In the coming weeks, I’m going to run a “You’ll totally wear that again” Halloween series where we show specific costume ideas that can be assembled from items that will be useful in your child’s wardrobe through November and beyond. These sleep and play jammies from Carters.com (above, $16.50) are perfect for the baby who will be sleeping through most of the evening anyway.
I’m looking for submissions, so if you’re interested, please comment and let me know — I’ll get in touch with you.
For now, a few things I bookmarked for this purpose. May they inspire you to create something your child will love to wear over and over again.
Elmo hat – pair with a red sweatsuit to be Sesame Street‘s most popular monster and wear it forever. Cheap version is a baseball cap-style; expensive version (similar to above, $35) comes as Elmo, or alternatively as a sock monkey. SO CUTE!
Vintage personalize baseball jersey
Yes, it’s splurgeriffic at $58, but you can keep it forever and don’t need much else to call it a Halloween costume. Plus, how adorable would it be on a little girl with pigtails?
Lady bug raincoat:
Add black leggings and a an antenna-style headband. Rainy Halloween? No prob. ($14.99 on Amazon.)
Yes, this picture looks totally Photoshopped and I’m sure the swaddle would not hold snug through even the shortest of newborn snoozes, but still, a very sweet way to take a little one out for a Halloween stroll. (I found it on Amazon, but One Step Ahead carries ladybugs and puppies in the same style.)
Basic toddler cape
Don’t buy one that can only be Batman or whomever he wants to be this year. Make or buy a simple cape that can grow with kid to transform with all of his imagined superfantasies over the course of the year – you’ll even enable him to be a magician or vampire with it.
Looking for more Halloween costume ideas for babies?
P.S. I posted a list of everything you need (all reusable!) for a train conductor costume on BabyCenter.com today.
Denim overalls and a red bandanna – add a hat and some additional accessories to make a perfect costume as a farmer, train engineer, etc. overalls are the perfect wardrobe staple for a baby, toddler or preschooler!
As usual, I have zero good ideas…BUT I think that jersey would be adorable hung in a shadow box frame on the kid’s room wall after he/she outgrows it.
Keep the ideas coming, I am CHEAP for Halloween.
pippi longstocking. since i am a ginger kid and my parents didn’t get too creative with costumes, i was pippi for many years in a row. it’s simple, insert pipe cleaners in to pigtails and braid. the costume consists of jeans/overalls, some mismatched socks, and a mismatched shirt/sweater. for extra bonus points, you could sew on some patches. most of the stuff you probably own. long red hair helps too. 🙂
My sil had a starwars themes bday party for her son last year… The kids all wore brown shirts and jeans and were given a Jedi robe when they arrived. She just purchased a bunch of adult white tshirts, dyed them tan, cut off the bottom hem for a belt and then cut straight up the middle.
Love all these ideas!
@emily I was Pippi a couple of years ago and Heather (long red hair) was Pippi last year. Good for mom, too!
@Heather N I love a good tshirt refashion! Bravo to your sister in law!
the bumblebee swaddler is soo adorable, it makes me wish we used one (ever)! we just bought our 6 month old his first costume yesterday – a cow costume from Carters. It’s also reusable because Chick-fil-A gives free food away if you come dressed as a cow certain days! yea for first halloweens and free chicken!
Smoking Crayolas Blogspot
I tried a bumble bee swaddler last year, and it was a great purchase. I actually bought two, a bee and a watermelon, just in case we didn’t like one of them in person. Yes, the picture on the site is photoshopped, but it was actually very cute in person, and the blanket quality is much better than I expected. We put my 3 month old son in both costumes, and everyone loved it! It was a good way to celebrate our first Halloween.
p.s. The blanket swaddles very snugly. It’s actually much larger than the average swaddler, so we were able to use it for longer than I expected.
Very cool 🙂 This year my son is going to be Dino Dan. Got him a cargo vest at a consignment sale for $3! He already has cargo shorts and a yellow tee with a dino on it. Got him some yellow binoculars that will be decked out with dino stickers, too. Score for Dino Dan! And, his baby brother…he is going to be a dinosaur! HA!
I used two great reusable costumes last year with my son, who was about a year and half out at the time. The first was an aviator costume he wore to a Halloween party at our local zoo. It was an aviator jacket I bought for $10 at a consignment sale, a wooly hat that came with the jacket, and jeans. That jacket was his fall/spring jacket and it was adorable.
His “real” Halloween costume was a biker. We used a hand-me-down toddler Harley jacket from his older sister, jeans, and slicked back his hair.
Both were absolutely adorable, didn’t cost me anything at all, and wear things he still wears. I’ve got pictures of both if you are still looking for submissions.
I have a question about trick-or-treating. My son will be 5 months and I want to dress him up and go through the neighborhood but my husband thinks he is too young and people will think we are abusing the system. What do you think.
Since my baby was only 3 months last year at Halloween, I knew I wanted an outfit that he could wear just being carried in a wrap as well as something he’d wear again. I decided to make an owl beanie, dress him in brown, me in green and put him in my green wrap. Voila! The cutest owl in a tree you ever did see! I have a tutorial with pictures of him and the beanie too if you’d like to consider it as a submission. I’ll have a newborn baby girl this year so I’m already working on her beanie. 🙂
http://humptywaspushedblog.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/easy-halloween-baby-beanie/
@Jessica, I think you can dress up and stroll around in a populated area where you and your husband (and maybe your baby) will enjoy seeing the bigger kids in their costumes. You can enjoy the spirit of the holiday without knocking on doors or accepting candy.
@Jessica I second what Whitney said. Or you can go with a group of friends who have older kids. My daughter will be 6 months and my sister and I will be taking her (she’s 14). I’m not gonna lie…I want the candy 🙂
This year my three year old wants to be Miss Viola Swamp from ‘Miss Nelson is Missing’ — has a black witch dress, get some striped tights, press-on nails with black nail polish, black lipstick, green eyeshadow. Hoping that I can fashion a black wig from batting or something… But, with only one tricky element, that seems like a decent DYI costume for someone not inclined to DYI (also with a newborn).
Check these out http://www.bellytshirt.com/category_43/Baby-Costumes.htm cute baby costumes that are picture perfect for Halloween but soft and comfortable enough to be pajamas afterward!