I swear the costume companies make so much money off of our padawans, with all the new crazed costumes hiked way up in price compared to the other ones! Last year my son wanted to be Darth Vader - after I prepped him with all the old movies for "The Force Awakens" - but I wasn't going to dish out big bucks for a costume he'd only wear once.
Granted he didn't want to be Kylo, which made the price significantly less, but I still didn't want to pay the price, so we figured out a really cool way to re-use his clothes for a costume. Which is the basis for this entire post really. So without further ado, here are 3 costumes we've made for my son - and you can just as easily make for your munchkins - with clothes they can still wear during the year!
1. Darth VaderAs I mentioned previously, my padawan wanted to be the Sith Lord. It was a very proud moment in my life to pass on the dark side lightsaber (warning: I know the lightsaber pictured is a Kylo Ren lightsaber, but his Darth Vader one broke, which led to him getting this one for his birthday).
At Target they sell character sweatshirts with adorable mesh hoodies, that give the kids a "mini mask". No worries though, because they can still see thru them perfectly! We absolutely loved the Darth Vader jackets, because not only did he need a new jacket, but this one would be perfect for his costume! It also comes with a Velcro cape, that stays put even after washing it!
It's warm, it's the character he loves, and he can use it throughout the year regardless of the time - weather permitting of course. Perfect!
For a mere $20, my son got a jacket that he STILL uses (because I bought one size bigger than he needed) and it served as a costume! All we did was grab a Dollar Tree red lightsaber for added awesomeness and put on some black pants to complete the outfit. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.
This cost me nothing to make, because we already own everything.
A while back I bought this yellow safety vest from Ikea - specifically for young padawans - for only $3.99. I love having this for field trips and adventures in highly populated areas (like the Del Mar Fair). Sometimes he likes to just wear it out, which I really don't mind at all. It's light weight and fits like a glove.
To create the construction worker outfit, all you need is the vest, a white shirt (long sleeve or short sleeve), some jeans, and tennis shoes. That's it!!!
To add more details, you can dirty up the shirt (perhaps some light brown paint on a thrifted or Dollar Tree shirt) and purchase a kids hard hat from almost any toy store. Target even sold them at one point in their "dress up" aisle, but I haven't seen them lately. I do know that Toys R' Us has them in their "dress up" aisle and with the toy tools. They run about $5 - $7 clams.
Perhaps even use a little lunch box for their "candy bucket", which would be an adorable feature!
3. Train Conductor.My son has a love for trains just like his grandpa. When he was younger, he'd watch my father's toy train go around and around throughout the house during Christmas time. Last Christmas, my mom's husband purchased a toy train for my son, so now we have a really cool train for him to conduct all year long.
Along with the toy trains, he also has wooden trains, and loves to ride the trains themselves. Well, every little train lover has to have the outfit to go along with it!!!
All you need is a pair of overalls - his are from OshKosh, but any overalls will do, a red - or white - shirt, and a train conductor hat! We got his hat from an actual train store when he was only 2 - it was really big then, but fits better now with room to spare - which only set us back about $5 dollars.
For a little extra something, you can also add a red bandanna around their necks (LOOSELY) or in their back pocket. A train whistle to keep in another pocket would also add some fun for the kids, which my son personally recommends, because he did exactly that. You can find the whistle at the Dollar Tree and a bandanna in a wide variety of places.
Boom! 3 costumes done and done.
It just goes to show, that if you use a little imagination, you can probably pull of almost any costume with the kids' wardrobe. With all the graphic shirts and cartoon pajamas, your padawan can be comfy AND stylish for Halloween, without the parents breaking the bank.
Side note: Using character pajamas is freaking awesome for Halloween. They have all sorts of adorable footie pajamas at Target on sale right now, making the kids look like all sorts of cool characters. From Leo from Ninja Turtles to Chewbacca from Star Wars. If they don't like footie pajamas, they also have regular character pajamas.
I know you're probably thinking the memories come from the costumes and you don't want you kid to get made fun of at school (because we all know how kids can be stinkers sometimes), but with their regular clothes, it's not too bad. Besides, if it's anything like San Diego, you're kid will be sweating up a storm before the day is over in their costume.
To each their own of course. I've found that my padawan would rather have something he can wear numerous times, then something that makes him uncomfortable since he gets hot really easily.
Hopefully this has inspired you to get a little creative for the padawans this year! You don't have to go broke to make memories, it's the experience that counts!
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