FUN HALLOWEEN KID'S COSTUMES

The mere mention of Halloween costumes can cause some parents to shriek with fear! Not because they're afraid of ghosts and goblins, but because they fear sewing, patterns, crafts or anything to do with producing a hand made costume for their child.  Have no fear!  We've compiled a list of fun, creative and easy-to-assemble costumes that are sure to be a hit at any costume party or on Halloween.  

The Pizza Kid

This crafty pizza costume is one a parent and child can "cook" up together. Kids just love making the felt "toppings"! 

CRAFT MATERIALS

• Sheet of 1/2-inch-thick foam (approximately twice your child's height by 2 feet wide)
• 6 large paper fasteners
• Marker
• Scissors
• Clothespins
• Hot glue gun
• Spray paint
• 2 sponges
• Acrylic paint
• Paintbrushes
• Felt
• White sweatshirt
• White tights
• Pizza box
• Red shoelaces (optional)  

1. To make the crust, fold over about 10 inches of foam at one of the narrow ends and attach it with evenly spaced paper fasteners. Fold the entire sheet of foam in half lengthwise. With a marker, draw a wide triangle rising from the crust to the top of the foam.

2. Cut out the triangle shape through both pieces of foam, using clothespins to connect the sheets. Apply a line of hot glue, about 6 inches at a time, approximately 1 inch from the outside edge. Press the layers together firmly for a few seconds after gluing.

3. When finished, slip the pizza over your child's head, and mark where her forehead and chin are on the front and where her shoulders are on the back. Cut out a circle for her face in the front layer and two circles for her arms in the back layer.

4. In a ventilated area, spray-paint the front of the pizza red, and the back and crust yellow. When dry, sponge-paint on white cheese and brown grill marks.

5. Together with your child, decide what "toppings" you want. Trace on felt, cut out, and attach with hot glue.

6. For the candy bag, tape closed a clean pizza box, cut out one flap, and tie on red shoelace handles.

A Bag of Gross-eeries

It may be Halloween, but you won't find a single treat in this giant sack of groceries. Instead, this bag of tricks will fill the bill for kids who love the gross-out factor.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

• Large brown paper leaf bag (sold at many hardware stores)
• Craft knife
• Large piece of corrugated cardboard
• Double-sided foam tape
• 2 yards of 1½-inch-wide black ribbon
• 25- by 17-inch piece of white poster board
• Double-sided clear tape
• Stapler
• Assorted clean, empty food containers, such as cereal boxes, juice jugs, and egg cartons
• Markers and self-adhesive labels or the downloadable Gross-eeries labels (see below)

Optional items:

• Rubber rat, cockroaches, and chicken
• Balloons, stocking leg, string, and foam packing peanuts
• Yellow acrylic paint and white glue

1. Cut the bottom off the leaf bag. If there's lettering on the bag, turn it inside out.

2. Measure the opening at the bag's top (the one shown here is 15 by 12 inches) and cut a piece of cardboard that is the same width but 4 inches longer (ours is 15 by 16 inches). Fold up 2-inch flaps in the front and back of the cardboard.

3. Cut a hole in the middle of the cardboard big enough for your child to fit through. Apply double-sided foam tape to the flap backs and stick the cardboard in place inside the very top of the bag.

4. Fold the ribbon in half and join the fold with double-sided foam tape to the underside of the cardboard insert near the back of the bag.

5. Make a milk carton hat by creasing the white poster board as shown and then cutting an opening for your child's face in the front panel.

6. Shape the creased poster board into an open carton, sticking the edges together with double-sided clear tape. Then pinch and fold the upper edges, as shown, and staple the carton top closed.

7. Now fill the top of the bag with Gross-eeries by decorating assorted clean, empty food containers with handprinted or downloadable labels, such as Sour Milk, Surreal Cereal, Rotten Eggs, and Nasty Nibbles.

