Here’s a costume idea that’s perfect for those of you who want to dress up for Halloween but not wear a full costume:  piñata shoes!  Pair these fun shoes with a shirt that says “candy”, or pin wrapped candy to your shirt and pants.  These costume shoes are easy to make, and everyone who sees them can’t help but smile!

Project Estimate:

• Shoes, on hand
• Fabric, on hand
• Hot glue gun, on hand
• Googly eyes, on hand
• Foam or styrofoam, on hand

Total:  Free

Note:  I used lace up shoes, but if you do so, use a pair that is slightly larger than your foot.  It is difficult to loosen and put on the shoe after the fabric has been glued on.  This would work best with slip on shoes.

Step one:  Cut the fabric into strips that are 2 inches wide.  I used Oly*Fun fabric, which is specially designed not to fray, and looks like tissue paper but is durable and weather proof.  Cut the strips into fringe.

Step two:  Use the hot glue gun to adhere the strips to the shoes.  Start at the front, and go to the top of the shoe tongue.  If your shoe has laces, just glue the sides down to leave the laces free.  Hot glue the fringe to the back of the shoe, as pictured.  Trim off any excess fringe.

Step three:  Cut two pieces of foam into triangles, and glue the fringe on.  Hot glue them to the sides of the shoes as ears for the donkey piñata.

Step four:  Hot glue the eyes on.

I used foam for the ears so they’d be lightweight and can bounce back from being rubbed together when you walk.  I’ll be wearing my piñata shoes as part of a bigger costume that is still a work in progress (stay tuned!), but as I mentioned earlier, you could cover yourself with wrappers or candy to complete the look.  For now, I’ve entered these shoes in a fun shoe decorating contest.  You can check out the entries and vote here if you’d like!