Costumes for Kids

There's nothing more fun to a child than dressing up in a costume.  My favorite thing when my kids were little was having them coordinate in a certain theme.  Because of the "digital" age of photographs now, I'm trying to slowly get my print photos into digital form.  I started with these pictures because they bring back great memories from the kids' younger days and because I thought some of you might like some costume ideas.

This first costume set is Toy Story.  This was the year before our youngest was born.  The Woody and Buzz costumes were bought, but Jesse's was made using a white shirt that I painted to match her shirt, then jeans with Holstein cow print chaps...most likely made by my mother in law, since I don't sew anything more than a button on :).  The belt was mine from childhood and the hat purchased.

This "Wizard of Oz" costume set is my absolute favorite of my kids dress-up years!  The little one was the lion, in a purchased costume.  Dorothy's dress was borrowed from a friend and I made the tin man and scarecrow costumes.  I remember that the tin man took a lot of time.  Dryer vent tubing made the arms and a funnel is the head.  The box body is painted silver and decorated with aluminum foil and maybe silver cupcake liners.  Google search for more directions.  The scarecrow was made using a sweatshirt and sweatpants, with scrap fabric cuffs that had raffia hot-glued to the edges.  The color was made from scrap fabric, as was the hat.  Hot glue was the tool of choice for this costume!  It only needed to hold up for a few hours.

It's fun going through old pictures and thinking about special memories with the kids.  And just maybe it helps you come up with some creative idea for your family!