Easy Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids (DIY)

Necessity is the mother of invention — and sometimes the best costume ideas are born from excavating your closet 10 minutes before a Halloween party. You can create these last-minute Halloween costumes in a second, and mostly from things you already have in your home.

Here's our tutorial for easy DIY Halloween costume ideas.

Cut a little flair (jagged edges) to a green T-shirt (size up so it works as a dress on little ones) and pair it with some green tights or leggings to create a simple poison ivy costume. For an easy DIY Halloween costume, wrap an artificial ivy garland around your child's shoulders, pull a few leaves off and secure them with bobby pins in her hair, and finish the look by painting some green leaves on her face and sprinkling with face glitter. On Halloween night, Have your kiddo carry a bottle of calamine lotion — and she'll have onlookers scratching their skin in no time.

I scraped together everything here from our closets and drawers. Chimney sweepers wear pretty basic clothes. All you need is a red bandana to tie it off, a newsboy cap (we stole ours from little brother's closet), some dirt and grime (with the help of face paint or eye makeup) and a broom from the garage. You can throw in some overalls, too, for a more rustic getup.

Anything denim works great to create a car mechanic costume. To pull it together, just add a homemade mechanic name tag, a baseball cap and some grease stains using makeup. To make it even better, have him carry a can of motor oil and include a ride-on car for trick-or-treating.

Most kids' closets have a few red items, and whether you use a dress or pair a red shirt and pants, the thing that pulls this costume together is the cape. You can easily fold this yard of fabric to fit any child and tuck it around her head as a hood (secure with a large safety pin under the chin). No sewing needed. Tie a thin red ribbon with a safety pin to finish it off and add a cute basket. Watch out for the wolf!

Have a creative little one? She'll love this easy artist costume and will love helping you decorate the apron even more. Most craft stores sell inexpensive aprons for children. Splatter a bit of acrylic paint on it and top off the costume with a wool beret. I easily created the painter's palette by cutting a piece of cardboard into the desired shape and painting some colored circles on it. Add a paintbrush, and there you have it — the cutest little masterpiece!

My favorite costume of the bunch, this Fraulein Maria outfit begs for some twirling and heel-kicking and a nice round of "I have confidence in sunshine!" Any long skirt will do for this. Just add a cardigan, a wide-brim hat (this one is Mama's and worked just fine) and a large purse. If you don't have a guitar, ask a guitar-playing friend if you can borrow their case. Otherwise, any toy guitar will do.

Diamonds might not be a ​little​ girl's best friend, but fake ones sure do look cute with a black dress for this ​Breakfast at Tiffany​'s costume. If your daughter doesn't have a black dress, have no fear. Use a women's tank top, which will look like a chic sleeveless dress on a child. Add costume jewels and wrap some sparkly bling around a little bun for the perfect Audrey look — and then top it off with some big sunglasses and a light blue gift bag. You can skip the cigarette.

The vintage and old-fashioned trends come in handy for this costume. A long skirt, blouse and crochet cardigan quickly become grandma's knitting outfit when you add a pair of reading glasses and a knitting project. The fun part comes, though, when you turn your child's hair gray. Pour a generous amount of baby powder in her hair, massage it through until the hair looks gray, and tidy it all up into a nice granny bun. Then teach her how to pinch cheeks and say, "Sonny, we need to put some meat on those bones!"

These kids' Halloween costume ideas are simple and fun. They aren't exactly spooky, but they more than make up for it in the adorable costume department. Don't let this list be the end of your search, though. Many more costumes are just a closet inspection away — Harry Potter, a minion, characters from ​Toy Story​ or ​Star Wars​. You can even design matching costumes for the whole family. The options are limitless! At school or out trick-or-treating, your little one can be confident that they'll have their best Halloween yet.

Now isn't dressing up fun?