Last Minute Halloween Scramble – DIY Costume Idea

When you go through a divorce, holidays change… among other things.  We’ve grown accustomed to the split and shared Thanksgiving and Christmas, Spring break and summer vacations.  Halloween though, is a bit of a different tale.  For one thing, it’s not a recognized holiday by the court, so we are at the mercy of the darn calendar.

The last time I had the boys for Halloween was 2009.  That year we created our own costumes from odds and ends we picked up at goodwill and around the house and I ended up with a Ninja and a Stoplight.  SERIOUSLY.

A Stoplight.  it was an AWESOME costume idea and now I can’t find where I wrote about that…  but I did manage to find an old picture. An Old, small, blurry picture, but you get the idea… paper plates for green and yellow lights, a yellow shirt, and red paint for the red light.

Adorable huh?

So, back to the point… This year is another one where they are with their dad for Halloween.  I really don’t mind because this is his FAVORITE holiday and I’m glad they can share it with him.  We were driving home last Friday and the youngest was feeling a bit down.  After prodding him incessantly a while, it finally came out that Dad isn’t buying them costumes this year (which I fully support) but isn’t really offering any guidance for home-grown ideas either… Enter Facebook.  I really do love y’all BTW…

After many, many suggestions  the youngest decided on the scarecrow idea… and I breathed an audible sign of relief.  Having helped my mom make an ACTUAL scarecrow for the back yard a few (12?) years ago, THIS I could handle.

I spent my lunch hour over at Saver’s thanks to a suggestion from my friend over at Food Good Laundry Bad, and picked up a pair of overalls, a straw hat, a plaid shirt and a few pillowcases. Once I brought the loot home, the youngest and I had a ball.

It really could NOT have been easier… well, I suppose it could have but that’s not the point.  In case you are looking for a great, last minute DIY Costume idea – good for kids OR adults, Girls or Boys, here you go!

In case you want to know the how-to, here you go. (I’m sorry there aren’t any “process” pictures, but it really was UBER simple.

1. Cut Overalls to the appropriate length. – the only overalls I could find happened to be in the Junior’s section so they were a bit long.  Trim the pants to the appropriate length and guess what?  Scarecrows don’t care if the hems are ragged.  No sewing required.
2. Cut a few squares of fabric – these will become the patches on the “knees”.  We used some old pillowcases I picked up at Savers, but really, any old fabric scraps will do. They don’t have to be perfect squares EITHER.  Loving this project so far!
3.  Sew the patches to the pants. The youngest actually did this step.  We used a bright orange thread and big stiches around the patches themselves.  You are NOT looking for perfection here… it’s a scarecrow!
4. Glue Hay to the costume. We live on a pseudo-farm so happen to have hay around.  We glued hay to the bottoms of the pants and the ends of the arms on the shirt to give it the right look.  THIS is the most dangerous part of the project, so I took it on myself…and burned myself in the process…a few times.
5. Trim the edge of your hat.  If you don’t already have an old straw hat with the edges frayed, buy one and trip the outermost edge.  You and your child will have a ball “fraying” the edges to make it look old.  At least we did…

That’s it.

Easy enough, right?

The Best part – in my opinion – was just how excited the youngest is about his costume.  He made sure to tell everyone around him that HE sewed the patches and HE frayed the hat.  He built this and the sense of pride he felt warms my heart.

Don’t be afraid to have your children design their own costume.  Go to your local thrift store for supplies and use family time to create a great costume and loads of memories. “Home-made” doesn’t mean that mom sits at a sewing machine for days on end – get the kids involved in the process!

Happy Halloween Everyone!