My family is one of those crazy families whose Halloween costumes are epic because they match.
The best advice I can give when trying to think of an awesome family Halloween costume is to talk to your kids. Find out what they’d like to be, and plan your family’s costumes around that. Or maybe they have an idea for your costume! It’s great to see what these little minds can come up with.
2014: The Tangled family
Now that my daughter can talk, she had a great idea for this year. We will be the Tangled family: She is going to be Rapunzel, I will be the queen, her dad is going to be king of the castle. And her brother, Asher? He gets to be the pet chameleon, Pascal! But I wasn’t able to find a chameleon costume, so a turtle costume will have to suffice. I am putting the turtle shell part of the costume over an Infantino Mei Tai so I can wear him and still display his costume.
2013: Sweet as candy
Last year, we deviated from our tradition and only Lucie had a costume. She was a candy corn; and I’ll admit that it was a costume I didn’t put as much thought into as I usually do, since I was so horribly sick at that point in my pregnancy. Charlotte of Sweet n’ Pink Bowtique was making candy corn pillowcase dresses, and I thought they were adorable. If Jonathan and I had thought ahead, we could have been M&Ms or some other type of candy ourselves to match. As we did not think ahead, neither of us ended up dressing up for Halloween. But this year we will be back to form.
2012: Star Wars
Our second Halloween married, Lucie was Yoda. Everyone had always told me her facial expressions resembled wise old Yoda, so I thought it was a perfect fit. Jonathan dressed as Luke Skywalker in a brown cape and black long-sleeved shirt and jeans, and I was Mara Jade Skywalker with a black hooded cape, leggings, and knee high boots. We weren’t true to canon with our outfits, but we did have a lot of fun!
2011: Santa’s gift
The first Halloween I was married to Jonathan, I was pregnant with Lucie. Back then, even though it was only three years ago, Christmas stuff wasn’t out in the stores yet at Halloween, and I had to rummage through old closets for a Santa hat. We used white spray hair dye on Jon’s hair and beard. I made a fabulous bow and put a label on it that said “Love, Santa.” I had the idea a few days before a Halloween party that year when I was trying to think of something that would be cute and incorporate my very pregnant belly.
Other great family costume ideas
Smurfs: This is a great and easy costume you can make yourself with some blue face paint, white hats, and blue and white T-shirts. No family is too big or too small to represent the Smurfs.
Crayon family: The family that colors and draws together will have many happy memories. Don’t want to all be crayons? Paint brushes, palettes, and coloring Books would all be great accompanying costumes.
Pirates: Even though it was not Halloween, Lucie, Asher, and I were in festive moods and pirate attire for Talk Like a Pirate Day this year on September 19. We earned some free doughnuts as our treat for dressing up.
Beekeeper: Your entire family doesn’t have to be part of the costume troupe. Split yourselves into groups if it works better for the theme. Fellow blog contributor Carolynne dressed as a beekeeper this year, while wearing her daughter, Riley, who was dressed as a bee.
Toy Story: This family favorite has so many characters, it’s a cinch to find enough to outfit your family.
USC Gamecock or Clemson Tiger fans/cheerleaders: If your family is a family divided, it may create fun conversation as you go door to door collecting goodies!
Still looking for the perfect idea? Check out these lists of family costume ideas from the Today show, Huffington Post, and BuzzFeed.
What are you and your family dressing as for Halloween this year?
Love it! We have never coordinated a family costume, but now I wish we had. Although my oldest is probably too old now to want to participate, lol. I LOVE Carolynne’s & Riley’s Beekeeper/Bee costume!!! So perfect for them!
This year will be the first year we have done family costumes since our youngest was born. She is two and will be dressed as Little Red Riding Hood, my 4yo son will be the Big Bad Wolf (I’m diy’ing his costume), I will be Grandmother (nightgown and wig) and my husband will be the Woodcutter (appropriate clothes he already has and an axe prop). My eldest won’t be with us this year so he chose to be Boba Fett!
For our first Halloween together (before the two youngest were born) my husband, Brock, and Titus (3 at the time) were Jedis and I was Princess Leia at Titus’ request. 🙂
When Titus was 2, his father and I were pirates and I dressed him as a parrot with a homemade costume made by stitching brightly colored boas to a sweatshirt belly and arms with a tail made from felt also covered in boas. I used a beanie to stitch a beak to (ended up finding a cheap toucan beak and cutting it down to the right size) and adding a few more feathers. He wore yellow tights and short pants to complete the look and rode on my ex’s shoulders. We got a lot of compliments for his costume and he didn’t mind wearing it because even though it looked floofy and complicated on he outside it just felt like sweats and a hat underneath.
I love Halloween! I was pleased this year to be able to get us costumed as a family and still stay within a limited budget. If you do some research and don’t mind getting your hands dirty it’s a lot of fun to make your own costumes!
Happy Halloween all!