Crafty Costume Ideas: How to Make Easy Super Hero Costumes from Household Items

You don't have to spend a lot of money to put together costumes that are sure to fire your child's imagination. Here are the basic elements you'll need.

The Cape:

You can stay simple and tie on one of mom's underused scarves - or get serious and sacrifice one of the drop cloths in the garage. Cut out a trapezoid, making sure that the small is wide enough to loosely tie around your child's neck. Go one step further and brand your superhero by drawing a shield and adding some lightening strikes for dramatic effect.

The Belt:

For decorative use - go with a wide ribbon. For super duty hero needs, consider using a detachable luggage or camera strap.

The Mask:

Take a paper plate and cut a shallow "W" across the lower third. Now cut out eye holes and let your child decorate the plate with crayons, markers, glitter or tissue paper. Once the mask is complete, tie a string to both sides, and size to fit their face comfortably.

Danger Detector

Dusting mop or tree branch with aluminum foil fitted to the end.

Danger Binoculars:

Have an adult cut holes in the bottoms of four small disposable drinking cups. Use duct tape to fasten pairs of cups together, bottom to bottom. Optional: Draw buttons or controls on top of cups to control virtual zoom or infrared. Use a shoelace for a neck strap if desired.

Wrist Control Panel and Bullet Deflector:

Create arm bands out of old kids' socks by cutting off the feet. Draw superhero buttons on the arm bands to ignite imaginary rockets or lasers. For an inter-galactic look, try making the wrist guards out of paper covered in silver duct tape. Cut to desired size, add another strip of tape to secure on your arm (silver side out) and draw on the necessary controls.

Speed Tights:

Old Adult tube socks are great for adding some flair to a costume's legs. Cut off the sock feet and pull them up your child's legs as high as you can, to make super power speed leggings. You can emphasize the tights' speed power by drawing lightening strikes down the sides.

Wonder Shoes

It was said that Mercury was the God of Speed, and that he had wings on the backs of his feet. Shape a few short wings out of tin foil and slip them in the back of normal tennis shoes to confer Mercury-like superhuman speed.

Don't forget to recognize good deeds done by your little SuperHero!

Your child can show off super hero achievements by wearing lots of Do-Gooder medals. Use paint chips from the hardware store: cut out star shapes, write out the good deeds in marker on the front and then back them with tin-foil cupcake liners for award-like flair. Add a decorative ribbon, and proudly wear medals around the neck.