Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids

Review:

This is a beautiful book and so user-friendly! It was great to avoid frantically running around from store to store, since this book has such simple patterns and shortcuts where you don't even have to sew, as well as last-minute panic solutions. The 100 different costume choices (from well-known bunnies, pirates and witches to the amusing gingerbread house, octopus, swamp monster) will last the Halloween life of my kids (and probably their kids too!), making this book quite the bargain. Making and creating the costumes was a fun family project and encouraged everyone's imagination. I like the idea that a portion of the proceeds of the book go to UNICEF.

I have made the squeleton costume for my 5 years old and it was a success.It was a great initiation to costume making for me.It also is easy to understand and do by them selfs for older kids. It is our favorite bedtime story.

Sam (age 5) and Kate (age 3) have been so excited about this book "reading" every page over and over and taking it to bed with them! Kate has memorized the names of each costume and has been able to ask for and describe a combination of costumes that she has imagined for herself!
This book is wonderful for inspiring creative imagination and the costume tips and patterns ARE easy and versatile enough for you to whip up an original costume with very simple inexpensive ingredients or with whatever you have in the house even at the very last minute!

I am very proud of Sam, who after much gleeful "study" of this book with his sister, decided to make his own costume modifying one of the ideas in this book - how satisfying for him to march in his school costume parade wearing an original costume that started from an idea from this book and made pretty much all by himself (hey, no sewing, or even glue gun needed for that one!) I'm sure we will get lots more year round dress-up inspiration from this truly "Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids" book to come... my mind is already brewing up some winter dress-up Birthday Party ideas!

In Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes For Kids, Halloween costume designer Leila Peltosaari showcases one hundred easy-to-make costumes complete with matching treat bags and accessories. The simple, step-by-step instructions are enhanced with detailed full-color photos and illustrations. The color-coded, easy patterns for 3 to 12 year olds are well-organized and feature a wealth of "no-sew" shortcuts and "last-minute" solutions. Highly recommended for even the most novice costumer, Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes For Kids is enhanced further with a history of Halloween, safety tips, and anecdotal background stories. With designs ranging from traditional and storybook characters to animals and clowns, to celestial beings and cultural tributes, most of the costumes can be assembled without a sewing machine and in only one evening. Many of the costumes are made form Polarfleece (a perfect Halloween fabric which is soft and lightweight, slightly stretchy, warm, versatile, with no hemming or seam finished needed -- and hotglues like a dream!). Although specifically targeted for the Halloween holiday, these are delightful outfits that can well serve for costume parties and school plays at any time of year!

Illegally Easy Halloween Costumes for Kids is the best I have seen on this topic. The full color photographs of the costumes, complete with makeup, are spectacular. The directions are thorough and easy to follow. Any of these costumes would be a terrific for Halloween and the ideas could also be used for making costumes for plays or other productions. At the price of store bought costumes or patterns, this book is a bargain, as it contains 100 costumes and many additional ideas. You won't be disappointed!









Family Fun Tricks and Treats

Halloween is a time of transformation and not for just humans who don the face paint and masks!

Reviews

There are a number of Halloween books out on the market for decorating, baking and costume making, but this is one of the few that actually has something new in it!

The crafts are clever, but actually look doable wtih things you might already have on hand. The costumes ideas are fun and innovative, the food ideas are also really cute, but not overly-complicated. While some classic ideas never die, this book puts a nice twist on things like "body parts" games.

Of course, the ideas come from the monthly magazine that Disney produces, Family Fun, and if you get the magazine, you'll have already seen alot of these things in print or on their website. Still, the book is nicely layed-out, easy to flip through and a good resource of party and costume ideas for both kids and their grown-ups.

This book is an awesome resource for make-at-home costumes and decorations. The ideas are so cute, easy to follow, and where else can you find a recipe for slime?

This was great! My daughter & I love Halloween and when we saw this we bought it right away. There are so many wonderful ideas. A must have! There were a lot of spooky things to do with foods and great little ideas for those little helpers to decorate your home with lots of memories! You have to get this one!






The Halloween Handbook : 447 Costumes

The collaborative effort of Halloween costume experts and enthusiasts Bridie Clark and Ashley Dodd, The Halloween Handbook: Dress-Up For Grown-Ups showcases 447 imaginative, easy-to-make, do-it-yourself costume concepts. From traditional favorites such as Wonder Woman or Peter Pan, to more eyebrow-raising unique costumes like the One-Night Stand (the costumegoer appears as an actual stand with lampshade over the head, bra and pantyhouse dangling on the tablecloth) or the Green Card (wearing a large green sandwich board humorously displaying a parody what a real green card looks like). Black-and-white photographs illustrate fun, zany, sometimes edgy ideas with practical suggestions to efficiently and frugally make a Halloween guise to remember. Especially recommended not only for Halloween, but as a source of ideas for costume parties year round or even school and community theater apparel.





Dazzling Disguises and Clever Costumes

Reviews:

i love this book it is really cool my name is katie i am six years old with long brown hair and green eyes my friend sarah and i made a horse costume a month ago and we wear it everyday. i also made the insect and the bird costumes. i like putting bags and masks over my head cuz i think its funny LOL. i hope i can be a childrens entertainer one day and play catcherin softball. my mom says shell make the ghost costume for halloween. yay!

This book would be a really great book for kids.
It would be fantastic to use as inspiration for Halloween costumes.
There are some great ideas inside. The instructions seem easy for children to follow and most of the materials used to make the costumes are available around the house or at a craft store.






Dressed for Thrills : 100 Years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade

From Publishers Weekly
From a 1930s waxed, painted buckram "Evil Bunny" and a mohair and cotton "Colonial Ladies Wig" from the 1940s to "Buddie Beatnik" and "Rubik's Cube" costumes, this colorful photographic survey by Galembo, a photographer and SUNY professor of art, shows vintage costumes worn by (sometimes rather unhappy looking) young models. Mark Alice Durant, a University of Maryland professor of Visual Arts, offers the accompanying essay, "Glowing Turnips, Pointy Black Hats, & Insomniac Aliens: The Hybrid History of Halloween," showing how we "shape rituals to fit the realities of the moment." The play versions of Groucho Marx, Olive Oyl, astronauts and Lady Liberty among the 123 full-color photos illustrate that principle whimsically and sometimes scarily.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Book Description

A whimsical array of ghosts and goblins, spooks and skeletons, vamps and vampires parade through this unparalleled collection of more than 100 years of American Halloween attire. From Little Bo Peep with lamb in hand to beatniks and pirates, from monsters and witches to clowns and animals, this veritable "carnival" of costumes visually captures All Hallows' Eve like no other book before.

In her celebration of Halloween revelry, photographer Phyllis Galembo never settles for the ordinary; here instead are evocative scenes of dressed-to-scare young trick-or-treaters "modeling" their disguises, of undead spirits haunting their surroundings, and of costumes spanning over a century that take on an eerie new creepiness thanks to special lighting effects. Accompanying the costume shots is a history of this always-popular holiday and an essay placing the work in the wider context of fashion and costume. Of interest to enthusiasts, designers, and students alike, this devilishly diverting book is the perfect gift for all Halloween aficionados.

Review

If you have ANY feel for Halloween, BUY this book! It is THAT good! It will remind you of your childhood and the magic that flew through the air on Halloween. HIGHLY reccomended!






Halloween : A Grown-Up's Guide to Creative Costumes, Devilish Decor & Fabulous Festivities


Reviews

Finally, here's a Halloween book that's definitely for adults. It's brimming with practical and inventive ideas for parties, decorations, and costumes, and with an amazingly atmospheric design that's a luscious treat for grown-up eyes. Take the dread out of a costume party with creative and playful ways to dress for success on All Hallow's Eve; there are even actual costume elements to use, from wings and tails to masks and hats. You'll find ways to repurpose items right out of your own closet or benefit from a quick trip to the thrift shop. Unique make-up tips for a ghoulishly great appearance will complete the effect. An elegant "Pumpkin Primer" supplies projects to enhance the holiday spirit, including menacing hex dolls and simple, spooky candlescapes. Finally, a selection of theme party ideas, from Day o' the Dead to a Masked Ball, will make for a Happy Halloween. After all: why should kids have all the fun?


bug costumes actually looked pretty good, and so on. I especially loved the Monet costume, which was of watery blue cloth and bedecked in water-lilies, with a garden bridge on the hat. Many of the costumes and decorations are very artistic. Even some of the no-sew costumes made me say "Oooh, cool!"

I give it one star for the several infuriatingly innaccurate Asian-inspired costumes and decor. The "samurai" armor was just a joke and perhaps could be said to have its own peculiar charm, and the Yuki Ona costume (which is supposed to be spelled Yuki Onna, it's pronounced differently) was quirky and didn't look even remotely Japanese or even Asian (actually, it looked like the Snow Queen) and the bedsheet kimono was actually pretty good and began to look authentic in comparison to the other things, but when it had flat paper masks from the "Kabuki, or CHINESE opera"...! Ooh, that makes me SO MAD! Aargh! If they'd just stopped at one horribly innaccurate Japanese costume, I would have shrugged and skipped over it, but when they kept doing it, one after another... grr. It's not racist, just not researched enough.

Something similar happens when it talks about using a voodoo-doll motif for a Halloween party. It then tells you a bit about the religions of Vodoun and Santeria, from which the "voodoo dolls" come. This raises the question of why it's using very serious religious symbols as fun party decor.

