- Get a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants in the same color as your chosen animal. For example, you could make a pig out of pink, a kitten out of white, black or brown, a bunny out of white, or you could get black bottoms and a white shirt and make a cow. Get felt in the corresponding colors and make ears, a nose and tail. Use face paints or eyeliner to create whiskers and a nose. Don't forget the flying critters. Black pants and shirt with some large felt wings and ears can create a bat. A butterfly can be made with some store bought wings and colorful sweats.
- Ahoy matey. Does your little one want a swashbuckling costume for Halloween? Get some black pants (sweat pants are inexpensive and also work) and a white shirt. Cut a piece of red fabric into a sash to tie around the waist. Paint a stubbly beard with face paint or eyeliner. If your child would like some pirate accessories, such as an eye patch or a hook, they can be bought inexpensively at many stores.
- Purchase two large foil roasting pans. These will be used for the robot's front and back. Decorate the pans with paint, colored plastic cups, cut in half to serve as buttons, and bike reflectors--you can decorate these however you want to create a futuristic look. For the arms and legs, cut 4-inch-diameter metallic dryer duct, which can be found at hardware stores, to fit over each limb. For the head, cover a baseball cap or the top half of an empty gallon milk jug with silver duct tape and decorate as desired.
- For a last-minute costume that looks good, make a baby costume? You just need pajamas, big fluffy slippers and a teddy bear. Pull hair into two pigtails and paint freckles on cheeks.
- Get two large white sheets of poster board. Use painters tape to aid in painting large red strips on one side of each sheet of cardboard to look like a box of the movie theater treat. After the paint has dried, use a large, black permanent marker to write "Popcorn" across the front of one of the poster boards. Glue pieces of popcorn onto it. Punch two holes in the top of each poster board and tie together with string. The string will sit on the child's shoulders so that one poster board is in front, and one is in back. For an added touch, you can glue pieces of popcorn onto a white baseball hat for the child to wear.
