30 Quick and Easy Kids Costumes

What happened to the " good ol' days" when a Halloween costume was your Dad's old shirt and cap, and a burnt cork beard? Kids costumes don't have to complicated to be cute! Each of these quick and easy costumes starts with a few simple materials like hooded sweatshirts, sweat pants, posterboard, craft foam, felt, face paint, and a little imagination.

PirateBlack sweats, white shirt, red sash and bandanna, cardboard sword covered in foil, parrot beanie baby, stubbly face made with burnt cork or tobacco sprinkled on vaseline covered cheeks

Kid Hit By LightningGray sweats with large yellow felt zigzag pinned to the front, blackened zigzag tears in here and there on suit, hair gelled to stand straight up, burnt cork "burns" on cheeks

Wrapped PresentCover a large box with colorful wrapping paper. Make a hole in the bottom and invert over child's head. Add lots of matching ribbons in child's hair.

Pair of DicePaint two large boxes white and add black dots on each side to represent a pair of dice. Cut hole in bottom and invert over children's heads. You need a friend for this one!

Box of PopcornCover a large box with white butcher paper. Add wide red stripes with markers or colored paper. Make a hole for child's head. Hot glue some popcorn to the top of the box. Wear red or white tights or sweat pants.

Placard CostumesAnother quick and easy idea for kid costumes is a "placard costume" in which the child wears a hooded sweatshirt and pulls front and back cardboard panels (the placard) on over it. Shape the placard (poster board works fine) as needed for the costume desired, and design it with markers or felt pieces. This type of costume can be adapted to many different themes, such as:

Ladybug

M & M (two kids of different heights can be "plain" and "peanut"!)

Soccerball, Basketball, Baseball

Apple or Pumpkin

Deck of Cards

Favorite Book

SunflowerYellow sweat suit. Staple craft foam flower petals end to end onto a wide ribbon and tie around child's face to make the flower. Paint the face reddish brown with black spots. Make a couple of bright green leaves from craft foam and pin side by side onto front of sweat suit.

Bunch of GrapesStart with a purple sweat suit. Blow up several purple balloons to the same size and attach to the sweat suit with small safety pins. Complete the look with a green knit cap

with a couple of large green felt leaves attached.

Bag of TrashMake two leg holes is a large sized trash bag. Have child step into the bag, then add balls of crumpled newspaper to hold a round shape. Make two armholes in each side and secure around the neck .

Little Old LadyAn old house dress with torn stockings and slippers. Curlers in the hair or white wig. Glasses, blacked out tooth, old fashioned pocketbook.

TouristHawaiian shirt or other loud clothes, camera, hat with pins all over it, maps sticking out of pockets, sunglasses.

CrayonSweat suit in the chosen color of your crayon. Design the crayon wrapper from poster board, felt pieces or craft foam and baste or pin onto the sweat suit. Add a like-colored plant pot for a hat, or use a large round of poster board, cut from edge to center and make into a pointy hat. Secure under child's chin with a wide strip of elastic stapled to the hat.

About Author

Patricia B. Jensen is a mother of three and kids party enthusiast. She is the webmaster and owner of Kids-Party-Paradise.com - a comprehensive resource for kids party ideas and complete party plans for many popular themes, including invitations, cakes, decorations, games, costumes, favors, and food. If you have a web site related to kids, kids parties, or another related theme, you may reproduce this article on your site, provided it appears in its entirety, including this resource box and live clickable link to: Kids-Party-Paradise.com where great kids parties are "a piece of cake"!


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