Snowmen are hotter than ever, and we all probably have Disney’s Frozen to blame. Here’s a really easy way to take a sleeveless shirt and cap and turn it into a costume. Honestly, rolling the carrot nose is the hardest part!
Materials:
- White baseball cap
- 1 sheet, orange craft foam
- Hot glue
- Black felt
- White felt
- 3 pieces of straw, 6 inches long
- Adult-sized sleeveless shirt, white
- Elastic
- Poly fill
- Brown, long sleeved shirt
Step 1: Start with the hat. Roll your orange foam into a cone and trim the excess off the edges. Stuff the excess foam into the cone for support. Using hot glue, attach the cone above the brim of the hat. Hold in place for about 15 seconds. Next, take the white felt and cut out two ovals, about 2 inches x 2 ½ inches. Glue them above the orange nose for eyes. Then take the black felt and cut two slightly smaller circles (1 inch circumference) and glue them in the center of the white ones. As a final touch, hot glue 3-4 pieces of straw to the top of the hat.
Step 2: Now take the white shirt and fold its hem up about 2 inches, under, and hot glue to the inside of the shirt. This will create a tube (or pocket) at the bottom of the entire shirt, which is how you will cinch it closed. Leave one small area unglued to insert the elastic (or cut a small hole to thread elastic through). Cut a piece of elastic about 2-inches longer than the size of your child’s waist and poke a safety pin or paperclip through one end. Run the elastic — paper clip side first — through the tube and tie the ends tightly. Glue the hole shut.
Step 3: For buttons, take the black felt and cut out 3 circles, with a 2-3-inch circumference. Hot glue them in a vertical line down the front of the shirt.
Step 4: Place the shirt on your child and mark where the shirt meets your child’s arms (or armpits). You will then want to take the shirt off your child and hot glue the excess sleeve fabric closed to make a tighter seal. Just make sure it’s not too tight.
Step 5: On Halloween night, dress your child in a brown longsleeve shirt (acting as branches for arms) and black pants. Add the white-snowman shirt and stuff the shirt with Polyfill to create the round snowman look. Top with the hat and you’re ready to roll!|
For more costume ideas, check out these 48 Easy DIY Halloween Costume Ideas in 4 Steps or Less.
Katie Bugbee is our global parenting expert and senior managing editor here at Care.com. She has written for Babble, Huffington Post, Newsday and Parenting. A busy working mother, she offers families advice on many parenting dilemmas, from appeasing picky eaters to finding the perfect babysitter.