You can download Gross-eerie Labels here. (To view the .pdf files, you'll need Adobe Reader. which is available for free from the Adobe site.)

8. Tape the items to the inner bag. Once your child has stepped into the finished costume, use the foam tape to secure the loose ends of the ribbon to the inner front of the bag to make shoulder straps.

Tip:  How To Make Spoiled Goods
Make rotten sausage links by inserting inflated balloons into a long stocking leg and tying knots between the links. You can even tape on foam packing peanut maggots (yuck!).

Cut a hole in the front of a box and add a rubber rat, tape rubber cockroaches to the bag, or stuff a rubber chicken in among the other Gross-eeries.

Create a slimy blob of egg yolk by mixing 1 part yellow acrylic paint with 3 parts white glue. Cover a piece of cardboard with plastic wrap and pour the glue mixture over it. Let the mixture dry for 1 or 2 days, then peel it from the wrap and glue it to the bag.

The Little Mermaid

Fish-scale-print fabric sewn into a "tail" turns stroller-bound tadpoles into glamorous mermaids.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

• White infant tee or onesie
• Tea bags
• Scissors
• Peach-colored felt
• Fabric paint
• Paintbrushes
• Glue gun
• Double-sided tape
• "Fish-scale" fabric (1 yard)
• Pencil
• Thread
• Ribbon
• Velcro closures
• Nylon stuffing (one bag)

1. Cut two shells from the peach felt. Draw lines on the shells with fabric paint. When dry, use glue or double-sided tape to affix shells to the shirt.

2. To make the tail: If you have fish-scale fabric, skip to the next step. If not, lay your teal fabric on a flat surface. Cut the foam tube in half, dip the semicircular end of the tube into black paint, press "scales" onto fabric, and let dry.

3. Create a template by drawing a fish-tail pattern on a piece of paper (make it extra long; your child's feet should just reach to the narrowest part of the tail). Use template to trace and cut two matching tail shapes (front and back piece) out of your fabric. Sew the front and back pieces together inside out (scale-side in), then sew a hem at the top of the tail and turn it right side out. Thread a piece of ribbon through the hem to create a drawstring. Fill the bottom of the tail with nylon stuffing.

4. Dress your child in the top and place her legs halfway into the fish tail; tie the drawstring.

5. To make the stroller cover: Drape microfleece over the stroller and safety-pin the fabric in place. Cut holes to accommodate the stroller straps (you'll need to cut matching slits in the back of the fish tail). To make a wave top for the stroller, sew a blue satin hood with a wavy bottom edge. Stuff with a layer of Fiberfil, then slip over the stroller top.

6. If desired, decorate stroller cover with a sea creatures, such as starfish, fish, and coral made from sponges, jellyfish made of bubble wrap, and sea horses made using chenille pipe cleaners. Attach your sea creatures to the fleece using glue or double-sided tape.

Variations:
If you can't find a fish-scale print, plain teal fabric will work. You can paint the scales on with fabric paint. Lay your teal fabric on a flat surface. Cut the foam tube in half, dip its semicircular end into black fabric paint, and press "scales" onto the fabric. Let dry, then proceed with Step 3.

LEGO Man

Boys love Lego! This ingenious costume turns two plain old cardboard boxes into a real "toy story."

CRAFT MATERIALS

• Measuring tape
• Utility knife
• Large cardboard box (child's shoulder width)
• Margarine containers or plastic cups
• Pencil
• Hot glue gun
• Small shallow box (that fits your child's head)
• Spray paint
• Baseball cap
• Double-sided tape
• Gloves
• Sweatsuit
• Sneakers

1. To make the body: Measure the circumference of your child's head, then, using a untility knife, cut a head opening in the top of the box approximately 2 inches from the front edge. Cut an armhole on each side of the box near the top front corner. Have your child try the box on so you can make any adjustments.

