Easy-to-Make Kids' Halloween Costumes

These speedy Halloween costumes are perfect for little trick-or-treaters who need disguises in a flash.

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Fairy Costume

Circus Acrobat Costume

Lucky Duck Costume

Flower Power Costume

Jack & the Beanstalk Costume

Octopus Baby Costume

Dog Costume

Picasso in Training Costume

Mad Scientist Costume

Rock Star Costume

Scaly Serpent Costume

Banana Split Costume

Honest Abe Costume

Honest Abe's Hat

Garden Nymph Costume

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Fairy Costume

A green leotard and tulle turn a little girl into a forest fairy. For the skirt, knot lengths of 6-inch-wide netting around waistband elastic, then add blooms at the waist and to the headband.

Circus Acrobat Costume

This flashy circus girl costume is made easily from a pair of satin pajama pants, a leotard with filmy sleeves, and sparkly embellishments.

Learn more about this project.

Lucky Duck Costume

This happy-go-ducky Halloween outfit is so simple your kids can help make it. Hot-glue or hand-stitch yellow feather boa pieces onto the sleeves of a yellow hoodie. Attach another 5-inch-long piece of boa to the point of the hood. Finish the costume with yellow gloves, yellow sweatpants, and yellow rubber boots.

Flower Power Costume

Trick-or-treat in style with this sunny costume crafted from painted coffee-filter flowers and green paper-tablecloth leaves. The pieces are safety pinned to a green shirt so they're easily removed, leaving the shirt wearable after Halloween. A cute headband and slip-on shoes dressed as bumble bees complete the sweet blossom.

Jack & the Beanstalk Costume

Bring a favorite storybook character to life. Cut two pieces of burlap fabric for a tunic (use your child's shirt as a sizing template). Stitch together the pieces and fray the edges. Use iron-on letters to spell "Jack" on the costume's chest. For the beanstalk, cut the legs and feet from a pair of green tights. Stuff the legs with batting and stitch the ends together. Poke chenille-stem vines into the stalk and twist to secure in place. Cut bean shapes from crafts foam and hot-glue onto the stalk. Pin the stalk onto the tunic.

Octopus Baby Costume

This adorable sea creature is made from three pairs of kid tights. A little stuffing and felt furniture pads (for suction cups) make the octopus arms. Baby's actual legs peek out from among the six stuffed ones to complete the eight appendages. This no-sew costume comes together in a flash.

Dog Costume

Go for best-in-show with this easy dog costume. Spray-paint brown spots onto a gray hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants. Using our photo as a guide, cut out two identical tail pieces from brown felt and sew together, leaving one end open. Stuff the tail with fiberfill and whipstitch the tail to the seat of the sweatpants. Cut two floppy ears from brown felt and whipstitch to the hood of the sweatshirt.

Picasso in Training Costume

Emulate a renowned artist in pint-size form this Halloween. All it takes is a little artistic license. Drip and splatter colorful paint onto a white, adult button-down shirt. Slip the smock over any colorful top, and then add a beret, an artist's brush, and a palette to complete the masterpiece.

Mad Scientist Costume

Use your brainpower to create a scary-smart costume. Cut a couple yards of flesh-color tulle into 3-inch-wide strips. Sew each strip into a tube with red or blue thread, then stuff the tubes with pink tulle. Twist and glue the tubes onto a stocking cap to make a brain. Glue an elastic strap to each side of the cap for a chin strap. Stitch rubber snakes, lizards, mice, plastic eyeballs, and fake beakers onto a lab coat or white jacket. Finish the look with nerdy pants and thick glasses.

Rock Star Costume

Let your guitar hero shine in this rockin' costume that's a cinch to pull together. For a stage-ready wardrobe, embellish a pair of basic blue jeans with iron-on patches (such as a rhinestone skull-and-crossbones) and metal studs. Turn a plain white T-shirt into a statement with iron-on letters. Complete the look with a pair of shades and a toy guitar.

Scaly Serpent Costume

Turn a hooded sweat suit into a scaly dragon. Cut fangs, horns, and eyeballs from white and green crafts foam, and hot-glue them to the hood. Cut less-than-perfect circles from green crafts foam and smaller circles from shimmery green fabric. Hot-glue foam and fabric circles together to create scales, and glue them onto the sweat suit, shoes, and trick-or-treat bag. Glue foam fangs inside the top of the treat bag.

Banana Split Costume

Treat yourself to a tasty banana split costume. Start by stitching two crafts-foam triangles to the top of yellow pants. Top the peels with ice cream made by hot-gluing strips of quilt batting around a white sweatshirt. For sprinkles, use hot-glue to add pink and green chenille stems and pom-poms. Cover a foam ball with red modeling clay and insert a red chenille stem in the top for a cherry. Glue the cherry to a white hat covered with more batting and sprinkles.

Honest Abe Costume

Celebrate President's Day early with this Abe Lincoln getup. Create the penny by cutting two circles from poster-size sheets of copper crafts paper. Cut two circles of the same size from foam board. Referring to a penny, draw images and words on the copper circles. Glue the copper sheets to the foam-board circles. Use hook-and-loop fasteners to attach ribbon suspenders to the foam circles. See next slide for hat directions.

Honest Abe's Hat

For the stovepipe hat, cut an oval brim from black crafts paper, and glue it to a tube of rolled black crafts paper. Glue black ribbon around the brim. Complete Abe's look with a black beard, white dress shirt, black pants, and black shoes.

Garden Nymph Costume

Get a woodsy look by gluing silk flowers to a green leotard paired with brown or tan tights. For the skirt, cut a waistband from thick ribbon, then hot-glue lengths of ribbon to the band; back the ribbon skirt with a layer of green tulle. Cut wing shapes from sheer fabric, then wrap and glue the edges around green chenille stems. Attach the wings to the leotard with hook-and-loop fasteners. Use more ribbons and flowers to dress up a plain headband, dowel-rod wand, gift bag, and green tennis shoes.

Easy-to-Make Kids' Halloween Costumes

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