What you need:
Fortunately, bee costumes are pretty easy to make. All you need is
- A box of black trashbags
- A roll of yellow duct tape
- Some newspaper;
- A long-sleeved black shirt and pants to wear underneath;
- Black shoes or boots and a black hat (with antennae made out of a black chenille stem) are a nice finishing touch.
How to make a Bumbling Bee costume
The tricky part of this costume is the fact that it’s easiest to make when the child is actually in the costume.
Preparation:
- First, I cut two half-moons along the bottom seam of the trash bag, to make leg holes.
- Then I cut two more (one on each side) along the side seams, near the top, to make arm holes. Meanwhile, Kimmie was on the floor, crumpling sheets of newspaper into balls.
- Next, I had Kimmie step into the costume – a perfect opportunity to discuss the fact that the costume was, in essence, a plastic bag, and we NEVER put plastic bags over our face, NEVER NEVER NEVER. (For this reason, I definitely wouldn’t try this costume on anyone younger than two, and suggest you use your own judgment on whether your two-year-old is mature enough to follow such instructions.)
Adding the stripes:
- After Kimmie had stepped into the bag, I dropped crumpled newspaper balls into the top until her bag was roughly pear-shaped. (I had to make the leg holes a little smaller with some clear packing tape, to keep the newspaper from falling out at the leg holes.)
- Once it was pear-shaped, I gently tightened the drawstring at the top, then tied the ends together over one shoulder.
- Next I rolled a few stripes of duct tape around her, starting in the back with each stripe, and aiming to make the ends on each stripe meet in the back again.
Final tips:
- After we had the yellow stripes done, it took a little grownup help to get her into and out of the costume each time, between untying/retying the drawstrings and re-stuffing/rearranging the newspaper filling into the right shape.
- We found that having a large shopping bag handy to hold the costume when not in use was helpful.
Kimmie liked being a bee so much that on November 1, she announced she was going to be a bee again the following year for Halloween – a commitment she stuck to. We used that large shopping bag to store the costume in the basement until Halloween rolled around again.
The costume was so easy to make that when Kimmie wore it for her second Halloween, I made an adult-sized copy for my mother to wear while taking Kimmie around the neighborhood.
Best of all, though, were all the comments we got on the adorable bee costume. I try not to let myself get sucked into the arms race of one-ups(wo)manship that seems to exist among parents. But I will admit that my heart was bursting with pride at the preschool Halloween parade, when I overheard other parents commenting on how cute the little bumblebee (Kimmie) was.
From a distance, Kimmie’s costume was indistinguishable from a store-bought one. After a few minutes, I couldn’t resist mentioning whose cute kid that was – and where I’d purchased (the items to make) her costume.
They were floored to learn that they were marveling over how adorable my daughter looked in a trash bag stuffed with newspaper and covered with duct tape!
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This is so cute. My kids would love this because they could actually help make their own costumes. So adorable!
Awww my daughter was a ladybug a few years back and I loved it. A bee would be super cute too.
LOL both of mine were a ladybug the year they were an infant – I think Essie was a ladybug the first time Kimmie wore her bee costume 🙂
Omg such a cute costume!!!!! I love making my daughter her conscience each year so she can be unique and stick out!!
Oh, I love it! Making our own kids’ costumes is definitely fun (and memorable for them), don’t you think?
That is a great and easy Haloween costume to make for a little one. I’m sure most people have almost everything they need at home already to make it.
Exactly! Our only challenge was finding BLACK trash bags because most stores in our area seem to only carry WHITE ones of that size, for some reason…
aww, how cute! I remember my mom making our Halloween costumes every year until we were in our teens.
Mine did too! (but hers were way more elaborate than this LOL…)
That’s so cute – and cheap to make too! I wish I was good at stuff like this – I’ve pretty much always bought costumes lol!
Haha – my challenge-to-self, frugal (cheapskate) that I am, is to always figure out how to DIY something with minimal cost AND minimal sewing. Not that I can’t sew, but I really don’t have as much time to do so as I’d like.
This is such a cute idea! And so easy, those are the best. Especially if she was able to wear it for more than one year.
Agreed! 🙂
I love that she was so decided on what she wanted to bee! Love how it turned out!
LOL “bee”! We loved it too – I was SO glad I’d stuck it in our storage space when she decided she wanted to wear it again!
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I am so happy to tell you that you are going to be our Featured Post this week on Wandering Wednesday #5! You will be able to check the post out at https://confessionsofparenting.com/2017/10/08/wandering-wednesday-5 on Wednesday October 11th! Congrats! Here is your I was featured code!
See you on Wednesday! ~Michele @Confessions of Parenting
Aww, *thanks* Michele – I’m honored! 🙂
Oh.my.gosh. I love this!! And this would be a great costume for my teen girls as well. Heck, I would love this!! Thanks Flossie for a great tutorial 🙂
So glad you liked it, Nicole! (And yes, it works for grownups, too – my mother went trick-or-treating one year with the girls and me in a matching costume made according to these instructions, and it looked as good on her as on my 3-year-old!)
So easy, so adorable, so inexpensive! I love this idea! Thank you so much for sharing with us today at Wandering Wednesday at Confessions of Parenting!
That’s SO adorable!! 🙂 And I love how EASY it is. That’s a *must* for me.
Aww, *thanks* Jennifer – and I’m right there with ya on the “easy” factor! 🙂
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What a simple and creative idea! I love how you create such cute costumes with items that most would have at home! I try to do this as much as possible.
So glad you like it, Kassi! Homemade costumes are the BEST, aren’t they? Do check out the other posts in this series, too!
Cute! I love the inexpensive costumes for my kids!
*Thanks,* Audria – glad you like it! Do check out the other posts in this series! 🙂
This looks as though it has been professionally put together in a factory. You did such a great job! Love how you laid out the instructions so easily for others to follow.
*Thanks* Nicole! You’re right – I was really floored at how nicely it came out, but the cherry on top was when the crowd at the preschool parade was sure it was a store-bought costume from a distance, and could not BELIEVE they were oohing and aahing over a trash bag, newspaper, and yellow duct tape! 🙂
This is too darn cute and creative. My daughter was a lady bug a few years ago, so a bumble bee would be cute to add to the memories.
Oh, definitely, April – if you try it, do let us know how it turns out! So glad you like it! 🙂
This is such a neat idea! SO easy and inexpensive…great job Mama!
*Thanks* Katie – it really was simple AND adorable despite costing practically nothing 🙂