Easy Homemade Costumes

For my family, part of our Halloween celebration is the celebration of All Saints Day, where we remember the holy Christian men and women who've gone before us over the centuries.  We went to a little All Saints party this morning, and I thought I would share the easy homemade costumes that I came up with:

LuLu was St. Helen (the mother of Constantine, the Roman emperor - she was reputed to have found the cross of Christ).  (Sorry you can't see the whole costume too well - you know how wiggly one-year-olds are!)

I used my mom's old pillowcase tunic technique.  I just took an old pillowcase and cut a small semi-circle out of the middle, and then snipped off the corners to make arm holes.  Since the pillowcase was way too long, I pinned one end to the opposite shoulder, which made it look kind of like a toga.  Then I embellished it with a brooch.  I added one of our many princess crowns and a wooden cross to complete the costume.

GiGi was Mary, the mother of Jesus.  I started with a pillowcase for her too!  I tied it in the middle with a tie from a blue bathrobe.  For the veil, I pinned a large piece of blue fabric to a one of those stretch cloth headbands.  It stayed on her head pretty well. 

The best thing about these costumes - they were completely free, using items I already had around the house.  These techniques couuld be modified for any ancient historical character costumes or for costumes for a Christmas pageant!

See more Frugal Fridays here.