Halloween is a favorite holiday of mine. In San Francisco, it is a really big deal, and we, as pre-baby adults, celebrated full force every year. When I learned I was going to have a baby two weeks before Halloween, I was planning his outfit before my belly was even visible to the public.
As a crafty chick, I assumed I would make my child’s Halloween costume every year. However, since trying this motherhood thing on for real, I have gotten a reality check. Until my second child, I didn’t pull off a DIY baby costume.
If you have a newborn, I highly recommend using a pair of pajamas with a theme. Add accessories as your baby will tolerate. I was obsessed with Julian’s giraffe “costume” from Gymboree. So the fact that he didn’t show up until two days before Halloween, and we spent it in a hospital, did not stop me from dressing him like a giraffe for most of November. (Witness my five-day old son in his baby costume that year.)
When he was 12 months old, Gymboree did me right again, with a pair of pjs that have a skeleton on them. (GAP makes them in glow in the dark.) Look how happy he is; he has an appropriate toddler costume, and hair! What a difference a year makes.
Either let them do the work for you (ie order one of these) or get inspired to make your own, using a pair of pajamas as your base. (Browse for Halloween stuff at babyGap.com, and then check Old Navy, cause most of theirs are less than $15.00.)
And finally, for those who are making their child’s costume, One Step Ahead sells solid-colored mock turtleneck and sweatpant combos for turning into costumes or wearing underneath them. They come in red, green, black, pink, and more.
DIY baby costumes that I admire
1. Make a merbaby outfit by Secret Agent Josephine
2. Elvis baby by Christy (RM.com reader)
3. R2D2 for an infant by Myke
Halloween costumes for babies can tend to be expensive and worn only for a 10-minute photo shoot. Holden (pictured) at 6 months old wore three costumes in about ten minutes — his official costume was the chili pepper (also from Babystyle); his runner up was a free borrowed baby pumpkin; his homemade costume was the wizard with his robes (AKA sleep sack) and an enormous hat we had stashed in our costume box. And with all that effort (and so many options), he “refused” to leave the house so Heather could get some free candy with her cute baby-prop.
So, if your best intentions to make a costume get you no where, save your money, and spend it on a babysitter for yourself. Go out for a drink after baby has gone to bed so that you can check out all the crazy costumes worn by people who still party. That’s my new Halloween tradition.
My son was Elvis for his first Halloween. It was pretty easy to modify a white footie sleeper and draw on some sideburns.
Here is a photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christykilgorehadley/49733991/
For my daughter’s first Halloween she was a chick hatching out of an egg. It’s a onesie, hat and tights modified with craft foam and feathers. Fancy.
Here is a shot of that costume: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christykilgorehadley/49733847/
I really like making costumes myself – I get a kick out of it.
I like the 50s costumes. I can remember my older brother going as the Fonz with greasy hair and a huge comb! HA
I can’t believe the baby Halloween costumes that dress them up like food!
i have been trying to figure out how to most easily make my 1 year old an elvis costume and LOVED yours!! where on earth did you find the tiny glasses? any help would be much appreciated!!!
Halloween fanatic,
I got the glasses at Baby Gap. They were originally navy blue and I taped off the lenses and painted them gold. But anymore, since aviators are so popular, you can get them around in the right shape, you just may have to paint them.
The cape and collar were made from iron-on fabric backing. I just ironed-the gold fabric right to it.
The belt was made with gold-fabric and iron-on webbing also. The belt buckle was just gold fabric over cardboard.
Glad you liked it! If Ethan would have had more hair as a baby, it would have been even better.
Hilarious and tasty Pizza Baby costume on super cool baby. I can totally imagine trying to unsuccessfully pry Holden into that last year!
Also, make yourself a celebrity who had a baby recently with your baby as your prop. Britney, anyone?
Our daughter’s 1st halloween costume (@ 4 months) was constructed from previously owned fleecy pajamas and a $.69 thrift store stuffed animal. We went to a Monty Python Holy Grail Themed costume party, and she played the rabbit, while Dad was “Brave Sir Robin” and Mom was a typically incongruous British Housewife. http://one2growon.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_archive.html
The baby costume was made by removing the stuffed rabbit’s head, feet, and tail and quickly hand-sewing them (in the car on the way to the party) on to a typical set of hat/booties, with the tail added to a pair of rabbit themed fleece pajamas. It sounds a bit gruesome in the retelling, but neither baby or rabbit were actually harmed in the stitching.
This year I learned to sew, so I promised to NEVER go and spend 30+ bucks on a cheap generic costume. My son is 1 1/2 and hates anything on his head, so the monkey idea was officially out! I decided to just get some long black leggings and a long sleeve shirt or a black sweat-suit and cut out skeleton bones out of cheap white felt from the craft store. If you can’t sew you can just glue them on with handy fabric glue or if you can sew, than you can glue them on and then sew along the edge to add a nice clean finish. If the shirt doesn’t have a hood I also recommend sewing one on with like some black scrap fabric lying around. I use old t-shirts. This is a great costume if you have a little hyper one that wants to be able to run free. If you can get your hands on them long enough, you can even paint their face like a skeleton. It’s cheap and easy!
Thought I would share, considering the Halloween season is upon us, we get LOTS of questions and feedback on our son’s costume from last year… THE Original Oompa Loompa, you can see pics of it here:
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=oompa&w=36503805%40N00
I posted all of the details on how we pulled it off last year on ParentHacks (do i do not work for them):
http://www.parenthacks.com/2006/10/how_do_you_prep.html
(although the original question was mine, look in the comments where i updated all on the project)
Enjoy!
🙂
Kim
PS – for all the moms out there, I am slowly starting this other site on the side – welcome ANY and all feedback to make it work!!! There’s only 3-4 posts and NO ADS – seriously just looking for feedback on postings and site objective. http://www.goeathealthy.com
I absolutely LOVED the “hatching chick egg” costume. How adorable!