Last Minute Costume Ideas

This one is for the procrastinators and the ones who might unexpectedly get a kid right before Halloween **cough cough foster care**. I've been hoping we would get a placement by Halloween, I would love to take a little one Trick-or-Treating! Here's to hoping!

Anyway...Look how cute these are! I'm a firm believer in fabric paint and old/thrift clothing. You can make anything your heart desires (or that your kid is insisting). No need to spend big bucks on the popular costume of the year, just make your own! And good news is that you can make it as quick and easy as you want.

1. Super Hero Costume

For a super hero costume you would just need:

Old shirt
Fabric paint (I've used other paints before but just know other paints will make the shirt stiff)
Felt or Paper + string for the mask
Fabric for the Cape: Sheet, Pillow case, blanket, large shirt etc.

Steps:

Choose what kind of super hero you want to be: do you want to be superman, batman, wonder woman, or have some fun and create a super hero of your own? If that's the case just choose a symbol to represent your powers ie. star, heart, lightning, rainbow, dinosaur, eagle, fish, etc. The sky is the limit!
Find the stencil. Here is a good site to find an easy stencil. Just type in your symbol and choose the one you like best.
Now to the actual making: You can choose to free hand the shape or print out the symbol and use it as a stencil to draw the shape first. I recommend using a pencil (or a white colored pencil on a dark shirt) to draw what you want the shape to look like before you paint it. So go ahead paint the shape, belt, and cuffs.
If you are using a short sleeve shirt no worries! You can make cuffs out of old toilet paper rolls. Here is a tutorial on how to do that.
Cut the masks out of paper or fabric and attach the string.
Throw on a cape and your good to go!

So there you go! Super easy and fun! I hope you can get creative with your little one and if you create a superhero tag me, I want to see!

2. Literally Anything Else

I know that's kind of vague but it's only because it's true! With this technique you can create whatever costume you can think of.

This is a picture from my high school days. I simply painted on an old white t-shirt and some white gloves and BAM instant buzz light year costume. It was a big hit too! Check out the gallery below for some ideas to spark your imagination: