Every year parents are assigned the daunting task of finding unique costumes for Halloween. The scariest part of this holiday can be braving the crowds of other parents at department stores only to be left with few costume choices to pick over. To avoid this stress, you might want to consider buying costumes online or making one at home. Homemade Halloween costumes don’t have to be a meticulous and intricate task. You can make fun and creative costumes for your child that are easy without having to resort to cutting holes in your sheets.

Cat

Materials:

• Sweat Suit or Leotard with Tights (preferably in an “fur color”)
• Spare fabric that matches the suit or tights
• Safety Pins
• Construction Paper
• Headband
• Makeup

Assembly:

1. Cut the fabric in the shape of a tail.
2. Sew or pin the tail onto the back of the sweat suit or leotard.
3. Cut ear shapes out of the construction paper and attach to the headband.
4. Put on the sweat suit or leotard and headband.
5. Create a cat face with makeup.

With this costume, you can add stripes or spots with other pieces of fabric or construction paper to make a tiger or leopard. Cut different-shaped ears or tails to make other animals like a dog or a pig.

Rabbit

Materials:

• Sweat suit in white, pink or brown
• White Pompons
• Construction Paper or Poster Board
• Headband
• Makeup

Assembly:

1. Pin, tape or sew the pompons onto the back of the sweat suit.
2. Cut out ears from construction paper or poster board. Attach to the headband.
3. Put on sweat suit and headband.
4. Create a nose, freckles and whiskers with makeup.

This costume can be customized to add a white stomach with more construction paper if desired.

Butterfly

Materials:

• Black sweat suit or leotard with tights
• Poster Board
• Hole Puncher
• Markers and Glitter
• Ribbon
• Pipe Cleaners
• Headband

Assembly:

1. Cut a pair of wings out of poster board. You can use a template like the one at MarthaStewart.com.
2. Decorate wings with markers and glitter.
3. Use the hole punch to punch holes for the ribbon.
4. Create antenna with pipe cleaners attached to the headband.
5. Put on the sweat suit or leotard and tie the wings on with ribbon.

This costume can be customized to be any type of bug by just changing the color and shape of the poster board. You could even just use the wings with a dress to create a fairy.

Each of these costumes are easy to put together, even if rushing at the last minute. They are suitable for any Halloween event and add a touch of uniqueness.