Salt & Pepper Shakers
You'll Need
Garment bags
Black construction paper
Styrofoam peanuts
Black pompoms
Stainless steel colanders
Shoelaces
1. Enlarge the hole at the top of two clear garment bags so they're big enough for your kids' heads to fit through.
2. Cut holes on the sides and bottom for arms and legs. With double-stick tape, attach an "S" cut from black construction paper on one and a "P" on the other.
3. After the kids have stepped into the bags, fill the "S" with Styrofoam peanuts and the "P" with black pompoms.
4. Top with colanders tied with black and white shoelaces.
Goldfish
Let your toddler stand out in a sea of Backyardigans.
You'll Need
Cupcake liners
Hooded sweatshirt
Ping-pong ball
Permanent marker
1. Cut orange cupcake liners in half and hot-glue them in layers, with the curved edges facing downward, to an oversize orange hoodie (for a toddler-size costume, you'll need about 40 liners).
2. Next, cut a Ping-Pong ball in half with sharp scissors, draw circles in the center of each half and color them in with a permanent marker.
3. Hot-glue the halves onto the seam of the hood.
Sushi Rolls
You'll Need
4 pillows
Packing tape
4 trash bags
Styrofoam peanuts
Orange balloons
Green t-shirt
1. Place pillows around the front and back of your children's midsections; wrap packing tape snugly around the pillows to keep them in place.
2. For each child, fold 2 lawn-sized trash bags in half and affix them to the outside of the pillows, one in front and one in back, securing at the seams with packing tape.
3. Fasten Styrofoam peanuts (rice), blown-up orange balloons (fish roe) or a rolled-up green T-shirt (cucumber) onto the tops with double-stick tape.
Holey Knight
Now this is a knight in shining armor.
You'll Need
Old gray shirt
Gray sweatpants
Cardboard
Bike helmet
Aluminum foil
Packing tape
1. With a sharp pair of scissors, cut holes in the front and back of an old gray shirt.
2. Then, cut sword and shield shapes out of cardboard.
3. Cover the cardboard and a bike helmet with aluminum foil, making a handle on the back of the shield with the foil, and using clear packing or double-stick tape to secure the ends if necessary.
Re-enact Alice in Wonderland with the whole family by making these character-themed costumes.
Square Meal
On the menu: a grownup costume that requires no facepaint, hairy mole or pointy hat.
You'll Need
Foamcore board
Adhesive paper
Toy food
Paper plates and napkins
Ribbon
Plastic utensils
Packing tape
1. Cover two 2 x 2-foot pieces of foamcore board (find it at art stores) with Con-Tact paper in a checkerboard design (at housewares stores).
2. Hot-glue toy food to paper plates.
3. Once they're dry, hot-glue the plates and colorful napkins to the board.
4. Fashion shoulder straps from two pieces of 2-inch-wide ribbon, taped shoulder-width apart to the insides of the boards with packing tape.
5. Grab a plastic fork and knife.
Rainbow
Let your daughter show her true colors.
You'll Need
Blue sweatsuit
Ribbon
Fabric glue
Old pot
Gold spray paint
1. Measure the length of a sweatshirt in your child's size from the cuff of one arm up around the collar and down to the other cuff.
2. At the crafts store, pick up that length of ribbon in six colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple. (If you're making the costume for a teenage girl, you'll probably need about 2 yards of ribbon in each color.)
3. Using fabric glue, affix the ribbons in rainbow order, as listed above, from cuff to cuff, snipping off the ends if necessary.
4. Spray-paint an old pot gold-it's an instant candy holder.
Photos: Alexandra Grablewski/Woman's Day
Original article appeared on WomansDay.com.
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