Disclaimer: I received a free product for my post! These views are my own and were not at all influenced by the party who gave me this opportunity..
My son has such a great imagination and he loves to dress up. Buying costumes for everything he wants to be can get expensive, so we like to get our craft on. We received this fun book from Crafty Pants called Clever Costumes by Shannon Whitt to try out; it has step-by-step instructions to make outfits using items you can find around your house.
Click here to visit their website
The book comes with a kit including adhesive-backed recloseable fuzzy fasteners, red satin, elastic cord, and duct tape.
What I Love
This book is perfect for frugal-minded people like me because it shows you ways to use things you probably already have lying around like plastic bags, old socks, and bubble wrap mailers! It already comes with a few items you will need as well (listed above.)
The book includes a wide variety of costume ideas from a knight and a bumble bee, a pirate and a ninja. There are over 50 projects included and all are simple and easily created even by those not particularly crafty. Each has clear step-by-step instructions. 
The Clever Costumes crafts are fun to make with your children too. While the projects are a little old for my son still, kids a little bit older would have fun helping cut and glue and decorate the outfits and of course they will have fun wearing them for imaginative play or Halloween!
My son’s favorite outfit was the “Gutsy Gladiator” and we happened to have most of the materials already at home for it. Since we didn’t have everything, we swapped a few items out for other similar things that we did have. The costume was so inexpensive to make and it put a huge smile on my son’s face. In fact, he brought his sword and shield to the grocery store. The costume didn’t last long, but it is easy enough to make over again if he wants to.
What I’m Not Huge On
I love that the book comes with some supplies, however, the red satin was an awkward shape and fraying a lot on the sides when we opened it, so we can’t use it anymore. It also had a round sticky mark from the duct tape on it. I would recommend just buying the satin if you plan to use it in an outfit; it should only cost you a couple of dollars.
Overall, we have had a lot of fun with the Clever Costumes book! It is the perfect option if you love to craft, create unique costumes, and need something inexpensive to wear for Halloween. My personal favorites are the Gutsy Gladiator and the Queen of Hearts. 
You can purchase the Crafty Pants Clever Costumes book and kit from Downtown Bookworks Publishing HERE or Amazon.com. Check out this cool YouTube video from the author Shannon on how to make a skirt out of plastic bags, double-sided tape, and elastic cord!
-What is your child’s dress-up costume?
princess & monsters!
Awesome! Thanks for entering!
You mean, what does my child’s mommy like to dress him up as ??? Just kidding… We love disney characters and animals.
Haha yes, I love dressing up my kids!
Just about anything manl like. He goes from fireman, policeman, construction worker, Hulk, Iron Man, etc… to Transformer, Robot, or an electric boy!
Signed up as DG Middendorf
My son loves dressing like all those too! Thanks for entering!
Dora
Thanks for entering!
She likes to dress up as super heros — Captain America, Hulk, Ninja Turtle
So much fun! Thanks for entering!
my daughter loves to dress up like a princess and she also loves to act like a dinosaur she loves dinosaurs
Awesome! Love it! Thanks for entering!
Rose loves to dress up as witch or wizard!
Awesome! Thanks for entering!
They love to dress up as super heroes
It’s so much fun to dress like superheroes!
My daughter loves to dress up as princesses and Doc McStuffins. She also loves to pretend to be animals!
So cute! Thanks for entering Shannon!
My son loves to dress up when he is playing make believe or when his friend is over. His friend has a superman outfit. Mine has a sully costume. They love to both get dressed up and run around the house. Julie
That’s so cute! I bet they would have fun making these! Thanks for entering!
Ninja Turtles!
Cool! Thanks for entering!
He likes to dress up as superheros
Mine too! Thanks for entering Marianna!
My son likes to be a dinosaur, Buzz Lightyear or a pirate.
Currently its any Toy Story character or TMNT.
Awesome! Thanks for entering!
My daughter is 20 months up and she loves dressing up in other people’s clothes, it’s pretty cute but make quite the mess of clothes. My niece loves dressing up as princesses and famous movie stars.
Haha that’s adorable! Thanks for entering!
I think our baby granddaughter will like dressing up as different animals.
That’s always fun! My son’s favorite used to be dressing as a tiger.
Disney Princess- especially Snow White 🙂
Perfect! Thanks for entering!
My son loves to dress up like superheros all the time, and pretend to be a chef alot too.
Awesome! Great way to get him involved in the kitchen! He can be a super sous chef!
My granddaughters like to be brides
Aw so sweet! Thanks for entering!
My son wants to be a Stars Wars Storm Trooper
How fun! Thanks for entering!
1 kitty 1 witch 1 dino
Great! Thanks for entering!
my daughter is planning to be a zombie cheerleader this year
Thanks for entering!
My daughter loves playing dress up! Usually as princesses or unicorns/horses 🙂
Lacey B on the form, sorry!
Thanks for entering!
My daughter is to young yet we try to dress her up like a princess/
Aww it’s always fun when you can dress them up. My baby was a burrito last year. Thanks for entering!
What a wonderful book! It is very sad that I did not find your article before Halloween 🙁
My younger brother wanted a knight costume for this Halloween, but unfortunately we did not know how to make it. Thank you for sharing such interesting books, I think that during Halloween they were useful to a large number of parents.
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