DIY Simple Halloween Costumes for Kids

It’s Halloween season once again! Last year, we talked about how we could celebrate this occasion in an eco-friendly way (read the full post here). This time around, the focus of this article will be on how to get ready creative Halloween costumes for your little ones even if you’re short of time (read: now). I, sadly, belong to this category.

Dragon

Turning your kid into a cute yet ferocious dinosaur-cum-dragon this Halloween can be quite easy. This is because the major part of the costume is just a dangerous-looking tail, plus an added handmade mask for extra effect (this tutorial seems pretty useful for some quick work). All you need is some fabric in vibrant colors – tomato red or sunshine yellow or bright green works best. Lay a rectangular piece of the fabric on the ground and fill it up with cotton (I’m planning to use the filling from an old mattress for the purpose). The slightly tricky part here is to sew it up so make sure the cotton filling is not too much. You could also use empty toilet paper rolls taped together as a filling or even otherwise instead of cotton.

“Halloween” by ArtsyBee is licensed under CC by 2.0

The length of the tail should be such that it drags for a little distance on the ground when fitted at the waist. Using another color of fabric, you need to make small round balls filled with cotton to be roughly sewn onto the length of the tail. A yellow tail with red rounded balls as protuberances sticking out of it looks great. Make little belt loops on either side of one extreme end, insert a belt into the loops and fasten it on your child’s waist. Your roaring dragon is ready with a lethal tail trailing behind!

A Bunch of Grapes

This costume is the absolute go-to if, say, you need to get your kid dressed for trick-or-treating as soon as tonight. Simply head to the nearest store and buy a packet of black or purple or green balloons (at least 30-40 in number). Blow them up using a pump to save on time – it will take less than half the time it would otherwise take if you decided to blow them up manually. You need not worry about the size of the balloons; some could be larger and others smaller. Attach a small safety pin to each knot of the balloon, since you’ll be pinning them up on your kids.

“Ball” by Pexels is licensed under CC by 2.0

A word of caution here: The child needs to be wearing at least two layers of clothing, an inner t-shirt as well as a sweat suit. Carefully pin on the balloons on the front and back, top and bottom and your bunch of grapes is ready to flounce around! To add extra flair, twist a couple of pipe cleaners such that they resemble vines, stick them atop a hat and prop it on your little one’s head. This outfit couldn’t have been easier, could it?

P.S. Though my son is super excited to roar around and behave like a dragon (aka one of the creatures from his favorite dragon games), the daughter isn’t too ecstatic with her bunch of grapes idea of a costume. She wants to be a witch on a broomstick (I guess her neighborhood pals put that idea into her head). And so, with the promise of an elaborately designed wicked witch costume for next year, I’m off to get my two little tykes ready to say boo!

Halloween Safety Tips for Kids

Halloween is fun alright, but amidst all the noise and excitement, one must remember to teach their kids how to keep safe while trick-or-treating, even if, say, it’s just in the near neighborhood. Tips for the same have been in the news lately and hence I decided to share some of the points which seemed very valid to me as a parent, here.

“Cat” by GraphicMama-team is licensed under CC by 2.0

Children should be taught to:

• Cross over from one street to another only at corners.
• Note the traffic signals before crossing a road at a crosswalk.
• Be careful of parked cars suddenly backing out of driveways without notice.
• Stick to the pre-planned route for trick-or-treating so that the parents are constantly in the know of their whereabouts.
• Always be in a group of friends or people they know well.

Meanwhile, it’s the responsibility of us parents to make sure that:

• The kids, if very young, are able to recollect the contact number and address of their parents in case they get lost.
• Not talk to absolute strangers or follow their instructions, howsoever friendly or trivial they may seem.
• Their costumes are fire-proof and preferably not flowing so that they don’t get stuck on objects along the way.

Keeping these things in mind, you can be rest assured and eat, drink as well as be as scary as you wish!

3 Fun Ways to Have an Eco-Friendly Halloween

Halloween has a ‘spooktacular’ history of its own. As legend has it, when a drunken farmer called Stingy Jack was turned away from both heaven and hell, he carved out a turnip to make a lantern out of it and find his way in the darkness; hence jack-o’-lanterns came into being. Then there was a myth among the Celtics that if one dressed up as a ghost, all evil spirits would be fooled into thinking the person was one of their own and would not take away their souls. Sinister yet fascinating tales, eh?

