If you’ve been following along recently, you’ll remember that I shared a “sweet” donut costume for my youngest son over at Smart School House. I also had mentioned that my oldest son would be coordinating with him as a police officer. Here’s my brave little police (who has been insisting on me calling him “officer” all week).
To stick with my philosophy of simple and affordable Halloween Costumes, this one cost me about $5, and an hour of (mostly inactive) time.
Rather than purchasing blue dress pants, I opted to use a pair of dark-wash jeans my little guy already had in his closet. In addition, I used a pair of shoes we purchased for school. It might not be incredibly “authentic;” but, he loves it, and everyone is still going to know he’s an officer!
Since he won’t keep a hat on, I decided not to go through the trouble to make one. But, you could easily dye a white baseball cap blue and add a gold badge to the front for a fun twist on the costume.
To make the shirt, I just purchased a white t-shirt from the thrift store, and dyed it using Navy Blue RIT. To get the dark blue color I was going for, it took a good hour or so of sitting in the dye … and I’d even say it could have used a bit more time in there. Otherwise, I followed the instructions on the package to a T.
A simple variation on this would be to use a white button-up shirt to dye.
The badge was incredibly easy to make. I found some gold metallic cardstock at my local craft store, traced a printed out version of a clip art badge onto the cardstock, and cut it out. Then, using a Sharpie, I wrote the word “POLICE” on the badge. My son likes to hold it out so everyone knows he’s an officer. That’s why I used some tape on the back to attach it to his shirt. That way he can remove it whenever he wants and stick it back on when he’s done.
What do you guys think? Overall it’s not too shabby for a $5 Halloween costume! :-) Check out some of my other Halloween creations here:
linking to these parties
Julie says
Home made costumes, made mostly from a trip to a charity shop/thrift store are the best. I love how simple this is but ideal for this age group when you don’t want anything too impractical or difficult to wear.
Sam says
Thanks! I’ve just come to realize that it’s SO not worth the average store price when – chances are – they won’t even care about it a week later!