I only made one costume for Halloween this year: a 60s-era Batman costume for my two year-old, who identifies anyone with a cape as “Batman.” I wanted to go with the blue and gray Batman because it’s a softer color scheme for a two year-old, and the Adam West Batman seems a lot more age appropriate for a toddler than the more recent versions. I used some readymade clothes and some dollar store finds to construct this costume with a minimum of effort. The key to a successful Halloween costume is to create the illusion of the costume without stressing about details, thus, I kept it really simple and didn’t do any finishing details (such as sewing!)

Project Estimate:

• Sweatpants, $5 or on hand
• Turtleneck, $5 or on hand
• Pair of blue underpants, about $1 (came in a pack of 6 for $6), or on hand
• Blue fleece baby blanket, $1
• Pair of blue adult socks, $1
• Self-adhesive craft foam, blue, black and yellow, about $1
• 3 safety pins, on hand
• A piece of elastic, on hand
• A piece of recycled cereal box, on hand
• Yellow duct tape, on hand or $3
• Tennis shoes, on hand

Total: $3 and up

Our costume cost was $13 total because we bought the clothes, the dollar store baby blanket, and the socks. You might already have the shirt and pants on hand. Although I spent $13 making this costume, I am happy with it because my son can continue to wear the shirt and pants, and I can wear the fuzzy blue socks!

How I made the dollar store Batman costume:

• Batman Mask: Craft foam, cardboard, elastic, template from Blog 5 to 9
  I cut the template out of a recycled cereal box (to make it more sturdy) and a piece of self-adhesive craft foam, stuck them together, punched holes in the sides and tied elastic on.  I wanted to reinforce the mask to hold up to the abuse it would receive at the hands of a two year-old, but it was a little too stiff for Gideon to wear for longer than it took to take the photo! I don’t think any mask would stay on a toddler for long, though.
• Cape: Dollar store baby blanket
  1. Cut about 6″ off of dollar store baby blanket (the side where the emblem is). This will give you a rectangular piece of fleece.
  2. Fold in half (with cut part at top), and cut arcs down the side of the cape at a slight diagonal, ending with a point at the bottom of the fold.
  3. For quick and easy cape-wearing, safety pin cape to shirt at the shoulders and the collar.
• Batman Emblem: Craft foam
  I traced a Batman emblem onto sparkly yellow self-adhesive craft foam, cut it out, and stuck it on a piece of black self-adhesive craft foam. Then I stuck both of them on his shirt.
• Belt: a toy toolbelt we had with craft foam bat
  I lucked out because we already had a yellow “utility” belt, but if you wanted to make your own, you could do so with yellow duct tape. I stuck a black self-adhesive craft foam bat shape on the belt. Unfortunately, I forgot to attach the Shark Repellent.
• Base Uniform: Blue undies, gray turtleneck, gray sweatpants — purchased for this costume, about $5 each (except for the underwear, which was in a 6 pack for $6), but will be worn after Halloween.
• Boots: Shoes with fuzzy blue dollar store socks over the top.
  This is a great tip for giving the illusion of boots without doing any work at all — just wear socks over shoes!