The excitement levels of the kids here at home know no bounds when Halloween is around the corner. They will eagerly give up their favorite virtual games to plan their costumes down to the last intricate detail (including the last streak of face paint!) and sometimes even forget to have their meals on time (if not reminded) in the entire planning melee with their neighborhood pals!

This year, I decided we should try and be more environment-friendly while planning the Halloween stuff, from the costumes to the decorations and everything else. Just a bit of extra effort on our part, that’s what it takes. Also, it’s all the more fun when you do things together as a family instead of buying stuff off the shelf.

Here are a couple of fun ways to have an eco-friendly Halloween this time.

Halloween Costumes

“Trick Or Treat” by Clker-Free-Vector-Images is licensed under CC by 2.0

 Scary, scary Halloween night…

Dress up in a costume and make sure it can fright!

Getting Halloween costumes ready every year wins hands down as the most entertaining and fun part of the occasion. It all boils down to how creative you can get – the possibilities are endless, especially when it comes to designing your own Halloween outfits instead of picking up a readymade one to be worn just once and discarded. Ghosts are an all-time favorite of kids and there are so many homemade costumes that can turn you into a terrifying one! Short on time? Go for an old bedsheet or a sack too big for you with holes cut out for hands and a cardboard headgear or mask with snake-like slits for eyes. Wish to be a groaning mummy? A dozen rolls of toilet paper to wrap you up will give you that eerie look. Thinking out-of-the-box and want to be a wicked angel with wings? Old wire hangers bent into the shape of wings can be attached to your back for added effect. And don’t forget the broomstick if you’re planning to dress up as a witch!

Halloween Food

“Sweet” by PublicDomainPictures is licensed under CC by 2.0

 Trick or Treat…

Give me something good to eat!

Say the word Halloween aloud and the first image to pop up in most of our minds would be – a spooky old jack-o’-lantern grinning away to glory. When we scoop out the fillings of a pumpkin in preparation for carving it, why unnecessarily throw away the seeds to end up in the dustbin? Roasted pumpkin seeds are nothing short of a delicacy; what’s more, they involve practically no cooking whatsoever. Simply preheat your oven to about 150-170 degrees C, mix the pumpkin seeds in a bowl with salt and a tablespoon of butter and bake till it turns deliciously golden brown. Carved a pumpkin or two too deep to make a perfect jack-o’-lantern? Turn it into a simple pumpkin pie – you just need milk, eggs and sugar to bake it like any other pie. Halloween flavors at their finest!

Halloween Decorations

“Pumpkin” by typopets is licensed under CC by 2.0

 Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen…

Voices whisper in the trees, “Tonight is Halloween!”

Using natural, biodegradable items to do up your house will in no way make your home appear any lesser scary-looking than if you had used readymade plastic decorations from the neighborhood store.  Old cardboard egg cartons can come in handy – cut out 3 egg cups from the discarded carton, put them upside down, make zig-zag cuts in the bottoms of the two side cups and once you’ve painted them black, you just need to stick on the eyes to have a scary bat staring up at you! Watch this simple tutorial to have a better idea of how to go about it.

Old see-through containers, glass jars lying around as junk or unused mason jars can be a big hit too. Almost all kids have small animal specimens to play around with. All you’ve got to do is pop, say, a grasshopper or a lizard specimen into a jar and fill it up with colored water (use food coloring for the purpose). Broken eyeballs off an old teddy bear or a limb from a worn-out doll or two should be spooky enough too.

Also, scarecrows aren’t just meant to scare birds away from a field where crops are growing, are they? Go dig out clothes from the basement which everyone in the family has outgrown or will never wear (even dirty old ones with gaping holes and blotches on them would do) and get to work tying together bundles of hay to make the arms and legs of a scarecrow. Prop it up on a chair in your front porch, with a glowing jack-o’-lantern as a head and a straw cap on it and voila! No points for guessing whose porch would be the most ghostly of all once night sets in!

Have a good Halloween, folks!