Sensory-friendly Halloween costumes for kids – those you can make, and some you can purchase.
Halloween is an exciting time of year that can also be overwhelming for sensory-sensitive kids. Lots of costumes, lots of noise, lots of lights, and lots of candy! Finding a sensory-friendly costume that is comfortable for your child to wear is a great place to start if you want to make Halloween a fun rather than exhausting experience for kids, and today I am sharing some sensory friendly Halloween costume tips for kids, as well as actual costumes – DIY tutorials, Etsy inspiration, and even a couple costumes I found on Amazon. This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission.
Tips for Finding Sensory Friendly Halloween Costumes for Kids
What You'll Find on This Page
- Avoid masks. Masks are very frequently uncomfortable, and also banned by many child events since some kids find them incredibly frightening.
- Pay attention to materials. Many Halloween costumes are made entirely out of polyester, which doesn’t breathe. Try making costumes using t-shirts and sweatpants with decorations. Fleece is a wonderful costume material – it keeps the kids warm as well as being a fabric that many sensory sensitive kids like. Kigurumi style pajamas make great comfy Halloween costumes!
- Keep it simple. The more components a costume has, the more opportunities you have for things to go wrong.
Sensory Friendly Halloween Costumes for Kids
Here are some sensory-friendly Halloween costumes that I found for kids.
DIY Tutorials – Sewn
- If you are confident with your sewing machine, head over to ikatbag and check out her incredible archive of dress-up clothes. They are all sensory friendly, and she often has detailed tutorials and even free patterns you can use to make your own. I have used LiEr’s tutorials to make Emma a Little Red Riding Hood costume and all three girls butterfly costumes.
- King Costume Tutorial from Mama Smiles
- Felt Crown Tutorial from Mama Smiles
- Easy Princess Dress Tutorial from Mama Smiles
- Winter Princess Coat Tutorial from Mama Smiles
- Gruffalo Dress-up Apron from The Educators’ Spin On It
- Owl Dress-up Apron from The Educators’ Spin On It
- Super Easy Braided Hats from Words N Needles
- Upcycled Batman Costume from Red Ted Art
- DIY Minion Costume from JDaniel4sMom
DIY Tutorials – No Sewing Required
- No-Sew Superhero Cape from Sunny Day Family
- Super-Simple Superhero Capes from Mama Smiles
- No-Sew Knight Costume from In the Playroom
- Peter Pan Costume from KC Edventures With Kids
Etsy Costumes that Look Sensory Friendly
- Charlie Brown Costume
- Peter Pan Costume
- Crochet Yoda Hat
- Princess Leia Hat
- Princess Leia Hat and Shoes
- Crochet Minion Hat (this seller has lots of fun hat options)
- Toddler Dinosaur Hoodie with Tail
- Dinosaur Cape (would work well as a dragon cape also)
- Olaf Hat
Amazon Costumes that Look Sensory Friendly
- Tabby Cat Kigurumi
- Unicorn Kigurumi
- Owl Kigurumi
- Cow, Minion, Dinosaur, and more Kigurumi costumes
- Fleece bat costume
- Yoda costume
- Harry Potter Gryffindor Robes
Have your kids decided yet what they want to be for Halloween this year?
MaryAnne is a craft loving educator, musician, photographer, and writer who lives in Silicon Valley with her husband Mike and their four children.
Yeah, why are so many Halloween costumes made out of unbreathable material? So weird.
What a fabulous list to choose from!
Thank you for all your great NO SEW Halloween costume ideas! I love that they are so easy to make as I don’t have a sewing machine anymore!
Great advice and a reminder that it’s time to think about Halloween costumes as my 8 year old certainly outgrew her homemade outfits from years past. Luckily, you provided so many options :)
Halloween can be such a challenge to find the right costume. I always end up making ours (some of that is a point of pride on my part), but I do agree most are unbreathable polyester.