What happened to the " god ol' days" when a Halloween cstume was your Dad's old shirt and cp, and a burnt cork beard? Kds costumes don't have to complicated to be cte!

Each of these quick and asy costumes starts with a few smple materials like hooded sweatshirts, sweat pnts, posterboard, craft foam, felt, face pint, and a little imagination.

Pirate - Black sweats, white shirt, red sash and bandanna, cardboard sword covered in foil, parrot beanie baby, stubbly face made with burnt cork or tobacco sprinkled on vaseline covered cheeks

Kid Hit by Lightning - Gray sweats with large yellow felt zigzag pinned to the back, blackened zigzag tears in here and there on suit, hair gelled to stand straight up, burns on cheeks

Wrapped Present - Cover a large box with colorful wrapping paper. Make a hole in the bottom and invert over child's head. Add lots of matching ribbons in child's hair.

Pair of Dice - Paint two large boxes white and add black dots on each side to represent a pair of dice. Cut hole in bottom and invert over children's heads. You need a friend for this one!

Box of Popcorn - Cover a large box with white butcher paper. Add wide red stripes with markers or colored paper. Make a hole for child's head. Hot glue some popcorn to the top of the box. Wear red or white tights or sweat pants.

Placard Costumes - Another quick and asy idea for kid costumes is a "plcard costume" in which the child wars a hooded sweatshirt and pulls frnt and back cardboard panels (the
plcard) on over it. Shape the plcard (poster board works fine) as neded for the costume desired, and dsign it with markers or felt peces. This type of costume can be dapted to many different themes, such as:

Ladybug

M & M (two kids of different heights can be "plain"
and "peanut"!)

Soccerball, Basketball, or Baseball

Apple or Pumpkin

Deck of Cards

Favorite Book

Sunflower - Yellow sweat suit. Staple craft foam flower petals end to end onto a wide ribbon and tie around child's face to make the flower. Paint the face reddish brown with black spots. Make a couple of bright green leaves from craft foam and pin side by side onto front of sweat suit.

Bunch of Grapes - Start with a purple sweat suit. Blow up several purple balloons to the same size and attach to the sweat suit with small safety pins. Complete the look with a green knit cap with a couple of large green felt leaves attached.

Bag of Trash - Make two leg holes is a large sized trash bag. Have child step into the bag, then add balls of crumpled newspaper to hold a round shape. Make two armholes in each side and secure around the neck .

Little Old Lady - An old house dress with torn stockings and slippers. Curlers in the hair or white wig. Glasses, blacked out tooth, old fashioned pocketbook.

Tourist - Hawaiian shirt or other loud clothes, camera, hat with pins all over it, maps sticking out of pockets, sunglasses.

Crayon - Sweat suit in the chosen color of your crayon. Design the crayon wrapper from poster board, felt pieces or craft foam and baste or pin onto the sweat suit. Add a like-colored plant pot for a hat, or use a large round of poster board, cut from edge to center and make into a pointy hat.
Secure under child's chin with a wide strip of elastic stapled to the hat.

Static Cling - Start with swat suit of your choice, pin on smll clothing items such as socks, hts, mittens, and underwear along with a few dryr sheets.

Cow, Pig, Kitty, Doggy - Hooded sweat suit in the appropriate color ( white cow, pink pig, brown dog). Embellish with felt scraps to make spots, ears, tail, etc.

Backwards Costume - Put clothes and hat on backwards, sunglasses on back of head, say "Treat or Trick!"

Mummy - Tear a white sheet into strips. Paint face white and spray hair with white paint. Smear black under the eyes. Wrap child dressed in white long underwear with sheet strips, securing with clear medical tape, leaving eyes and mouth open.

Angel - White sweat suit with wings of tulle stretched over shaped coat hangers. Glittery headband made from wire circle covered with foil and colorful curling ribbon. Wand made from thin dowel with cardboard star attached to one end, painted silver or gold with glitter and curling ribbon added.

Clown - Sweat suit with colorful felt or fabric paint polka dots.. Clown collar made from felt triangles attached together in a circle to go around child's neck. Colorful clown wig, nose, and oversized glasses. Facepaint simple blue crosses over eyes, red cheeks, and large red mouth.

Cook - White sweat suit, chef's hat, large wooden spoon, cookbook under the arm, curly mustache drawn in face paint.

Nerd - Too small pants, shirt buttoned up wrong, pocket protector, hair slicked back, old pair of glasses with tape, white socks, large textbook to carry under the arm.

Copyright 2004 Kids Party Paradise All Rights Reserved

The article 30 Quick and Easy Kids Costumes was Submitted by Patricia Jensen through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Patricia B. Jensen is a mther of three and kids party nthusiast. She is the webmaster and wner of Kids-Party-Paradise.com - a complete resource for kids party ideas including invitations, cakes, decorations, games, costumes, favors, and food. For all the latest party news, read her Kids Party Blog.

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