15 Quick & Easy Kids Costumes

What happened to the "good ol' days" when a Halloween costume was your Dad's old shirt and cap, and a burnt cork beard? Kids costumes don't have to complicated to be cute! Each of these quick and easy costumes starts with a few simple materials like hooded sweatshirts, sweat pants, posterboard, craft foam, felt, face paint, and a little imagination.

Pirate Black sweats, white shirt, red sash and bandanna, cardboard sword covered in foil, parrot beanie baby, stubbly face made with burnt cork or tobacco sprinkled on vaseline covered cheeks

Kid Hit by Lightning Gray sweats with large yellow felt zigzag pinned to the back, blackened zigzag tears in here and there on suit, hair gelled to stand straight up, burns on cheeks

Wrapped Present Cover a large box with colourful wrapping paper. Make a hole in the bottom and invert over child's head. Add lots of matching ribbons in child's hair.

Pair of Dice Paint two large boxes white and add black dots on each side to represent a pair of dice. Cut hole in bottom and invert over children's heads. You need a friend for this one!

Box of Popcorn Cover a large box with white butcher paper. Add wide red stripes with markers or coloured paper. Make a hole for child's head. Hot glue some popcorn to the top of the box. Wear red or white tights or sweat pants.

Placard Costumes Another quick and easy idea for kid costumes is a "placard costume" in which the child wears a hooded sweatshirt and pulls front and back cardboard panels (the placard) on over it. Shape the placard (poster board works fine) as needed for the costume desired, and design it with markers or felt pieces. This type of costume can be adapted to many different themes, such as:

Sunflower Yellow sweat suit. Staple craft foam flower petals end to end onto a wide ribbon and tie around child's face to make the flower. Paint the face reddish brown with black spots. Make a couple of bright green leaves from craft foam and pin side by side onto front of sweat suit.

Bunch of Grapes Start with a purple sweat suit. Blow up several purple balloons to the same size and attach to the sweat suit with small safety pins. Complete the look with a green knit cap with a couple of large green felt leaves attached.

Bag of Trash Make two leg holes is a large sized trash bag. Have child step into the bag, then add balls of crumpled newspaper to hold a round shape. Make two armholes in each side and secure around the neck .

Little Old Lady An old house dress with torn stockings and slippers. Curlers in the hair or white wig. Glasses, blacked out tooth, old fashioned pocketbook.

Tourist Hawaiian shirt or other loud clothes, camera, hat with pins all over it, maps sticking out of pockets, sunglasses.

Crayon Sweat suit in the chosen colour of your crayon. Design the crayon wrapper from poster board, felt pieces or craft foam and baste or pin onto the sweat suit. Add a like-coloured plant pot for a hat, or use a large round of poster board, cut from edge to centre and make into a pointy hat. Secure under child's chin with a wide strip of elastic stapled to the hat.

Cow, Pig, Kitty, Doggy Hooded sweat suit in the appropriate colour ( white cow, pink pig, brown dog). Embellish with felt scraps to make spots, ears, tail, etc.

Mummy Tear a white sheet into strips. Paint face white and spray hair with white paint. Smear black under the eyes. Wrap child dressed in white long underwear with sheet strips, securing with clear medical tape, leaving eyes and mouth open.

Angel White sweat suit with wings of tulle stretched over shaped coat hangers. Glittery headband made from wire circle covered with foil and colourful curling ribbon. Wand made from thin dowel with cardboard star attached to one end, painted silver or gold with glitter and curling ribbon added.

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10 Reason Why Your Cat Loves You

There are plenty of reasons why your cat loves you. Ten of the main reasons are listed below. Enjoy!

1. You provide food - Cats love food and they love you for giving them that food. If it wasn't for you, they'd go hungry, and of course, if it wasn't for you, they wouldn't get those tasty scraps of meat after a meal. Those crunchy little biscuits aren't half bad either.

2. You clean the litter tray - You always keep their bathroom area very clean. After all, cats are very clean animals, and they're very appreciative of the work you do in cleaning out their litter tray, as well as the area around it. Poor things, they can't help spraying litter all over the floor!

3. You are a great companion - You're always there to play with them, whether it be with a piece of string or with a toy mouse which looks so amazingly real yet it magically comes back to life every time its head has just been chewed on for five minutes by your cat!

4. You're comfortable to sit (and sleep) on - On those cold dark evenings, you're always there to be sat on and nuzzled into. You're so warm compared to some of the places they could sleep, and the gap between your knees makes a great paw warmer!

5. You provide shelter - They have a whole house to themselves thanks to you. While it's raining outside they can cheerfully look out the window at all the other poor animals that have to put up with the rain. There's always a corner in your house where they can curl up and go to sleep as well. Luxury!

6. You're bigger than any dog - You're (almost) always there to fend off any nasty big dogs that could eat them whole and they appreciate this greatly. Especially at the vets when a huge hairy dog is eyeing them up, they know that you're behind them so they'll be safe.

7. You always know where to scratch - Whether it's behind the ears, under the chin, or on their stomach, cats just love the way you always scratch, stroke, and pet them. Its one of the things they love most, and they love you for it, and when you get that special brush out, it's just the best thing in the world!

8. You always talk back - Whenever they meow, you always give a consoling reply either in native cat language by meowing back, or by saying something in a high pitched voice that only babies would understand!

9. You provide things to claw - Whether it is furniture, carpet, or a delicate set of curtains, there's always something for your cat to get their claws into. What would they do without all the clawing material you provide...? It's possible that they might consider using the specially designed scratch post that you bought for them.

10. You love them - The greatest reason of all, which encompasses all those mentioned above. They love you because you love them.

Well, those were ten of the main reasons your cat loves you. I'm sure you related to most, if not all, of them. Rest assured, your cat does love you, because they couldn't live without you, just as you couldn't live without them!