Halloween doesn’t need to be around the corner for your child to be enthusiastic about dressing up like a pirate and hitting school for a costume party. Pirate costumes for boys are especially easy to create from clothes you already have. The costume is sewing machine-free and takes around an hour.

This is also a chance for you to give a new meaning to old clothing that your child doesn’t prefer anymore. Pirate costumes can fit both boys and girls and you can fully accessorize them just by using regular tools from your home, such as a pen, scissors, needless and strings.

Tips to Create Your Own Pirate Costume

Choose the Model

There are so many pirate costume models to choose from. To find the right outfit, you need to look at them through your child’s eyes and see which fits their style. Yet, many of them share a few elements: the patch, the pirate hat, white and blue stripes, leggings or pants and the famous skull sign. Create your own pirate costume and accessorize it according to your child’s preferences. You can create DIY swords, talisman necklaces or belts with sea-related symbols.

Adjust Upper Clothing

If you plan to create a costume based on t-shirt, vest and pirate hat, make sure you personalize each piece. A white regular t-shirt can turn into a seaside design clothing if you paint horizontal blue stripes on it. Make sure that you choose a large t-shirt, to make it more comfortable for your child. You can create the vest out of a soft fleece blouse. For further personalization, mark the spots where you will stick the skull patch. Furthermore, by cutting the ends of the t-shirt, you create a neglectful look.

Use Dark Pants

If your child is enthusiastic about a captain role, you will need to replace the striped-shirt with a collar-free petticoat. The vest becomes a long dark jacket with buttons. However, for the captain or simple pirate costumes, you will need pants. Use a pair of black pants from your child’s closet leftovers to create a sober look and compensate the bright colored t-shirt or petticoat. The vest costume can look even more interesting if you paint grey vertical stripes on it.

Create the Hat

Do you remember the sleeves of the wooden fleece that you didn’t need anymore? Cut their juncture and expand the material. You need to obtain a rectangle, so leave it under a very hard object for awhile or iron it. Then, draw a hat pattern on each of them – it resembles a mini-car chassis. Cut the pattern and glue or stitch a skull-and-bones patch on one of them and glue/stitch them together. While you continue your costume work, you can leave the had on a small ball, to make it head-shaped.

Accessorize with Patches

Girls’ pirate costumes can be accessorized with talisman necklaces or bracelets that have symbols from pirate stories. Boys’ pirate looks don’t need as many accessories. However, the skull-and-bones patch is necessary for each costume. Once you draw it once, you can make copies to ensure all patches look alike. Eye patches, telescopes, coins and toy parrots can add more charm to the look. You can make patches out of the remains from the wool fleece, but make sure that the material is not itchy.

How Costumes Work for Your Child

You may not embrace your child’s enthusiasm to wear costumes. Yet, you should know that costumes have an impact on children’s behavior. A study reveals that costumes make children work harder and longer on tasks, as they identify with the traits of the character they resemble. Children’s approaches to specific situations and tasks work a lot on imitation. They try to imitate powers and skills of the character they wear; therefore, they show more perseverance. Pirates are brave, adventurous and funny. Such a costume can enhance your child’s social and communication skills while taking away their shyness.

Also, you don’t have to throw away that pirate costume, once the child’s project, party or Halloween ended. The child will be glad to wear it during a costume weekend or indoor activity. If your child is still passionate about that costume, you can create a costume day in your home and turn cleaning into a fun game.

Wrapping the Costume Up

The pirate costume is appealing, colored and comfortable. When your child ceases to enjoy it, you can adjust the costume and turn it into another character. That’s why we recommend stitching instead of gluing patches, as this allows you to use the t-shirt, pants, and vest or jacket for other costumes. Pirate costumes can be cheap and appealing, without being DIY visible. Working for them is minimal. However, the result is a big smile on your child’s face and a huge dose of enthusiasm for trying the costume on.

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