Easy Family Costume Ideas for the Salsa Lover

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This post is sponsored by Laffy Taffy. My crafting skills are, clearly, sponsored by no one!

Join the ‘Spooktacular Family’ Costume Challenge!

I can’t wait to show you my DIY family costumes. And if what you see makes you ‘hungry’ for more (groan), Laffy Taffy wants to see what you and your family can come up with. Post your family photos with the hashtag #HaffToLaff for your chance to be featured on the Laffy Taffy Instagram account and win a special surprise.

Now, on to my crafting skills…

Let’s Talk Family Costumes

I love the idea of easy family costumes and when it comes to Halloween, we are TOTALLY a costume kind of family. My son dresses up every year and so do I. And we can usually convince my husband to get in on the fun as well.

But we’re never a coordinated family of costumes. We all have our own ideas and we stick them together in a collage of costumes.

Until this year.

This year, we needed some family inspiration (and some easy family costumes) and looked to one of our favorite family friendly brands, Laffy Taffy, for some guidance. And here’s what they said…

CHILI PEPPER!

Although my husband was out of town, we decided to take the chili pepper idea and run with it. Because what good is a chili pepper on its own? And lots of chili peppers would be too spicy. So we decided to let ME be the spicy one in the family and created our own salsa-themed costumes.

We are definitely a food loving family and found this idea was something we could sink our teeth into.

Here’s how we pulled it off.

Easy Family Costumes Inspired by Salsa!

You’ll start with the same basic materials for all of the following costumes:

• Cardboard (you can purchase sheets at a craft store or use a large, flattened box)
• Felt sheets (colors will depend on your chosen food)
• Yarn (color to match the felt)
• Matching clothing (hat and shirt in a color matching your food)

If you’re already having anxiety thinking about crafting, I feel you. But once you have these simple supplies, you just need a sharp object, like an X-Acto knife, a flat surface, and a glue gun (or crafting glue).

LET’S DO THIS!

DIY Chili Pepper Costume

Peppers come in a lot of shapes and sizes but for this costume, we’re going for a nice red chili pepper (fun fact: peppers start as green and ripen to the red stage).

Needed: Red felt, green felt, green yarn, green hat, red shirt

1. Create a chili pepper shape on the cardboard that includes the stem.
2. Use the cardboard shape to trace the desired pattern on your red felt.
3. Create a nice leafy shape from your green felt.
4. Glue your red felt over the entire surface.
5. Glue the green felt over top of the red.
6. Punch two holes near the top and thread the green yarn through the holes. Make it large enough to fit over your head!
7. Put on a red shirt, green hat, wear your chili pepper, and do a sassy dance!

DIY Corn Costume

Corn does not always go into salsa. But a 12 year old boy doesn’t always get excited about family Halloween costumes unless you let him pick his own vegetable.

Needed: Green felt, yellow felt, yellow yarn, yellow hat, green shirt

1. Create a corn shape on the cardboard that includes the husk.
2. Create the top half of the yellow corn peeking out of the husk with yellow felt.
3. Use the cardboard shape to trace the desired pattern on your green felt. Be sure to make a cut out for the yellow kernels.
4. Glue your yellow felt towards the top.
5. Glue the green felt over top of the yellow felt covering the rest of the cardboard.
6. Punch two holes near the top and thread the yellow yarn through the holes. Make it large enough to fit over your head!
7. Put on a green shirt, yellow hat, wear your ear of corn, and do a corny dance!

DIY Black Bean Costume for Dogs

Although beans are also optional for salsa, we have a black dog that happens to be the exact shape of a bean. Plus, since beans don’t have many discerning features, it makes this costume especially easy.

Needed: Black or brown felt, black or brown yarn

1. Create the shape of a single bean on the cardboard. Then duplicate it.
2. Use the cardboard shape to trace the desired pattern on your black felt. Do this twice.
3. Glue your black felt over both bean patterns.
4. Punch two holes on both beans on the wider side and thread the black yarn through the holes (like a sandwich board. Make the yarn wide enough to rest comfortably on your dog’s back and flank each side!
5. Put the bean on your dog and see how long it lasts!

DIY Onion Costume for Dogs

I feel it’s important to note that dogs should never EVER eat onions. It’s super bad for them. But there are no rules about wearing onions. Because my other dog is, well, onion-colored, we decided that she could be the odorous ingredient in our family salsa.

Needed: Cream-colored felt, cream-colored yarn

1. Create the shape of a single onion on the cardboard. Then duplicate it.
2. Use the cardboard shape to trace the desired pattern on your cream felt. Do this twice.
3. Glue your cream felt over both onion patterns.
4. Punch two holes on both onions on the wider side and thread the cream yarn through the holes (like a sandwich board. Make the yarn wide enough to rest comfortably on your dog’s back and flank each side!
5. Put the onion on your dog and quickly run away!!

How did we do?*

I can’t say my crafting skills are ‘hot’ or anything. They may be ‘nacho’ style but it sure gave us something to ‘taco’ bout!

More importantly, we had fun making the costumes together.

*No dogs were harmed in the making of these costumes.

Join the ‘Spooktacular Family’ Costume Challenge!

If this DIY family costume has made you ‘hungry’ for more (groan), Laffy Taffy wants to see what you and your family can come up with. Post your family photos with the hashtag #HaffToLaff for your chance to be featured on the Laffy Taffy Instagram account and win a special surprise.