Finding the perfect costume for your baby or toddler
Babies are cute. Babies in costumes are even cuter! So how do you pick the perfect costume for your baby or toddler? Sometimes you go in with the mindset that babies and toddlers are so young that you can practically pick out any costume you desire and it will work out. Not the case! What you don’t realize is that even at very young ages, children have little personalities, preferences, and dispositions which will influence whether a costume is a good fit for them or not. There are actually some great tips and tricks that I live by for finding the best costumes for your baby or toddler—let me share:
THINK IT OUT AND MAKE A PLAN
The first step to finding the perfect costume for your toddler or baby is to think it out and go in with a plan. There are literally tons and tons of options out there (here) and you can spend hours, days, weeks, whatever browsing through possible costumes. To save you time and hassle, it’s good to think things out before you start looking and come up with some sort of plan. Is your family doing a theme? Does your child have a certain love or obsession with any characters, animals, etc.? Take these things in to mind when you start looking for the perfect costume. Once I formulate a plan or come up with some ideas for what I’m looking for, it makes costume hunting a lot more efficient and successful.
TESTING, TESTING 1, 2, 3
There is nothing worse than buying a costume and then having your baby hate it or toddler refuse to wear it! For example: One year I purchased the most adorable monster costume for my then 12-month-old son. The costume was pretty elaborate with monster booties and even a monster head piece. I was so excited for him to wear it. But guess what? It turned out that he did not want anything to do with the head piece. He was not a fan of wearing hats and would not keep the monster head piece on. It was so disappointing. The head piece made the costume and with toddlers, you can’t really force them to wear something they don’t like because no matter how hard I tried my son just kept pulling that head thing off. I managed to get one picture of him with it on, but in the end felt like the costume was not the right pick for him that year. I suggest testing out options with your baby. If the costume you want comes with accessories like a hat or gloves, glasses or booties, grab anything that resembles those and test them out on your child. If they can’t keep a sunhat on or cries when they have gloves on, chances are they will not do well with those costume accessories.
DON’T RELY ON THE PICTURES
One thing I have learned about costumes is that there is a HUGE variety of them –good and bad. Some costumes are made with high quality material and others are very cheaply made. Do not look at a picture of a costume and assume it will look exactly like that on your child. Because I’m sure many of you have purchased a costume with that mindset only to have something “a little less up to par” arrive at your doorstep. I have learned to check the materials, costume descriptions, and even specific sizing instructions out a lot more than I used to. Doing so will help ensure you are buying the right costume for you!
NOT ALL KIDS ARE THE SAME
Be careful not to make assumptions. Just because one of your kids liked a costume, doesn’t mean your other child will be the same. Passing down costumes is great, but I have learned the hard way that it doesn’t always work out. My oldest daughter loved certain princesses and characters that I assumed my younger daughter would too. So when I went to pass down costumes from the oldest to the younger, it didn’t work out quite like I wanted it to. Also, just because one of your kids likes to wear hats doesn’t mean the next one will too. All kids are different and make sure you remember that and cater to each one individually.
BABY KNOWS BEST
No matter what you choose, it always comes down to the child. Trying the costume on them with plenty of time to spare before Halloween is something I always do. Despite all of your hard work and careful planning, there is a slight chance that they still may not like it or want to wear it. Give it a test drive; see how your child responds. If they like it, great! If it doesn’t work out, don’t worry because you will still have some time to find another costume for them.
LAST BUT NOT LEAST, HAVE FUN, CHERISH THE MEMORIES, AND HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
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