10 Dress-up Ideas That Wont Break The Bank

It is almost the end of another school year and boy it has been hectic. Being a mom of two kids in two different schools in not easy, especially when it comes to dress-up day/character day. The schools never have the same themes and I have never repeated a costume twice. It can be rather expensive buying costumes every single time it is dress up day.

Obviously every mom wants their kid to have the best costume and stand out in the crowd. So I have learned to DIY and improvise the kids costumes using mostly things we have around the house or spending as little money as possible.

Here are a few costumes I have created and the kids absolutely loved them.

1. Astronaut

- Paper mache (flour and water), white paper and a balloon for the helmet. Used double sided tape for the neck of the helmet to prevent scratching

- Toilet paper roll and foil for the cuffs

- Coke bottle, foil, a shoe box, white paper and s sticky tape for the oxygen tank and back pack. 

- Printed all the logos 

- Owm clothes

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2. Angel

- Big brothers t-shirt

- A winter onsie we had

- Thrift store wings and halo

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3. Proudly South African 

- Big borther's rugbu jersey which no longer fits him

- A helmet from a birthday from 2 years ago

- Printed out all the pics abd pasted then on cardboard and glued them to the helmet

- A flag from the thrift store for R10

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4. Mickey 

- Wool, yellow for the bow tie and white for the buttons

- Crotchet the bow tie and buttons

- Clothes and boots from wardrobe

- Mickey Mouse ears from a thrift store

5. Pirate

- Own shirt and shorts

- cut up dad's old red t-shirt fot the waist scarf and head scarf

- Mom's belt (which I still wear)

- Pirate accessories from thrift store

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6. Rubble

- I used an diaper box and spray painted it yellow.

- Used black paper for the front of the bulldozer

- painted polystyrenes and used it for the tyres

printed out Rubble's ears and Paw Petrol badge and stuck them to a helmet we used at one of the kids birthday parties two yeats ago

- Printed out Rubble's paw and created a dog tag with a ribbon

- I used a construction jacket given to us a year ago by a cousin

- Shovel from one of our beach holidays

- Own clothes

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7. Snail

- Alice band, wire and crafr paper for the antennae

- Craft brown craft paper, cardbox and ribbon for the shell which I use when I wrap packages for clients

- Own clothes

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8. Woody

- Cut out an old white t-shirt and used a permanent marker to make the cow patches for the jacket

- Cut out dad's old red shirt (Sam from the pirate outfit) for the scarf

- Hat, gun holder and belt from a thrift store

- printed out a sheriff badge for the belt buckle

9. Clown

- Wool! Wool! Wool!

- I made different coloured pom poms with wool at attached them to a woolen beanie

- Also made the suspenders with wool

- more pom poms for the top and shoes

- Own clothes

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10. Father Christma

This one is absolutely 100% store bought but I made the cute baby.

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I always have fun creating the kids costumes and I certainly hope they will look back one day and appreciate it and remember all the great times we had putting them together.

Xxx Keratilwe M