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Get with the kids
Halloween is the best holiday of the year — a big party without any of the baggage. Sure, you could run to Target last minute and grab the last witch hat left on the racks, but what’s the fun in that? You only have a few years of compliance before the kids want to do their own things, so make the most of it. Here are some coordinated family costumes that were months in the making.
My kids are obsessed with rainbows, so one year they went as double rainbows. My husband and I tagged along as rain and sun, respectively. I bought a pile of fabric from Joann Fabrics and cut out the shapes freehand. We started plotting this year’s costumes, and my 7-year-old suddenly had a light-bulb moment: “Wait, sun and rain make rainbows …” Doh! Not ready to have that discussion yet.
Scroll through the arrows above to see more creative ideas that your kids will love.
Pete the Cat
The Fadli and Vonachen family of West Seattle
From Emily Vonachen: “At age 3, my son loved Pete the Cat. I thought it would be a fun family costume because there are a few Pete the Cat-themed books. I DIY’d the costumes from online resources such as eBay and then made a few trips to the craft store. We now have a running theme that someone in the family has to wear a unitard as part of our annual family Halloween costume. I think this year it will be my husband’s turn.”
Milk and cereal
The Chew family of Ballard
From Winnie Chew: “My daughter loves Fruit Loops, so I thought I’d just complement her outfit (a bowl of Fruit Loops) by dressing up as a carton of milk ’cause, you know, cereal and milk get along fine. The Fruit Loop bowl was made using papier-mâché, then covered with felt. The loops were pool noodles. The milk carton was made with felt.”
Roller coaster
The Grassy family of Maple Leaf
From Richard Grassy: “Fall has always been one of my favorite seasons because of the bursts of color and falling nuts from trees, days getting crisp and cool while getting shorter and moody. Madison, Wisconsin, used to have a huge Halloween bash in the 1970s and 1980s sponsored by the University of Wisconsin student leadership. You would see so many creative costumes as people paraded by. We used to get dressed up in group costumes and join in on the fun. We have continued that tradition by creating family costumes for the kids. Homemade and slightly cheesy — all the better.”
Space alien and space warriors
The Williamson and Spencer family of Phinney Ridge
From Dominic Williamson: “Each year, we brainstorm a theme that we can all agree on, which is no small feat. These space women and alien were inspired by 1950s B movies/Jetsons/retro ‘Lost in Space’-type imagery. The alien itself is from ‘The Invasion of the Saucermen’ (1957). I just thought it was the quintessential vintage alien, perfect for Halloween.
“It was a lot of fun making the weapons from recycled materials. The helmets were very large, clear light globes and the alien head was papier-mâché. I grew up in England, where Halloween isn’t a big deal, but I was always fascinated by it and wanted to go trick-or-treating in fantastic outfits. We moved to the U.S. in 2000, and after having kids, I was able to fulfill my childhood dream of celebrating Halloween in all its glory. I really love the challenge and creativity that it takes to make these costumes. I thought 2017 was our last year doing this together; the kids are getting too old to trick-or-treat. But I think we might get one more year out of them, as discussions are underway!”
‘The Nightmare Before Christmas,’ Oogie Boogie and Lock, Shock and Barrel
The James family of View Ridge
From Lucy James: “I was the Oogie Boogie Man and the kids were Lock, Shock and Barrel from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ movie. I made my dress from a dress pattern but adapted it to look more like a ball gown. I used leftover fabric I had and included contrast stitching, plastic bugs and vinyl bugs that I cut out and stuck on.
“The boys’ outfits were simple sweatsuits in the appropriate colors. We cut out the bone shapes from felt and hot-glued them on the outfit. I sewed the witch hat and dress for my daughter in fleece using a simple A-line dress pattern. The masks were made from cardboard and masking tape, covered with papier-mâché and paints. It was pretty quick and easy to put together.”
Harold and the Purple Crayon
The Fadli and Vonachen family of West Seattle
From Emily Vonachen: “I rediscovered my love for children’s books after my son was born. One of my favorite books growing up was ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon.’”
Batman
The Acuario family of Issaquah
From Ellen Acuario: “Now that the kids are getting bigger, they want to be the superheroes that they like. So we just try to build around it.”
