Baby Halloween Costumes

It's time for school to start again and it's about this time of year that I start planning the costumes for my little ones. My girls are 5 and 6 now so there are a lot of costumes out there to choose from in their age group. We love the non-scary versions like television and movie cartoon characters, cute fuzzy animals, princesses, and fairies. The choices for costumes for 5 year olds are endless.

Things become more difficult when you are searching for Halloween costumes for infants. First you have to consider that most babies want to eat whatever is attached to their clothing, so safety is important. Also, a lot of babies will pull anything put on top their head off in about 2 seconds flat. So does that mean babies miss all the fun at Halloween. Well, we all know that it's Mom and Dad who have the fun dressing up baby for the occasion but your little one will appreciate it when he or she looks back at those adorable scrapbook pages and family photo albums with baby all dressed for trick-or-treating.

Come October when your little munchkin joins the neighborhood children in the scramble to the next door to fill those bags with goodies, maybe you'll get lucky someone in the neighborhood will have packed baby goodies like individually wrapped teething cookies, or water filled teething rings, or inexpensive rubber bath toys like the ones you find at the dollar store. In either case, I've come across some very cute and simple ideas while searching for baby costumes that you may want to use this Halloween.

1) First, cut circles from black felt and attach them to a red sweatshirt, sweater or tee shirt, (depending on the weather where you live) with masking tape. Then attach red pipe cleaners to a infant size black baseball cap with black electrical tape to form ladybug antennae. You have an instant ladybug that is if your little one will leave the cap on for more than 2 or 3 seconds.

2) For this costume, you'll need a gray hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants and gray and pink felt. For the ears, trace two circles from stiff gray felt, cut them out, then cut the felt from side to center. Overlap the cut end so an ear shape is formed, then hot-glue in place. Repeat for the other ear. Next, cut two smaller circles from pink felt and hot-glue them inside the gray felt ears. Use double-sided tape to attach the ears to the hood of the sweatshirt. For the belly, cut out a large oval from pink felt and tape it to the front of the sweatshirt. A long piece of gray cord attached to a belt makes a great tail. Finally, draw on a black nose and whiskers with face paint.

3) Dress your child in a black sweatshirt and sweatpants, white shoes, and white gloves. Then fill two pairs of girl's black tights with newspaper or socks, and slip a white sock or white glove on the foot of each stocking. Tie the two pairs of tights together at the top and use a safety pin to attach to the back of the sweatshirt. Finally, use clear fishing line to tie the spider's "legs" together just above the gloves or socks so all the legs on each side move together.

4) Here is an easy Dalmatian costume. Use hot-glue to attach black felt spots all over a white hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants. Next, cut one leg off of a pair of white tights, stuff it with white cotton or batting, tie the top closed, and make dots all over it with a black marker before pinning the tail to the seat of the sweatpants. Finally, decorate a pair of white stretch gloves with black felt spots for the paws and add the finishing touches with white and black face paint.

I'm sure with a little creativity; you can come up with some of your own ideas. Try to think outside the box and use your imagination. All types of typical baby clothes, pajamas, socks, you name it, can become a costume with a few creative adjustments. So get busy thinking because you only have a couple months to come up with your own unique creation. Have a happy and safe Halloween!