It’s already mid-October which means Halloween is just a couple weeks away. If you’re like me, committing to a Halloween costume for your kids keeps falling to the bottom of your to-do list amid school, activities, and all the fall festivities! No fear. You can put together some simple looks for your kids with one quick Amazon click. Before I introduce some costume ideas, here are a few guidelines we follow at our home:
- Nothing spooky.
- There are a lot of differing opinions on Halloween. While my family does participate in dressing up and trick-or-treating, I steer away from anything “scary” or “spooky”.
- Plan for cold weather.
- Some Halloweens have been absolutely GORGEOUS weather…other times we have been snowed on. My pet peeve is dressing my kids up for Halloween and then putting their winter coat over top. (Winter coats are like the Grinch of Halloween.) In effort to avoid this, make sure you have appropriate layers to put UNDERNEATH their costume (ideally neutrals that won’t steal away from their costume OR colors that will compliment).
- Kid-friendly topic.
- Okay, this kind of correlates with the first rule but let’s take it a step further. I cannot tell you how many times I have come up with outfits for my kids and then dismissed them because my kids have no clue what/who they are. For example, one year I really wanted to have my kids dress up as the Wizard of Oz. But I just couldn’t get myself to do it because my kids had never seen the movie (or read the book)! Work WITH your kids to come up with some fun ideas – ones that both you and them will enjoy 🫶🏻
- Disclaimer: babies (obviously) have no idea what you’re dressing them up as…just keep them warm and G-rated.
Animals
Deer
This is one of the easiest (and cheapest) outfits sets to put together last minute. Quick order some deer antlers and you’re basically good to go. We happened to already have the fur vest, tights and boots. I did go ahead and purchase a brown leotard but you could use anything brown (brown dress, brown shirt, brown jacket, etc). If you do not have a fur vest and did not want to buy one, just run to your local fabric store and buy a yard of fur and cut out an oval for a fuzzy belly! (You can purchase on Amazon as well.)
Puppies
Here another animal set featuring the CUTEST little puppies. We already had this polka dot dress and I purchased the polka dot pajamas along with this little ear set from Amazon. I dug around in the basement for some red ribbon for a collar and that was it! Very very easy.
Movie-Themed
Beauty and the Beast
This year, my oldest daughter really wanted to be Belle so we went with that theme! I went ahead and bought a dress on Amazon for her and then used a yellow ribbon from craft supplies in the basement for her hair. My toddler son’s outfit was quite the combination of items because I could not commit to buying a Beast costume and the prince costumes were too pricey for my preference. So I bought an old velvet blazer off Poshmark and pulled out some old navy leggings of the girls. Then I quick sewed gold border thread that I picked up at Walmart around the edges of the blazer and along the side of the pants. We wrapped gold fabric around his waist and the brown suede boot covering was another cheap Walmart fabric purchase that was homemade. I found the jabot and cuff set on Amazon which was the perfect final touch. My littlest was supposed to be a rose but again, I didn’t want to spend much so I just put her in a green onsie and brown leggings and let her play with the rose (dethorned, of course). This was a super cute set but my son’s costume did end up being a little more work than I prefer but overall, loved it!
*I cannot find the exact green romper – the one linked below is similar, just a darker green color.
Brave
Another big favorite at our house was the movie, “Brave”. My oldest loved Merida (and younger three did not really care what they were this year) so this was an easy decision. When I suggested to my younger kids the option of being bears, they loved it. I already had the baby bear costume (the fourth child has a LOT of options…) so I ordered these two toddler bear sets to go with it. The Merida costume was simple – green dress + wig + bow and arrow. I remember wondering at the time whether we would use the bear costumes or if they would be a waste of money but they were an amazing purchase! My kids wore them ALL WINTER LONG!! They wore them pretending to be bears around the house and then they wore them outside underneath their winter coats for warmth. And, of course, the green dress was super practical and worn often. I was very happy with my purchases this year. They were SO EASY AND WARM!!
Frozen II
Like many of you, my kids were captivated by “Frozen” and “Frozen II” so this year, they agreed to go as a group! It was another very easy year of costumes although a little more expensive. I simply bought all four outfits on Amazon along with the Elsa wig. It was easy to layer sweatshirts and coats underneath their costumes for warmth. My boys don’t have much interest in their costumes anymore but the Ana and Elsa still make frequent appearances around the house. We got a lot of compliments this year – very, very cute set and my kids had fun with these.
Princesses and Superheros
This was the year where my kids could not agree on a set which was fine! My oldest daughter wanted to be Aurora from “Sleeping Beauty” and my oldest son wanted to be Spiderman. Since the younger kids did not have a strong opinion, I pulled out an old Cinderella costume so the girls could be princesses and purchased a Batman costume for my toddler to be a superhero with his big bro. Everyone LOVED this year (minus the Batman mask). The pink princess dress is used often for dress up and let’s just say that the Spiderman costume is a staple in my son’s wardrobe.
That concludes my Halloween costume post with our family’s guidelines and some fun inspiration! Now let’s get to planning for Halloween 2023. Will you DIY or buy? Are you kids going as a theme or independently? Love to see what people come up with 🫶🏻
*I am an Amazon affiliate (#ad).