Beer Pong
The Kocher and Roth family of Mercer Island
From Richard Kocher: “My husband, Brian, and I were trying to do a princess Halloween that was way more crafty and intricate than our layman skills and busy schedules allowed. So we panicked and drew inspiration from when we were at our peak procrastination period: college. One same-day Amazon Prime order and a roll of white medical tape later: Voilà! Beer pong. We got a lot of high-fives from our neighbors and just a couple of eye rolls.”
Yogi and Boo Boo, Cindy Bear and Ranger Smith
The Hill and Lim family of North Seattle
From Chakrya Lim: “We’ve only had two Halloweens as a family, but this one is my favorite so far. I needed a costume that didn’t have hats or a mask, since the boys would just pull them off. I found the bear jackets and knew I could get a group costume out of it.”
Tyrannosaurus rex
The St. John family of Bellevue
From Michelle St. John: “My husband’s name is Rex, so when my son was born, I called him ‘Baby T-Rex.’ Last year was his first Halloween and I found this adorable costume of baby T-rex in an eggshell, so we dressed as a T-Rex family for Halloween.”
Peter Pan
The Acuario family of Issaquah
From Ellen Acuario: “Little kid costumes are just so fun. For October, when they were babies, I would just put them in costume any random day. Just to go to the grocery store: tiger outfit. Cookie monster another day. Multiple costumes, because when you’re a kid, you can do that and it’s not weird! It’s joyful and you can spread that joy so easily when you’re a kid. I didn’t get to do this kind of stuff when I was little, so I get to enjoy it with them. Then I was like, ‘Well, we’re a team — why not do it all together and make it a thing?’ At least for one photo, all together. I think it’s a fun thing to look back on.”
Labyrinth
The Williamson and Spencer family of Phinney Ridge
From Dominic Williamson: “2016 was the 30th anniversary of Jim Henson’s ‘Labyrinth,’ a movie I absolutely loved as a kid. I loved the character Ludo and was so excited to see if I could pull off such a massive undertaking in time for Halloween. It was a very time-consuming process, which started at the beginning of September.
“I did tons of YouTube research on how to construct big monsters out of EVA foam and fur and used movie photos and footage to get a good likeness. The body shape was started by creating a pattern. I used a stuffed animal with extra padding to create the shape, wrapped that in duct tape and drew on a numbered pattern, took detailed photographs, carefully cut the pattern out and blew it up with a projector, tracing the enlarged pattern onto brown paper, then transferred that to the foam. I cut it out and stuck it together. Amazingly, I suddenly had this huge lightweight 3-D monster shape. From there I dressed it with fur. The head was a combination of papier-mâché, upholstery foam and liquid latex. I learned so much from YouTube, I made my own tutorial on how I made Ludo. The David Bowie character, Jareth, was pretty easy to put together and Sam, my wife, did Isabel’s makeup. Lucy was a Firey, a fire demon from the film. The head was made with a similar technique to Ludo’s. With all of that work, I unfortunately ran out of time to make a costume for Sam!”
Harry Potter: two professors and a baby Mandrake
The Campolito and Starr family of West Seattle
From Stacey Starr: “Alicia and I are both huge Harry Potter fans, and we did Ollie’s nursery in a Harry Potter theme. We had received a newborn onesie as a gift that said, ‘I speak fluent Mandrake.’ It was perfect, especially any time he would cry. We thought he would make a great Mandrake for Halloween, and we decided to make our own costumes. On Halloween, he was a much happier Mandrake and we had more smiles than cries, but adorable either way!”
Pac-Man
The Grassy family of Maple Leaf
From Richard Grassy: “The family costume theme was the classic arcade game of Pac-Man. Besides the Pac-Man character, we made Inky and Blinky, two of the four ghosts. The costumes were made with cardboard refrigerator and bike boxes, duct tape and contact paper. We added Pac-Man sound effects by recording them onto my MP3 player and playing it back through a tiny external speaker.”
Firefighters
The Sumner family of Capitol Hill
From Rob Sumner: “My daughter and her friend both wanted to be firefighters. The dad of my daughter’s friend was the creative genius behind making the burning building.”
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in September 2018, and updated in October 2022.
