Halloween costume ideas - toddler

[RidingMyBike]

Had an email from nursery saying that there is a fancy dress day for Halloween this year - and it falls on a day when DD will be at nursery. She'll be nearly two. We don't celebrate Halloween (don't like the commercial aspect of it) but don't want her to be the odd one out.

Don't want to buy her something cheap that's probably produced using sweat shop labour and will get worn once. Any ideas for something simple that could be worn for something else? Is a t shirt with a black cat on and some black leggings not really trying hard enough?!

If you don't celebrate Halloween, I think i would get her a general dressing up costume - such as a doctor, firefighter etc. Melissa and Doug have great ones and mine use them most days at home.

But the cat t shirt sounds perfect. I saw a child wearing a Santa t shirt for the Halloween party and no one batted an eyelid.

Sainsbury's have some cat themed clothes in at the moment.

Have a look on eBay-mine have had skeleton glow in the dark all in ones which are comfortable and can be used again (think onesie but in pyjama material, rather than thick and fleecy),

Similarly, Sainsbury's/Asda etc will have a good range of actual Halloween clothing rather than dress up costumes-if not in the shops already they soon will be.

Over the baby years mine have had all manner of onesies (Red Devil, pumpkin, skeleton, black cat). Mothercare used to be good but I haven't needed to shop there for years.

I usually buy DSs a (sometimes loosely!) themed onesie -warm enough for dressing up in November and can be used as pjs afterwards

We had to make an emergency Halloween costume for DD to wear to nursery when she was two. Cut a hole in the top of an old pillowcase for her head, cut the ends all raggedy and drew a spooky face on the front - she was such a cute ghost!!!

I think at that age it would be challenging to put them in something really elaborate/fussy/shop bought. They will most likely try to rip it off, being too young to understand that dressing up is a fun thing to do.

So I agree that blue peter home made is a good way to go! Cat is a great idea OP! Ghost is also a great idea!

How about pirate: You could make a hat and/or an eyepatch out of some paper and string for a pirate. You might already have a stripy tops or trousers then if you have a wee bird or monkey soft toy you could pin it to the shoulder. You could pencil on a moustache/beard with eyeliner/face paint.

We've got a mermaid themed party to go to end of this month and I bought DS some fishscale design leggings that he can wear again (probably to halloween at nursery, lol). He'll be topless then we've made a trident from some cardboard and tin foil. I'm betting we'll get 15 minutes from it then we'll be changing him into normal clothes!

My ds had a skeleton onsie he lived and now has a skeleton tshirt. He wears it all year round and is really into "inside the body" books and toys.

A lot of the shop bought costumes are make of very flammable uncomfortable material.

I doubt they'll expect a scary costume for a toddler. A cat (black top, black leggings, a tail made from a pair of tights and a small set of ears on a hair band) would be perfect.
A bumblebee is another easy DIY costume. Same black basics with yellow electrical tape for stripes and a small set of wings.

We're Irish and celebrate Halloween but view it as a social dress up occasion rather than having to be something scary or otherworldly.

Great ideas people - love the homemade ones. I'm hoping that thinking about it this early means I'll have time to make something or at least alter something to make it work.
I think she'd probably quite like to be a cat. She's a bit cat obsessed at the moment.