The book has historical information about Halloween, monsters, and other cultural things. For example, after the instructions for the Green Man costume, it has two pages telling what is known (and not known) about the Green Man's history. With the fairy costume, it tells about different kinds of fairies, and how some kinds of fairies are more dangerous than cute.

However, after having seen how innaccurate this book was when it came to Japan, I'm highly suspicious of its educational value and authenticity in other areas of history and culture. It's clear the book *tried,* since it does at least include historical information for everything it can, but I'm not going to use it as history reference. Enjoy, but take with a grain of salt.

The section about the Mexican Day of the Dead seems considerably more accurate than the others, and fairly true to the spirit of that holiday and culture, but I still feel a bit suspicious about its authenticity.

Sorry if I seem grouchy about the book- I really did enjoy its originality of design. It's a relieving change of pace from the "country charm" Halloween craft books where you've seen everything before. None of those hokey books had scarecrows like the one in this book, which is a terrifying art statue with broken garden implements for claws, a faceless pumpkin head,and a metal wire body wrapped in dead vines! That's probably the scariest thing in the whole book, and genuinely scary at that. Not all of the things in it try to be adult or scary, mind you; there's plenty of light-hearted Halloween silliness too. I am going to have to try some of the things in here!

The book title caught my attention as the word "Grown Up" jumped out at me. I am big fan of everything Halloween so I had to have this book. I should have borrowed it at the library first! I read other reviews on Amazon.com about how wonderful this book was so I purchased it solely based on the reviews.
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER:

The cover threw me off. It had pictures of a paper mache skull with horns, a pumpkin with star holes, floating candles in a bucket filled with flowers and mini pumpkins and a picture of hand-made crepe paper witch hats on the front door. I was thinking: all right! A cool book on how to decorate and cool crafts to make!

What they should have put on the front page was a picture of a man in spider costume, a picture of a woman in a poodle outfit, a picture of a man wearing a bird beak..you get the picture.

COSTUME 101

The first 107 pages out of 173 pages were all about costumes only. Here's a sampling: black spider, poodle, bees, really ugly paint spattered thing...

The good thing about this book - you can make most of the costumes listed here because they are items that are readily available.

The bad thing about this book - it really shows.

Many of the costumes just require you to take your old dress/shirt/gown and throw paint all over it or sew a few things on it here and there. There was even an outfit called "Dancing Queen" and can you guess what you are supposed to do? Slap used CD's all over yourself. You are supposed to look like a dancing queen...isn't that what being covered in CD's is all about?

The Queen bee outfit looks...anemic. I thought bees were supposed to be fat. In this case the Queen bee stands in skin tight clothing with what looks like black chicken wire around her waist (I think its supposed to be black netting).

The "Mother Nature and Green Man" costume I find hilarious. Just looking at the picture you'd think they were hippies covered in vegetation and/or mossy stuff. On the next page there is an entire page on "Who is The Green Man?" I figure if you have to go around explaining who the heck you are it takes the fun out of it after the 500th time. "No...I'm NOT the moss man or the hippy man covered in vegetation...I am the Green Man (insert expletives and other cuss words here)...!"

I must admit there are a few neat outfits: the shimmery mermaid outfit, the gladiator and the bedsheet geisha, but not much else going for it. For every one male costume there are about 3 or 4 women's costumes (mainly old dresses with things sewn onto them).

The second part of the costumes section take you step-by-step on how to make things like birds beaks, hairy legs (I am not making this up), thundering hooves, walrus tusks (WALRUS? where's the matching costume for this tusk?). There's one page on how to make an outfit for your dog.

The third part of the costume section teaches you how to paint your face (3 pages of really boring stuff), how to make a hat, how to make paper bags LOOK like a face. Are you sleeping yet? The only thing remotely fresh that I saw in this section was the medusa wig. You get a bunch of plastic snakes and pin it to your swim cap covered in black tulle.

FINALLY...THE DECOR SECTION:

The first ten pages in this section covers pumpking carving basics, how to add a "nose" to a pumpkin simply by turning it over so the stem acts like a nose, how to make a pumpkin look like a "bushy head" by sticking twigs and leaves out of its head, how to carve squares into a pumpkin to make it look geometric, how to....urgh.

The next five pages are all about making dolls. Voodoo dolls, corn "dollys" and hex dolls which are nothing more than twigs hanging eerily off some dead branches. Phhhhfft.

Then..get this...another craft article on how to make a GIANT 6 FOOT SPIDER! That's right...in your very own back yard! How did the craft section go from tying together twigs and corn to make faceless dolls to a gigantic, humongous, insanely huge spider? I take that back, the spider is 6 feet in diameter, which means its actually bigger.