2. Now lay the box flat, front-side up, and arrange the margarine containers. Using the pencil, trace around each one. Using the hot glue gun, apply glue around the lip of the container, then press it in place. Repeat for the five other containers.

3. Glue an additional container upside down on top of the smaller box. In a well-ventilated area, spray-paint both boxes.

4. To make the hat: Have your child put a baseball cap on backward, then apply double-sided tape to the top of the cap. Fit the box on top of the cap so that the box just covers the bottom edge of the back of the hat.

Tips:
Make sure the box is narrow enough to let your child's arms hang down -- or they will get tired from carrying the weight of all that sugary loot.

Variations:
Like real LEGOs, this costume can be made in different configurations, depending on the size of the boxes and the cups you use. Here, we've shown the costume created with margarine tubs so it looks like one king-size LEGO piece. In another original version, you might glue on 35 small drinking cups, then delineate eight "bricks" using a black marker.

Make Way For Ducklings

These wacky duck costumes will have your whole neighborhood "quacking" up!

CRAFT MATERIALS:

• White baseball hat
• Orange felt (1/2 yard)
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Black felt
• 2 large white pom-poms
• 2 sheets of orange construction paper
• 2 self-adhesive Velcro strips
• 2 large orange socks
• Polyfil batting
• White cloth tape or duct tape
• White sweatshirt (two sizes too big)
• Yellow felt (1/3 yard)
• White felt (1 yard)
• Orange leggings
• White turtleneck
• White sneakers

1. To make the duck cap: Roughly trace the shape of the baseball hat visor onto orange felt twice, with a 1-inch margin around the front and sides. Cut out the shapes, then glue them to the top and underside of the visor, with the rounded edges slightly overlapping the front of the visor. Cut out four 1/2 inch-diameter black felt circles. Glue two of the circles to the visor for nostrils and the other two to the white pom-poms. Glue the pom-poms to the front of the hat for eyes.

2. To make the duck feet: Trace around each sneaker onto orange felt leaving a 1-inch margin; then cut out the tracings, making three webbed toes in the front of each foot. Gently fold the feet in half lengthwise and cut an asterisk shape into the back center of each foot, leaving a 3/4 inch-margin around the opening. Apply Velcro strips to the underside of the duck feet and the tops of the orange socks.

3. To make the duck body and wings: Shape polyfil into a thick cylindrical shape as wide as your "duck's" waist. Tape the stuffing inside the back of the sweatshirt. Cut three tail-feathers from the felt (ours are about 12 inches long). Fold the top 3 inches of each feather in half and tuck into the sweatpant waistband. To make a wing, fold a rectangle (ours is about 21 by 8) of white felt in half. Trace a simple wing shape onto the felt and cut it out, leaving the folded edge uncut. Adhere the tips of the wing together with double-sided tape or a glue stick. Be sure to leave a large enough sleeve for your child to slip his arm through. Repeat for the second wing.

4. Assembling the costume: Have your child wear the orange leggings, white turtleneck (tucked in at waist) and duck feet. Next, have him put on shoes (first) with socks over them. Finally, put on the sweatshirt and hat and prepare to do the duck walk!
Tip:
To add extra stiffness to the duck feet, back the felt with orange construction paper.

Road Trip!

Want an easy ride? With a few toy cars, Velcro, and electrical tape, your trick-or-treater's everyday sweat suit becomes a road trip extraordinaire.

CRAFT MATERIALS:

• Reusable gray sweat suit
• Toy cars
• Adhesive-backed Velcro
• White craft foam
• Markers
• Electrical tape

Time needed: About 1 Hour

1. Mark your child's great sweat suit with yellow electrical tape lanes. Stick adhesive-backed Velcro along the undersides of some toy cars and affix the corresponding pieces to the sweatshirt and pants.

3. Finally, make a symbol for your local interstate (or trace our template and attach it to the hood with Velcro). Your little speed demon is good to go!

Thanks to FamilyFun.com for all their great costume ideas!