I love making Halloween costumes. Really. It's not often that you only wear something once a year - so they don't have to be durably constructed - ha! So I make our kids' Halloween costumes the easy way - the no-sew way!
We decided that little baby X wanted to be a baby chicken for Halloween last year. I was too cheap to buy yellow pants and a white pilot cap, but I did have a pair of gray leggings already, and a blue pilot's cap that he'd nearly grown out of. Bingo!
First thing's first - once you've decided on your baby chicken's color scheme (traditional or, ahem, non-traditional), it's time to get felt sheets in those colors. I went with mainly white feathers, with a few light blue and gray felt highlights thrown in the mix. I cut a feather-like shape out of felt and used it as a template to make the rest. Once we had toooons of feathers, we used scissors to make the feathered edges. I say we because this project is actually easy enough that a 3 year old with some scissor skills can help with - S made several of the feathers on this costume!
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Next you want to take a long sleeved white onesie (bonus - you can't tell if it's stained - so we used an old stained one of S's!) and start laying your feathers at the bottom and work your way up. You can go in straight rows or wavy lines - I kind of alternated as I worked my way up. I did one single dot of glue per feather from my trusty hot glue gun at the base of the feather to give it a bit of mobility.
Once I had the front completely feathered, I flipped it over and cut some basic white wings (you can see one below the gray and blue feathers here) and attached them with a line of hot glue. I finished the wings by placing a few additional feathers over the top.
To make the cap, you'll need a fitted baby hat or pilot cap. Lay it down and cut a chicken comb based on the length and curvature of the hat. I put a line of glue down the center of the pilot cap and held the felt comb so that it was perpendicular to the hat. I needed to hold it until the glue set to ensure that it would stand straight up.
To complete the costume, we dressed little X in a snug short sleeved white onesie, then put the chicken onesie over the top. Between the two onesies we stuffed a few handfuls of polyester stuffing to give him a good fat chicken belly. We put his gray leggings on underneath the chicken onesie to give them more of a chicken leg look. :)
The whole costume took under 2 hours to make and since we used clothes we had on hand, it cost under $2 to make! Total Halloween costume win.
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All activities here are activities I feel are safe for my own children. As your child's parents/guardians, you will need to decide what you feel is safe for your family. I always encourage contacting your child's pediatrician for guidance if you are not sure about the safety/age appropriateness of an activity. All activities on this blog are intended to be performed with adult supervision. Appropriate and reasonable caution should be used when activities call for the use of materials that could potentially be harmful, such as scissors, or items that could present a choking risk (small items), or a drowning risk (water activities), and with introducing a new food/ingredient to a child (allergies). Observe caution and safety at all times. The author and blog disclaim liability for any damage, mishap, or injury that may occur from engaging in any of these activities on this blog.
This is positively the cutest baby costume I have ever seen! And X looks so adorable in it!!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kristan! I suspect he would have looked cute in just about anything....advantage of being a big-eyed chubby baby, hahahaha!
DeleteOoooh...THANK YOU. I wasn't sure what I was going to do if the kiddo picked Blue Bird from Angry Birds for his Halloween costume, but now I know how to do it!!
ReplyDeleteAnd he's ADORABLE, by the way. This is just perfect.
Oh! This would totally work for an Angry Birds costume!!! Can't wait to see it! And thank you! :) :) :)
DeleteWe do homemade costumes every year (they always turn out to be cuter and cheaper). This is the cutest chicken I've ever seen! Great job!
ReplyDeleteHi Em! I totally agree - I can't believe how expensive some of those kid Halloween costumes are! I bet you all come up with some fab outfits. And thank you! :)
DeleteLove your lil chicken costume! It's my twins first Halloween and I'm on the search for affordable costume!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Xoxo Carly
Thank you, Carly! I hope you find something awesome for them!
DeleteThis is just so ridiculously cute!! I need to send everyone I know with a baby this link!
ReplyDeleteHAHAHHA!!! Please do, Carolyn! :)
DeleteThis is so adorable!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lorenka! :)
DeleteIm using red green and yellow for a parrot version. Love it thank you!
ReplyDeleteOH! That's brilliant!!!!!
DeleteI am making this for my little guy :) I like your colors too so I'm using them except I an doing dark blue rights and dark blue body suit. I can't wait to finish it (hopefully tonight)
ReplyDeleteAwesome!!!! It sounds like it will be SO adorable, Donna!
DeleteI am taking this pattern and making my daughter a yellow bellied blue bird! SO EXCITED! Who says we have to follow "boy" or "girl" colors... The blue even has black swirls with gold glitter on the felt!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - that sounds just perfect, Allyson! It's going to be so cute! And awesome that you found blue felt with a pattern on it - that will make some seriously cool feathers!
Deleteoh my god! sooo lovely!
ReplyDeleteHahahaha thank you! :)
DeleteThis is the cutest Halloween costume I have ever seen - bar none! Thanks so much for sharing it - it does not look as easy to make as you have shown it to be. It looks professional.
ReplyDeletePauline
perry94022 at hotmail dot com
Thank you so much, Pauline! :) :) :)
Deleteso cute! did you already have felt on hand? it seems to be a little pricey. also, did your baby pull any of the feathres off? i'm afraid mine might pull one after another off and not sure if the gluegun would be strong enough to withstand his pulling.
ReplyDeleteWhere do you live? In the US craft stores sell felt sheets for around 30 cents each and it only took four or five felt sheets, so it was around $1.50 to make... And they are pretty sturdy, though if your baby is particularly strong, I suppose they could pull them off.
DeleteOh, I was looking online at Amazon which is pretty pricey, but it's a great idea to go to a craft store.
DeleteAhhh, yes. Sometimes Amazon has GREAT prices (like for school glue), but sometimes their prices are much higher than local stores. At either Michaels or Joann's they're ultra cheap.
DeleteRidiculously cute (costume and babe). My peanut loves ducks and I don't sew, so this was the perfect find. I'm working on this right now (I still have a few hours before Halloween! ;P) and am wondering if you feathered the back, too, or only the front. Thanks for this!
ReplyDeleteI feathered the back - but it would be a good time saver to only do the front! A duck sounds addddorable!!!! :)
DeleteMy lo is being chickaletta! This is prefect. :) i already started making feathers. Just debating what size onsie to use. I thibk i need a 6-9. She will be 6 mths on the 13 od oct. I have a 12 mth one but thinking it would ve to big....
ReplyDeleteShe will be so cute!!!
Delete