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Between costumes, candy, and decorations, there are plenty of opportunities to overspend during the Halloween season. Retailers and Halloween venues in the United States make roughly 8 billion per year.
Decorations, costumes, and pumpkins account for a good portion of the total. All of our favorite spooky season goods indeed add up. But thankfully, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the season and save, too. Typically, all it takes is a bit of time and creativity for a fun and affordable October.
Since we all know that costumes can add up faster than anything else during the Halloween season, let’s start there. Besides the more obvious ones, like a DIY witch or DIY superhero, there are countless opportunities to craft a budget-friendly costume your little bat or ghoul will love.
Here are five of the best DIY Halloween craft ideas for homemade kids costumes:
Kids of all ages will enjoy crafting a pastel costume that they can wear solo or pair up with their siblings or friends. All it takes is a tee shirt, felt, hot glue, scissors, construction paper, and some of the most basic crafting skills.
To turn your kiddo into a crayon, first, choose a bright and colorful tee-shirt for them to wear. Next, you’ll use the felt to create a label and construction paper to create a cone-shaped topper. You can find more detailed instructions here.
How many kids can say that they’ve ridden in a hot air balloon? You and your child can craft a DIY hot air balloon Halloween costume that comes with all of the cuteness and none of the risk. All you need is scissors, a plastic laundry basket, twine or yarn, and a helium balloon.
You may also want to break out some sandpaper. You’ll be using the scissors we mentioned before to cut out the bottom of the laundry basket and may want to sand down any sharp bits before you have them step into it.
The twine, rope, or yarn will be used to create shoulder straps that hold it up. And attaching the helium balloon will get them ready for liftoff!
There are few costumes cuter than the DIY flamingo costume. If you’ve got a young daughter at home, chances are good that you already have everything you need for this one, which is a:
If you’re missing any of the items listed above, you can find most of them at the closest dollar store or in the budget-friendly craft aisle at Walmart. With some quick snips and stitches, your little one will be flamingo fancy in no time.
This DIY cactus costume looks prickly but is actually cuddly. To start, you’ll need a green onesie or another green outfit. Alternatively, you can use green fabric dye on a onesie of another color. You’ll also need a needle, thread, scissors, white cord, felt, hot glue, and white paint.
The white cord is the perfect material to make the spindles from, and the felt will be worked into flowers. This one is geared toward toddlers, but you can also make a DIY big kid or adult cactus costume with pipe cleaners, hot glue, tissue paper, and a green shirt or dress.
This DIY minion costume seems to be a favorite because it works for both boys and girls. And it’s a favorite among parents, too, because it’s incredibly easy to put together. All you need is a pair of overalls, a yellow hoodie, and a pair of goggles.
The link above also includes instructions for four other easy Halloween costume ideas that start with white tee shirts. And now that we’ve gone over some of the best DIY costumes for kids, let’s talk about some fun and easy DIY Halloween craft ideas!
With a pack of construction paper and a few pairs of scissors, you and your kiddos can transform your home into a spooky wonderland. Make or print templates for all things Halloween, including pumpkins, ghosts, and black cats.
Cut out as many as you like and hang them around the house for a fun, easy, and affordable way to decorate. This one is simple enough and fun for kids of all ages.
If you’ve got any real or fake pumpkins lying around, there’s a fun and affordable way to spruce them up. All you have to do is collect some fern fronds of different sizes and use glue to attach them to the pumpkins.
You could also use different colored leaves collected from the yard or recycled book pages, which makes it feel more like a game and a craft. When you’re ready, attach the fronds, leaves, or pages with spray, stick, or hot glue in any pattern you please.
Just like that, your pumpkins get a beautiful and festive boost!
For something a bit more spooky and seasonal, this witchy black ribbon wreath will do the trick. You’ll need a fair amount of black ribbon, a 16-inch foam wreath, straight pins, and construction paper, and you’ll be well on your way to offering trick-or-treaters a fun, witchy welcome.
Few objects symbolize Halloween better than ghosts. Friendly ones or scary ones, whichever you prefer, you can make a handful of ghouls to haunt your living room with a few simple items.
All you need is white tissue paper wedding bells from the dollar store, black construction paper for the mouths and eyes, and glue to tack them on. For an added touch of the ethereal, drape them in cheesecloth after they’re done.
Last but not least, we have a fun and frugal way to make your own swarm of night creatures. All you have to do is trace a bat on a piece of black felt and cut it out. Then repeat and repeat until you have as many as you need. You can use glue or push pins to trail them across the front door or a living room wall for a spooktacular accent piece.
