DIY Halloween costumes for your pet

Perhaps you want a truly unique costume for your pet this Halloween, or perhaps you just know you'll wait until the night before and scramble to put a costume together. Either way, a DIY costume for your pet is a unique, fun and usually inexpensive way to get ready for Halloween. Here are a few ideas for how to make a DIY costume this year.

 

1. Flower

Last year, Daisy was a daisy! (I couldn't resist.) To make a flower of any variety:

- Buy some felt in desired colors (it has more structure than most fabric)

- Cut a strip that is as long as your dogs collar when laid flat and a little more than twice its width

- Hot glue or sew the strip along the long edge into a tube (eventually you'll slide this over the collar)

- Cut "petals" out of felt and glue or sew them to your tube and enjoy!

Daisy as a daisy!

2. Super hero

There's a lot of options with this one. Super hero, devil, vampire, grim reaper, etc. Have fun with it!

- Buy some fabric in desired color (black for BatDog or red for SuperDog!)

- Cut the fabric into a trapezoidal shape, leaving a wide strip at the top to tie around the dog's neck (see image). Alternatively you could create a "tube" to slip around the dog's collar as in the Flower costume above

Pattern for dog cape

- Use markers, puffy paint or textile paint to draw your dog's super hero emblem on the cape


3. Dice

This is a great costume for a pair of dogs (since dice typically come in pairs!) but you could also take the basic shape and turn it into a lot of other costumes (juice box, box o' wine, computer, etc.) Keep in mind this costume requires a dog that is comfortable getting dressed up as there is a lot of measuring and if not cut perfectly could be a little restrictive for the dog.

- Find a cardboard box that fits comfortably around your dog's belly and roughly from its neck to its hind legs

- Cut off the bottom of the box and top of the box so your dog's head and hind legs have a place to go.

- Cut holes for the front legs in the bottom of the box. This will keep the box secure on the dog's body so make sure your dog is comfortable.

- Cut off enough of the bottom edge of the box to make sure your dog can pee and poop comfortably!

- Paint (spray paint, acrylic paint, even markers all work well) the box for your desired costume