This Halloween, create the costume of your child's dreams by turning her/him into a life-size paper doll. With just a sheet of poster board and some paint, you can create any outfit your little one can imagine.

Discover more easy ideas for outfits -- from spooky to sweet -- in our homemade Halloween costume gallery.

Be sure to visit all of our other ghostly crafts, scary printables, fabulous costume ideas and these spook-tackular Halloween recipes! As well, explore our fall crafts, our great fall recipes and printable activities.

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. With pencil, trace a clean item of clothing (dress, t-shirt, jeans) on a piece of white poster board. (See photo.)
2. When you're finished tracing the clothing, draw a few rectangles coming off of the clothing. These are your paper doll clothing tabs. (See photo.)
3. Draw details on the outlined clothing, such as collars, lace, buttons, belts, or any other embellishments you want. This is a great place to get creative.
4. Draw over the pencil lines with a black permanent marker. (See photo.)
5. Paint the drawing, filling in all the details with color, but leave the tabs white. (See photo.) Let the paint dry.
6. When paint is dry, cut clothing out around the outside outline.
7. To add shoulder straps, cut two pieces of elastic, about 8" long and then staple the end of elastic to top of shoulder area on costume. Be sure elastic is securely attached, with staple going through elastic. Staple other end near armpit. Repeat for other arm strap. (See photo.)
8. Add an elastic strap at the waist using the same technique. The piece of elastic should be as wide as the waist, with 2" added.
9. For pants, add a waistband strap, and straps at the ankles.
10. To make a headpiece, lay headband on poster board and draw a bow along the contour of the headband. Add tabs to ends of bow, as well as underneath bow. (See photo.) Color and cut as directed above. To attach to headband, fold lower tabs around headband and tape to back of bow. (See photo.)

 

Tips:

1. Tape a flat jack-o'-lantern treat bucket with tabs to your real treat bucket to add to the Halloween paper doll look.
2. Use a large foam paintbrush to quickly cover your outfit with paint, or use a sponge to create a textured look (this is great for jeans). (See photo.)
3. Best paints for this project: acrylic craft paint, tempera or poster paint. Bright, bold colors are best for this project.
4. Wear neutral clothing underneath your paper doll costume. A white or black shirt and jeans would be a great choice.