather sticking out the side. Peter, himself, is an elf with pointed ears and reddish hair. Even Robin Williams character wears the Disney costume in the movie Hook.

Part of the appeal and believability of wearing the Peter Pan costume, is being in character. Peter's personality is carefree and light. His life is all about fun and adventure and a great costume is one that incorporates his flair and style.

One of the great things about wearing Peter Pan costumes, is that its totally appropriate for women to wear the costume. In the beginning, when Peter Pan was an actual play, women played the parts. Adult women, no less. This was because it was difficult to find child actors and of course if you had Peter Pan as an adult and had children as the Lost Boys, or a child Wendy, it would seem inappropriate.

Lots of places have Peter Pan costumes for sale, and you can buy them for pretty inexpensive prices. Nearly 90% of the costumes are the Disney costume version, probably because this is the costume that is most recognizable. There are all kinds of adult and child style costumes, some are just the tunic which can be worn with tights or long pants. There is also the costume that has the full bottom and tunic. Some of the costumes are brown and green. There are even sexy adult Peter Pan costumes for women.

I've included some of the cheap costumes available on Amazon.com, and there are hundreds more.

To make a peter Pan costume at home, you can use a pattern, or you can use some basic materials and make yours using your imagination and creativity.

Peter wore a green tunic and green tights (or green pants), finding a green t-shirt and buying a bigger size, you can cut the triangle shapes at the bottom. Add a belt with a small “dagger” and you won't even need a hat (throw on some sparkles for pixie dust).

To make one out of felt, cut the front and backs and tie them together with big thread. There is no need to be too crafty and perfect here, after all Peter was a Lost Boy and didn't really know how to sew.

For the original Peter Pan costume ideas, try pasting leaves onto a sleeveless t-shirt and cut off one side as demonstrated by the picture to the right. This was the first illustration of Peter Pan.