Halloween is a unique night of the year where children get to enjoy dressing up in crazy costumes and exploring the neighborhood in search of tasty treats. One of the most fun parts of Halloween is finding the right costume to wear, or getting creative with a DIY costume. For children with behavioral issues, Halloween costumes can be a sensory nightmare due to awkwardly fitting pieces, itchy materials, and uncomfortable masks. To help your child avoid a potential meltdown due to sensory overload, here are some sensory-friendly costume ideas.
Sweatshirt Bat
Image credit: https://www.5minutesformom.com/110074/black-bat-costume/
Using regular clothes for Halloween costumes is not only a good way to save money, but it also will help make sure it is far more comfortable than a complete costume bought at a store or online. Sweatshirts are great because they will help your child stay warm during the chilly fall evening walk, not to mention it will be a comfy alternative to other costume options. Using a black hooded sweatshirt, you can add bat wings by stitching or gluing black cloth under the arms. Find a pair of bat ears to place over the hood, and your child is good to go.
Suspended Cardboard Rocket Ship
This sensory-friendly Halloween costume is great because your child can wear it while it barely even touches them. You and your child can have fun decorating a cardboard box into a fantastic spaceship, or perhaps an airplane, boat, or race car. Once the cardboard creation is done, attach ribbons or large elastic bands so your child can simply slip the costume on over their shoulders.
Comfortable Sailor Costume
Here is another costume that you can easily make out of regular, comfortable clothes. All you need are white pants, a white long-sleeve shirt, and a navy blue striped shirt. You can find a sailor hat at the store to see if it is comfortable or not, but avoid buying one online since you won’t be able to feel the material. If you can’t find a comfortable sailor hat, simply make one out of paper.
Pajamas
What’s more comfortable than pajamas, right? Finding footie pajamas based off of fun characters, such as superheroes or cartoon characters, is usually pretty easy. You can also get crafty by starting with black pajamas and using a stencil to paint on a skeleton, gorilla, spacesuit, or whatever creative idea comes to mind.
Halloween can be a challenging night for children on the with behavioral issues such as ADHD or ASD, but planning ahead and getting creative can make it a fun night for all.