I have three children and generally they all like the same wardrobe, so I have been able to reuse our suits year after year. One year the smallest did not want ANY costume! He didn’t like having to put the costume on over his clothes (a common thing in our northern climates). Well, it was decided. He liked to wear his red hat and sweatshirt, so with some felt that I had on hand, I made eyes and ears on his hat and he was like 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 sweatshirts and sweatpants (or regular shirts and pants depending on your weather and clothing) that can be easily reused after Halloween.
The cowboy and cowgirl look is common and easy with jeans / shirt and hat. Oh, don’t forget the red scarf that can be found very cheap in craft stores.
Ideas for red clothes:
• Lady Bug – Simply with self-adhesive felt (available at craft stores) you can cut round stitches and turn your little trick or treat into a ladybug. A little more creativity will allow you to make a red cape that can be easily held in 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 sew quick (or hot glue if you feel like it) on the red hat and you! I have Clifford , the big red dog!
• An apple: use green fabric and some craft filler to create a stem (stem of an apple) and glue or sew it on a hat OR use a ribbon sewn to the stem to make two bows that can be used to tie the stem in the top of the head (remember to wear two ties and tie with a bow that comes under the chin and can be quickly untied for safety). You will have an apple for Halloween.
Ideas for white clothes:
• Black, ragged patches of felt and you have a cow OR smaller ragged patches and you have a Dalmatian puppy. You can add to the costume and make a loose brown collar with your pup’s name OR add a Christmas bell for your cow.
Ideas for gray clothes:
• How about having a mouse or cat prowling around on Halloween? Again, cut the ears out of the felt for a hat. The black eyeliner makes whiskers easily drawn on the face and if you’re REALLY creative, go for felt gloves for his hands (plain, fingerless gloves and add pads on the bottom for realism).
Doing M & Ms
• Well, you know the colors, red, black, brown, yellow and now some additional colors like blue. To cut an “M” from white felt, you will need two. There are several ways to proceed from here. You can use self-adhesive type Velcro stitches to attach the “M” as it is on an M&M color sweatshirt OR cut the “M” from the self-adhesive type felt.
Creating flowers:
• Clothing in purple, pink, yellow, and other “flowery” colors is great to send your little ones out as flowers OR for them to wear green to be the stem of the flower, THEN cut the flower petals from your felt and glue them to a coordinated hat. If you want to add a bit of stiffness to your petals, you can purchase a meter in size that can be ironed onto your felt and provides the desired stiffness.
The end result is to attach items so they can be easily removed later and you can reuse sweatshirts, sweatpants, and hats. It doesn’t take much to create cute, inexpensive Halloween costumes that will quickly transition from costume to everyday wear again (which is a huge plus in this economy!)