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.