Just Like Daddy

Making that little baby-sized guy of yours look like his daddy is another fun infant costume idea I wanted to share. 

I was cruising through some of my friends pictures and I saw this cute image of a baby dressed up like his Harley-riding dad and I thought it was a great idea. Really any dad or mom with a fun hobby, cool job or other  with interest would work in a miniature version.

Just think of it as your own little Austin Powers mini-me. If dad is a cop, let baby be one for Halloween, too. If mom is a pro-mechanic, let the baby wear a pair of coveralls and some"oil" makeup.  

Think of all the fun you'll have if you go as a pair! Another friend of mine was a ballet dancer and for her new daughter's first Halloween, they both went as ballerinas and it was a precious way for them to share the holiday together. Plus, it made for some really excellent photo opportunities. New moms and dads who go with this idea may even want to book a mini Halloween shoot to have some nice photos as a keepsake. 

Once the Halloween happenings are all over, you can sit down and enjoy a little quiet time with you wee one, and depending on her age, she may have learned a little bit more about who here parents are and you will have learned about who she is. If she's still too little for that, well, there's time. Halloween is just the beginning of a lifetime of memories for you and your child. If you love the idea of letting them emulate you for fun for a holiday, then this is a great way to go about it. 

Emma Rae Curtis is a costume/dressing up/makeup & accessories expert. She mainly writes about Halloween but also about all things costume and dress-up related.

Baby Rock Star Costumes

For those about to ROCK, we SALUTE YOU! 

Every time I see this costume, I have a hard time believing that it's actually real. Gene Simmons is a cultural icon, of sorts, and now that I have seen it, I'm annoyed at myself for not thinking of the band as a potential costume inspiration place before. Ah, well. With its extreme make-up, platform shoes, spandex pants, glitter and glamour, the band is perfect for lampooning or dressing up as in homage to KISS.

"I wanna rock 'n' roll all night, and party every day," the band Kiss crooned in one of its awesomely bad rock songs, and a kid on Halloween does, too. Most babies wake up throughout the night, so a costume that makes it possible for a baby to live it up in true party-like-a-rock-star style.  
 :"I had a great group of friends who loved rock music, and I just knew they'd want to see this for their kids and/or grandkids. (Wow! Are we really that old?!)

Anyway, while it may not be PC anymore to be fans of those so-fun-to-lampoon bands: Nickleback, Journey, Boston, Foreigner or Kiss, it is still fun to pay those bands a little homage and to dress up like them in costume for Halloween. But if your musical tastes are more Madonna and Michael Jackson so, I can't help but imagine a troop of baby rockers, and I don't know why it makes me grin, but it does. Picture a mini-Freddy Mercury or a baby girl Tina Turner, or a toddler version of everyone's favorite pretty boy rocker, Brett Michaels. Just make sure you play the kid-friendly lyrics. Rock on! 

Baby Minnie & Mickey Mouse

Many parents in the United States raise their kids on a steady diet of Disney-corporation produced media, so it makes sense that when asked what they want to dress up as for Halloween, kids will respond with a favorite disney character.

When it comes to capturing the imaginations of kids, Disney has the field pretty much conquered. If you are one of those parents who love all things Disney, then you'll be thrilled to see the latest line up Disney costumes for 2012, especially the Minnie and Mickey costumes. 

My personal favs are these Minnie and Mickey infant costumes... they are so adorable it made me want to adopt a set of babies for the holiday. Pushing the "baby hungry" feeling aside, though, there is something sweet about all of the childhood memories wrapped up in the world of Disney memorabilia.

These costumes would be especially fun on a set of twin baby brother and sister, wouldn't they? I'd just add a pair of red glitter shoes to Minnie and maybe some white gloves to Mickey. Plus, if you take the family west to Disneyland, you've got some great photo ops that you can then post on Facebook to announce your trip to friends and family.

(Who doesn't like to make their friends and family envious? ) The nice thing about infant costumes is that most babies are so naturally adorable that any get up you adorn your child in will undoubtedly be a hit, especially with the grandparents. 

Emma Rae Curtis is a costume/dressing up/makeup & accessories expert. She mainly writes about Halloween but also about all things costume and dress-up related.

Costume Inspiration for the Little Ones

Sometimes including the very tiniest members of our family in the Halloween holiday feels like more trouble than it is worth. But really, there are some of the cutest costumes out there for the babies. The pictures they see later as they grow up will instill in them the need to do the same with their own children one day. It really can be great fun.

It seems like many of the smallest baby inspirations come from food. Probably because food just sits there too and can’t go anywhere, but they make adorable costumes like the baby burrito or the lobster. All you really need is a receiving blanket, some lettuce and plastic tomatoes or a bright red coat and pom-poms for the eyeballs, pipe cleaners for the antennae. It isn’t hard or expensive and some materials can be found at thrift stores.

The spaghetti and meatball look for older babies isn’t much harder, just an off white set of sweats, a plastic bowl (cut a hole the size of baby’s waist out of the bottom), a couple of mop heads and brown pom-poms.

When you hit Colonel Sanders, it takes more pieces and more to the costume to have it come out right. A white suit is the only way to go with him, so you have to look hard for one at second hand stores everywhere you go. If you can’t find a child’s wig that fits, cut one and tie it with ribbons you can tie onto the wig itself to cinch it closed. Use a beard and spirit gum (or other adhesive for the skin) to attach the beard.

Warning: Spirit Gum does not like to come off very easily. I found that out after accomplishing a werewolf costume with a younger child and he was not happy.

But there are few adhesives that will stick well to skin. Use black ribbon around the neck, some black shoes, and black horn rimmed glasses (pop the lenses out if these are real). The cane is optional, but a KFC bucket is a cute touch.

If a costume is still too much for you, paper mustaches are hilariously fun to put behind pacifiers and there are convenient ready made costumes available as well like the pirate, little buntings, and Mickey or Minnie Mouse.

So there you have it. Many sources of adorable inspiration to draw from and include that new addition in your holiday celebrating. Have a safe and terrific time!

Emma Rae Curtis is a costume/dressing up/makeup & accessories expert. She mainly writes about Halloween but also about all things costume and dress-up related.

Silly Old Bear

It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like "What about lunch?"

A. A. Milne

 

One of the most classic of all children's stories is that of A.A. Milne's Winnie The Pooh. If you haven't been able to nail down the a favorite costume idea for your baby for the upcoming Halloween season, then this might the the ticket for you.

Winnie the Pooh themes for birthday parties, bedrooms or especially fall holiday parties can be really fun. If you have more than one youngster underfoot in your household, you could dress one child up as Piglet, another as Eeyore, and the other as Pooh, Rabbit or Owl. Winnie the Pooh really is an idea that lends itself well to groups of kids or just one.

Last fall, I went to watch the toddler ballet class of my neice last year for their fall party, and among all of those little princesses was a little girl dressed up as Winnie the Pooh, and that costume was a huge hit. Everyone loved it, and she got lots of extra hugs from the other children in her class because she seemed just a life sized teddy bear to the other children.

For families in need of an infant Halloween costume, any character from the mind of A.A. Milne would be tigger-ific. Plus, many plush versions of the costume are very warm. Or, you can make your own with a pair of sweat pants, some ears on a headband and a little bit of face paint. 

Emma Rae Curtis is a costume/dressing up/makeup & accessories expert. She mainly writes about Halloween but also about all things costume and dress-up related.