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Clare Smith

Training Body & Soul

6 Fun and Easy DIY Costumes! {starring, my family!}

October 12, 2012

Here’s a post that has nothing to do with fitness! (Do I hear shouts of “Hurray!”? LOL!) Over the years, my husband and I have had fun creating unique costumes that we’ve made on our own. I do not consider myself crafty so if I can do this, so can you! So whether you need a costume for Halloween, a Harvest party, or just fun, maybe you can find some inspiriation below!

6 Fun DIY Halloween Costumes! : www.claresmith.me

1.) The Flintstones.

My husband and I were Fred and Wilma. My friend, Leslie, and her husband were Barney and Betty. I don’t think we did any sewing with these, but just cut and used lots of glue! (And yes, I did spray my hair orange and it all came out that night!)

2.) Shaggy and Velma (Scooby Doo)

I found most of these clothes at the thrift store! We both wore a wig. We had to cut my husband’s up a bit to get it to match Shaggy’s hair. I also popped out the lenses of a pair of glasses I found from the dollar tree! (My husband looks a little rough..and mean!)

3.) Basketball, ref and basketball player!

So the next year, I was pregnant with my first child. My husband took halloween paint and painted my belly. (Yes, that’s my bare belly. Sorry if this freaks you out) And then he went as a basketball player!

4.) Dash (from the “Incredibles”)

My son got into the Incredibles when he was 4, so this was a perfect option for him.

A few notes about this costume:

– I used 2 pair of black adult socks. One pair as his arm sleeves (Cut off the ends and wore gloves) and the other pair that went over top of his shoes that made them look like boots. I put some duct tape on the bottom to rough it up a bit because a sock on the ground was a little slippery!

– We enlarged and printed off “The Incredibles” logo from the internet and then traced and colored them on felt.

– We used a larger pair of boys boxer brief underwear for his shorts so that they stayed closer to his body.

5.) The Berenstain Bears

This was our costume last year and probably my favorite option because it involved our whole family. There’s a little backstory to this too. Besides the fact that we love them, we kind of mimic them. We’ve always called our kids Brother Bear and Sister Bear and have referred to my husband and I as mama and daddy bear. It was fun to walk around like this. My husband was a good sport! I got all of the clothing (except hubby’s overalls) at Goodwill!

A few notes about this costume:

– I took a $1 silly top hat from Target and wrapped it with felt and glued it to make Papa Bear’s hat

– My hat was a shower cap wrapped with fabric. I stuffed paper towels in between those layers to make it puff up more, then cut and glued circles on it.

Here is the comparison!

6.) “Chip” the teapot

This was actually for my daughter’s 3rd birthday. My son mentioned he wanted to be Chip, so my mom whipped this up!

Here’s the “how to”!

♥♥♥

I hope you enjoy these! We certainly have had our fun with them over the past 7 years!

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Filed Under: Featured Tagged With: real life 17 Comments

About Clare

Comments

  1. Women Living Well says

    October 13, 2012 at 11:21 am

    I love these – you are so talented!

    I just pinned three of the pics on Pinterest 🙂
    Love ya,
    Courtney

    Reply
    • Diane says

      September 2, 2015 at 4:32 pm

      Would you consider selling or renting your berenstain bear costumes? It would be for this weekend though 🙁 I chose this theme because I wanted to celebrate family . I lost my baby daughter last year and I have a son turning 4. I would love to use your costumes if you still have them?

      Reply
  2. Sharon says

    October 13, 2012 at 12:55 pm

    How fun! I especially loved your pregnant belly as a basketball and the Berenstein Bears.

    Reply
  3. Kait says

    October 13, 2012 at 4:14 pm

    These are adorable Clare!

    Reply
  4. Mary says

    October 18, 2012 at 11:17 am

    Thanks for posting the pictures — very fun costumes! My daughter (14) wants to be Wilma this year. Any tips on how you made the costume? (I don’t have a sewing machine) Thanks!

    Reply
    • Clare says

      October 18, 2012 at 3:22 pm

      I think we took one really long piece of fabric, cut a hole out for the head, then started with scissors and cut the one arm out and then cut the jagged bottom. We may have hot glued the top together but I can’t remember. Then just tied a ribbon around the middle! For the necklace, we just took a ribbon and hot glued large cotton balls to them!

      Good luck!
      Clare

      Reply
      • Mary says

        October 20, 2012 at 10:32 am

        Thanks so much Clare!

        Reply
  5. Eli says

    February 11, 2013 at 11:00 am

    Hi,
    I’m trying to make the Berenstain Bear’s costume’s for a party. We’re also a family of 4 and refer to ourselves as Mama Papa Sister and Brother Bear 🙂
    I have the Mama Bear costume all set.
    Wondering where you got your kid’s wigs and ‘paws’.
    I’m also having trouble finding men’s overalls. I don’t want to spend $40 for a pair.

    Reply
    • Clare says

      May 26, 2013 at 8:13 am

      Hi there! I was lucky to find the hat and gloves at a store locally and just modified them from there. They were a teddy bear winter kit and I cut up and sewed ears on them. I don’t know what you could do if you don’t have a hat/glove set. That was my biggest challenge!
      The men’s overalls my husband had because his dad was a telephone man for 30 years and it’s what they wore! He’s had them for years and shovels snow in them so we lucked out there too!
      Good luck

      Reply
  6. Apatelli says

    May 20, 2013 at 7:45 am

    I, too, would love to know how you made the kids paws and head dress for the berenatain bears costume!!! Super cute costumes!!

    Reply
    • Clare says

      May 26, 2013 at 8:12 am

      Hi there! I was lucky to find the hat and gloves at a store locally and just modified them from there. They were a teddy bear winter kit and I cut up and sewed ears on them. I don’t know what you could do if you don’t have a hat/glove set. That was my biggest challenge!
      Good luck!

      Reply
  7. Amy says

    June 14, 2013 at 6:29 am

    Love the Bernstein Bear costumes. Where did you find the bear headpieces?

    Reply
  8. Amy says

    June 14, 2013 at 6:30 am

    Oops! Lol. Somehow missed that comment..never mind!

    Reply
  9. Peter says

    September 11, 2013 at 12:01 am

    Awesome – thanks for sharing these great DIY costume ideas.

    I thought you and your readers might be interested in the creative costume contest over at http://www.halloweenhero.com/costume-contest-2013.html – the best part is the $250 grand prize.

    Keep the great ideas coming – it’s almost Halloween!

    Best,
    Peter

    Reply
  10. Meredith says

    October 17, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    Homemade costumes are THE BEST! Last year my husband’s office had a costume contest and he went as Wolverine and literally cut claws out of cardboard that he covered in aluminum foil…he wore a leather jacket and ripped jeans he had, and spiked up his hair. He ended up winning a Macbook!

    Reply
  11. Jessica says

    August 16, 2017 at 12:29 pm

    For the chip costume, where did you find the planter and how did you insert the wrapping paper tube to planter. I really want to do this for Halloween 2017!!!!

    Reply
    • Clare says

      August 17, 2017 at 6:45 am

      I think my mom got the planter at Home Depot or Lowes and we can’t remember how we did the handle! My husband thinks the twist ties or maybe a drill…but then again they could have glued it. (We don’t have it anymore to look at!)

      Reply

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