Homemade Halloween — Naptime Inspirations

The first time I heard statistics on how much consumers spend on Halloween I was floored. A quick search just now tells me that Americans will spend over $8 billion on Halloween in 2020 (and that’s an 8% decrease since 2019). I just assumed that Halloween was largely a DIY event! And that the creativity that went into designing homemade costumes was an integral part of the experience.

I call this one “Defiant Ballerina”. Aunt Amanda made the tulle skirt. Maybe it wasn’t even Halloween, but C’mon. How stinkin’ cute is she??

Growing up, almost all of our Halloween costumes were homemade, i.e. cobbled together from whatever we had on hand. I do recall the occasional character mask and vinyl costume that slipped over your clothes, but that was a rarity. More often than not, the process went like this: 1. Brainstorm what you want to be for Halloween. 2. Figure out how to make the costume. 3. Be prepared to explain to those you meet “what” you are, as it wasn’t alway evident. The ironic part is that we always lived in rural locations, which meant that trick-or-treating was accomplished by piling into the car and driving to houses of friends or relatives where they would ooh and ahh (sometimes with polite but questioning expressions) over our costumes and hand us little bags full of a variety of candy. Remember those little paper Halloween treat bags?? The first time I went trick-or-treating with a friend in a housing development I was flabbergasted at my haul at the end of the night. 1. We walked, not drove! 2. We went to houses of people we didn’t even know! 3. Experienced kids brought pillow cases which, by the end of the night, were filled with candy! I remember coming home and relaying my incredulity to my siblings. I might have even received so much candy that I shared some. That part of the memory is fuzzy.

I made myself a ladybug costume out of felt. I’ve bought many headbands at The Dollar Tree over the years!

The DIY Halloween mentality continued when I had my own kids. Fortunately the twins were content to be princesses for several preschool years and Grandma had made the most beautiful princess dresses for them. As commercial costumes became commonplace (available at Goodwill) we did occasionally indulge. Our library offered a costume exchange, too, where for each costume you donated you could choose one to keep. But there definitely was a limit to how much money I was willing to spend on Halloween costumes. You wear them once, for crying out loud!

I’m really proud of this owl! I started with an XL t-shirt. I cut the “feathers” from fabric samples I got at Lancaster Creative ReUse. I sewed the eyes and beak onto a thrifted knit hat.

In this post I’m sharing some of our homemade Halloween costumes over the years. I have to give the girls credit for most of these. I may be biased, or maybe it’s all the years of convincing the kids that they don’t need the bright-shiny-fuzzy costumes that call to them from Target, but there’s something endearing about making your own Halloween costume. There’s an effort that goes into it that I find admirable. I always ooh and ahh a bit more over the kids in the homemade costumes. There’s a kinship there—I see you kid!

Ok, maybe I’m most proud of this Anna costume! Everything was from Goodwill. It’s a blue skirt, a black cami, and the red cape was made from a button up red skirt. Puffy paint for the win!

In a typical, non-pandemic year, Tom’s parents host a Harvest Party for us. Over the years these have grown in complexity. They have a theme and a scavenger hunt associated with the theme. One year the kids searched for posterboard bones that they then used to assemble a skeleton. One year they did the same with teeth (Grandpa is a retired dentist) and with body organs. Sometimes they search for portions of a poem that they then to to assemble. We’ve done Chaucer and Longfellow. We’ve done maps where the clues were found by using compass coordinates. Last year we had a lesson on how quilt patterns were used to guide escaped slaves on the Underground Railroad. Whatever the theme, there are important elements to the party that can’t be neglected. Besides the scavenger hunt, there’s always a homemade piñata that goes with the theme. There’s always the game where you eat a mini powdered donut off a string hanging from the waistline. And Grandma always makes a cake that the girls can decorate to go with the theme too. And, of course, we all dress up—even Grandma and Grandpa. It’s a special time we share together.

How about you? Are you a DIY Halloween or a Buy-Off-the-Rack Halloween (no shame!). You do you, Boo!

Ellen came up with this Eloise costume on her own. She even found a stuffed turtle to be her “Skipperdee.”

Sometimes our family dresses in theme for our Harvest party. This year I found all appropriate scrubs at Goodwill. A few toy doctor kits we had at home rounded out the props.

Fruit Bowl Family. A few more t-shirts from Goodwill.

Lily wanted to be cactus. I found the sweater at Community Aid. She made the flower blooms.

Not a great picture of the costume but we are an Oreo cookie!

Blog

Naptime Inspirations