5 Easy DIY Halloween Costumes for Your Pets

    With Halloween right around the corner, everyone is rushing to get last-minute costumes for the holiday! Share some of your festive fun with your pets this Halloween by making them a costume to wear! These are my top five favorite, DIY Halloween costumes for your pets. 

Ghost

    This is my personal favorite because of how simple, yet absolutely adorable this costume is. This costume was inspired by the ghost costume that pretty much everyone does as a kid. I thought it would work great on a pet as well! 

Photo of Dog in Ghost Costume: https://www.boredpanda.com/13-adorable-dogs-in-ghost-costume-who-almost-spook-me/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Materials Needed: White sheet, scissors.

Step 1: Based on how big your pet is, you need to cut your sheet to the appropriate size. Drape it over them and cut it around the bottom to where it just barely brushes up against the ground.

Step 2: To finish it off, cut out the eye and nose holes. I find that it fits better if the pet's entire snout can fit loosely through the nose hole. 

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle

    This costume is super creative and is sure to wow anyone who sees it! You can find a more in-depth version of this tutorial on Crafts By Courtney.

Photo of Dog in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costume: https://www.craftsbycourtney.com/how-to-crafts/fun-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-dog-costume/

Materials Needed: Paint, ribbon, mod podge, foil pan, needle and thread, t-shirt, scissors, hole punch, X-acto knife, and velcro. 

Step 1: Create the shell using the foil pan. Paint the pan, add mod podge to prevent chipping, punch holes in the pan, add ribbon straps, and finish it off by adding the ribbon "belt" based on what color turtle you are choosing. 

Step 2: Add your turtle shell to your shirt. Sew the top of the pan to the top of the shirt and sew the bottom of the pan to the bottom of the shirt. After this, you can tie the ribbon belt around your pet's waist. 

Step 3: Tie the same color ribbon that you used for the belt around your pet's neck to imitate a mask. You can also use the same color fabric or a bandana. 

Step 4: Lastly, top off the look with matching ribbon cuffs around your pet's ankles. Use velcro on the ribbon to attach them to the ankles. 

Garden Gnome

    I just gnome you're going to love this adorable costume! I found inspiration for this costume from Crafting Chicks.

 

Dog Wearing a Gnome Costume: https://thecraftingchicks.com/diy-dog-costume-garden-gnome/

Materials Needed: Felt sheets, foam sheets, craft fur, pet shirt/t-shirt, glue gun, and elastic. 

Step 1: Assemble the hat. Cut out a section of the foam sheet and the felt sheet in a cone-shape to fit your pet's head. Fold the sheet into a cone and hot glue the felt onto the foam. 

Step 2: Attach the beard to the hat. Cut a section of the craft fur out to make the beard and then attach the elastics from the beard to the hat on either side using hot glue. 

Step 3: Put a pet shirt or t-shirt on your pet to complete the outfit!. 

Spider

    Believe it or not, this precious costume is much easier to make than it seems. This costume is great for crafty pet owners and is sure to impress everyone! I found my inspiration for this costume from a tutorial made by Tikkido.

Dog in a Spider Costume: https://tikkido.com/blog/DIY-spider-dog-costume

Materials Needed: Glue gun, craft fur fabric, felt sheets, pet harness, stuffing, and giant pipe cleaner wire. 

Step 1: Cut an oval of felt approximately the size of your pet's back, and then cut a smaller oval of craft fur fabric to hot glue inside the felt one. 

Step 2: Cut the giant pipe cleaners into eight equal-sized sections to resemble the legs of a spider. Hot glue these to the felt oval.

Step 3: Cut a strip of felt and hot glue it down over the parts of the legs that you glued down to the oval.

Step 4: Overlap the edges of the furry fabric onto the felt oval and hot glue it down around the circumference of the oval. Leave a tiny section open so stuffing can be added. 

Step 5: Add in the fluffy stuffing and then seal the hole shut. 

Step 6: Hot glue the entire thing to your harness, and you're ready to go! 

Flower

    While this costume is more minimalistic, it is still an excellent choice. It looks like you put in a lot more effort than you actually will. This project requires sewing, so it is great for anyone that is good with a needle and thread. You can find this detailed tutorial where I found the idea for this costume: on DIY Network. 

A Cat Wearing a Flower Costume: https://www.marthastewart.com/852543/petaled-collar-costume

Materials Needed: Felt, elastic (preferably 1"), scissors, straight pins, needle, and thread. 

Step 1: Cut out the petals. Draw a petal shape on a piece of paper to use as a stencil. The size of your petals will depend on the size of your pet. Make sure you cut enough so that all the petals can be double-sided. 

Step 2: Sew down the perimeter of two petal pieces together and repeat this for each petal. Cut a vertical slit in the bottom of each petal and then pin the edges together.

Step 3: Sew the edges you pinned down together. Repeat this on each petal. 

Step 4: Cut a piece of elastic slightly bigger than the length around your pet's head and then sew the petals down to it. 

Step 5: Wrap up the project by connecting the edges of the elastic together by sewing them and then cut off any excess petal fabric. 

    These five costumes are convenient and perfect for any Halloween occasion! A majority of the costumes were modeled by dogs, but you can adjust sizing to make them fit any type of pet. They're easy to make last-minute and don't require a ton of effort. Any pet sporting one of these options are sure to impress! 

Works Cited

Jamie, "DIY Dog Costume Garden Gnome." Crafting Chicks, The Crafting Chicks, 15 October 2017. https://thecraftingchicks.com/diy-dog-costume-garden-gnome/.

Sanchez, Courtney. "Fun Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Dog Costume." Crafts By Courtney, Crafts By Courtney, n.d. https://www.craftsbycourtney.com/how-to-crafts/fun-teenage-mutant-ninja-turtle-dog-costume/. 

Wiking, Carla. "Make a Flower Halloween Costume for a Dog." DIY Network, DIY Network, n.d. https://www.diynetwork.com/how-to/make-and-decorate/crafts/how-to-make-a-flower-halloween-costume-for-a-dog.

Wills, Nicole. "Spider Dog Halloween Costume Tutorial." Tikkido, Tikkido, 22 October 2014. https://tikkido.com/blog/DIY-spider-dog-costume.