FOOD SECTION:

There are differently themed parties throught this book: the New Orleans voodoo cocktail party, the Day of the Dead dinner party and the Masked Ball party. Not many recipes. Just a lot of nice pretty pictures, I do give this book some credit!

MY RATING:

I give it a ho-hum bummed out "2" on my scale of 1 (don't bother) to 6 (excellent).

Try Martha Stewart's Halloween for better decorating ideas.

I am a fan of adult Halloween books - nothing cutesy or for the kiddies. I bought this book thinking it would have equal amounts of decor and costumes as I am the type of person that likes Martha Stewart's Halloween decorating ideas. While this book is very good, it is primarily costumes and masks. I would have liked to see more decor. The first 108 pages out of 175 pages are costumes. The remaining pages covers jack-o-lanterns, decorating with candles, a few recipes, etc. Nothing new or spectacular. Great if you like to craft your own costumes...mediochre if you want new decor ideas and crafting your own Halloween items.

Maybe it's because I'm not a seamstress, or even a casual sewer, but I don't understand the objections of an earlier review. It's hard to believe we're talking about the same book! Yes, there is a costume using duct tape, but throughout the book I found many new, very original and creative ideas that I will be able to use for my annual Halloween extravaganza. I have read dozens and dozens of books on Halloween costumes, crafts, and decorating, and never been quite so inspired. As a Halloween afficionado, I recommend it highly!

So many times you see these books on line and wonder if they have enough good ideas to make it worth the purchase price. In my humble opinion this book at 172 pages, is worth the purchase price. Great costume ideas including making wonderful fairy wings using a laminator machine. Horns, hooves, and other accessories you don't often see are described with nice pictures. One section is devoted to hats, wigs, and make-up and includes a Medusa Wig! Pet costumes are also included in this book! The decor section has some truly original ideas along with the traditional hex dolls, corn dolly's, and a giant spider. The table top Victorian graveyard was my favorite! The last section is devoted to theme parties with a Day of the Dead dinner party and Voodoo cocktail party. Handy copyright free images are also provided to make decorations.




Halloween-Costumes and Treats on All Hallows' Eve (Finding Out About Holidays)

From School Library Journal
Gr 3-5-Robinson opens with a lengthy history of Halloween and its ghostly beginnings. The next section explains the different symbols and traditions. The final chapter relates information about our modern celebrations, safety issues for children, and costume and decorating ideas. Full-color, archival photos appear on almost every page. Directions for making mini-ghosts are included but not illustrated, which may frustrate children. An additional purchase where more material on the history of the holiday is needed.

Wendy S. Carroll, Montclair Cooperative School, NJ

Other Halloween Costume Ideas

Halloween Ideas and Tips
Halloween Party Ideas
Halloween Costume Ideas
Halloween Decorating Ideas
Halloween Safety Tips
Halloween Makeup and Special Effects Ideas
Halloween Haunted House Ideas
Halloween Ideas
Halloween Recipes
Halloween Movies
Halloween Holiday
Harry Potter Costumes
Incredibles Costumes
Goth Costumes
Plus Size Costumes
Star War Costume
Batman Costume
Lady Bug Costume
Lion Costume
Halloween Costume
Halloween Dog Costume
Halloween Adult Costume
Renaissance Costume
Halloween Sexy Costume
Pirate Costume
Belly Dance Costume
Medieval Costume
Fairy Costume
Willy Wonka Costume
Power Ranger Costume
Spider Man Costume
Darth Vader Costume
Halloween Baby Costume
Clown Costume
Halloween Child Costume
Halloween Kids Costume
Toddler Halloween Costume
Disney Costume
Couple Halloween Costume
Classic Costume
Infant Halloween Costume
Hollywood Costume
Teen Halloween Costume
Halloween Shop
Costume Wig
Halloween Masks
Wonder Woman Costume
Tinkerbell Costume
Super Hero Costume
Halloween Prop
Halloween Costume Store
Princess Costume
Halloween Costume Accessories
Halloween Cheap Costumes
Adults take over Halloween
Halloween Festivals
Halloween History
Monster Costume
Naughty Nurse Costume
Devil Costume
Witch Costume
Vampire Costume
Hobitt Costume
Goblin Costume
Angel Costume
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Costume
Ninja Costume
Ghost Costume
Sponge Bob Square Pants Costume
Sexy Cheerleader Costume
Hilarious costumes
Barbie Costume
Sexy Bunny Costume
French Maid Costume
Big Kahuna Costume
Go Go Costume
Sexy Cop Costume
Hippie Costume
barbie costumes
superman costumes
batman costumes
pirate costumes
incredibles costumes
fairy costumes
sexy costumes
couple costumes
kids halloween costumes
girls halloween costumes
boys halloween costumes
mens halloween costumes
teens halloween costumes
baby halloween costumes
women's halloween costumes