Ask Design Mom: Coordinated Halloween Costumes

By Gabrielle.

Question:
Hi Gabrielle! I have a little girl who is 2 and twin boys who are 1. Last year they dressed up as Little Bo Peep and her sheep.  This year I am having a bit of trouble trying to coordinate their costumes. Any ideas? Thanks, Brandy Tucker

Answer:
Hi Brandy! I’m with you. I think coordinated costumes are so much fun! And we’re not alone, because I receive similar questions every year. : ) Little Bo Peep + sheep sounds like it was adorable! Maybe this year it would be fun if your daughter was Wendy, and the twins were Peter Pan and Captain Hook. Or how about Bella, Edward and Jacob? (Kidding!) Smurfette and any two other Smurfs?

Fun fact: the mime photo above wasn’t actually from Halloween. Maude and Olive were just goofing around. Which is awesome. But, Ralph was a mime for Halloween once!

What do you think, Dear Readers? Have any great suggestions for Brandy? And how do you feel about coordinated costumes? Do you commit to them every year? Or just when a brilliant idea comes to you?

P.S. — Photos from some of our earliest Halloweens here. Plus, a glimpse of me with super short hair. As in, so short that Ben Blair would cut it at home with our electric clippers!

42 thoughts on “Ask Design Mom: Coordinated Halloween Costumes”

  1. wow!!! I love you with short hair!

    I’ve always been envious of women with the confidence to go short. It’s just so darn stylish and chic.

    ps. …love your new contributors! they suit your brand so well. best of luck!

    1. Thank you! I’m so glad you’re enjoying the new contributors. Me too! It’s fun to have so much great content, and to know that when I have a crazy day and can only write one post, that there will still be tons of great stuff to find here.

      As for the short hair, I LOVED it. I wore it that way for years. And the confidence thing is funny, because I swear, wearing it that short makes you feel confident! Even if you weren’t feeling that way to begin with.

  2. My mom always coordinated our families costumes at Halloween when we were young and because I have six siblings we had a lot to work with. We’ve done a baseball team, Snow White and the seven dwarfs, Old McDonald’s farm, nursery rhyme characters, and the casts from Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, and The Wizard of Oz. My favorite though, was when were were a bag of M&M’s. My dad was dressed as the bag and then my mom and each of the kids was a different color M&M. I still think it’s so cute and I want to do it with my own family some day.

  3. I haven’t been able to convince my kids to coordinate. My suggestion is the Cat in the Hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2.

  4. i love coordinated anything – in college we got together as a group of 26 and went as the alphabet, with everyone dressed up as something in their respective letter – we were salt and pepper shakers for “s” and “p” – double coordination points!

    For brandy, what about the cat in the hat + thing 1 and thing 2 ? or “do-re-mi” from the sound of music? (deer, ray of sunshine and “me” t-shirt”) ; huey, dewey and louis? or two girlfriends and i went as three blind mice once too…

  5. *sigh* I LOVE coordinated costumes. I had my pair convinced to be a pirate and a parrot this year. Until this weekend. Then the boy decided he wanted to be Darth Vader. And my girl wants to be Little Red Riding Hood. Darn Halloween costume ads. Spoiling 2 months of hard work convincing them how awesome a pirate/parrot would be. Next up, I tried to convince the girl to be a princess….Princess Leia. It didn’t work. (At just turning 3 she has no idea who that is.) Nor would she go for Yoda. (Can’t you see it? The boy as Darth, Girl as Yoda, me as Leia, hubby as Han Solo?!?!)

    1. Last year, I did not plan Halloween well and we were at Toys R Us the week before and I begged my 3 year old daughter to be Yoda. I thought she’d be so cute. No dice. :(

  6. This is a subject near and dear to my heart! ;) My kids (boy then girl 2 years behind) have matched for 8 years and counting!! Although I fear this year might be the one that ends our streak. here’s what we’ve done: Lion cub and cubette, peter pan and tink, princess and knight, LSU football player and cheerleader, pirate boy and gypsy pirate girl, zorro and senorita, mario and princess peach, cowboy and cowgirl. This year she wants to be a “nerd” and he wants to be an army guy. We live in Europe now and traveling a lot, so not sure if I’ll push the issue or figure my son is almost 11 and I need to give up on twisting his arm! :) Here’s a few pictures of the cuteness that I posted 2 yrs ago.
    http://chubbyfoot.squarespace.com/blog/2010/11/1/no-tricks-all-treats.html
    Last year we were about to move and I just realized I forgot to post! Anyway, it’s been a fun 8 years and I’m lucky they’ve gone along as long as they have! Good luck!

  7. We have done quite a few in the past. One year we were the family struck by lightening complete with a burned up umbrella, singed clothing, and our hair sticking up on end. One year we will all characters from old-school nintendo games (Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Bowser). One year we were Pooh, Piglet, and a honey pot, and this year the kids are going as Mystery Inc (as long as we can find the right things for them to wear). Good luck!

  8. One of my favorite Halloweens was the year I last minute joined a rainbow and leprechaun. I stepped in as Indigo, we painted our hair and faces and the group of guys had searched thrift stores so they could dress head to toe in their designated color. Usually I talk myself out of dressing up like that, but going as a group was the most fun for sure!

  9. I LOVE coordinated costumes! I really, really, really wanted my kids to be Thing 1 and Thing 2, which is our affectionate names for them, but my SIL mentioned this on facebook once about her boys being that and I’d feel like I was stealing her idea (even though I have been thinking about it for over a year.) Mine are going to be Curious George and The Man (Girl) in the Yellow Hat. Thing 1 LOVES yellow, so this is right up her alley! My husband and I are going to be Katniss and Peeta! I’m only slightly (sarcasm!) excited about this one!

  10. Darling ideas–enjoy it while they’re still young enough to go along with them! We did end up with several Harry Potter students in our family last year, but that wasn’t due to any coordination efforts on my part… I’ve seen Raggedy Ann & Andy, Scooby Doo characters, and my favorite was when our bishop (church leader)’s family all went as various chess pieces, but he just wore a suit (since he was the bishop, after all).

    1. “enjoy it while they’re still young enough to go along with them”

      So true! Our costumes were coordinated when the kids were tiny, but once they started getting strong opinions, it’s been a random assortment of costumes. Which is actually fine by me as well. I just think it’s all good fun!

  11. We have done princesses and a prince, superheros, and characters from Super Mario Brothers. This year the kids are all over the place with ideas!

  12. Years ago, our neighbour had a 4 year old son and 1 year old twin daughters. She dressed her son as a fireman and put the girls in dalmatian puppy pj’s and hats with little blackened noses and plunked them in a wagon decorated like a fire engine. Super cute! Nowadays, firemen our firepeople…boys and girls!!!
    BOO!

  13. I have an 8, a 5, and a 2 year old and I have honestly never thought of coordinated outfits. For us it seems to be a matter of what we have on hand and more importantly- THEIR wishes of what they want to be. I think Halloween is for kids- leave it up to them!

  14. This will be the first year for costumes on our little ones (we just did Halloween-y onesies last year). We affectionately call them Monkey and Monster, so a friend suggested we do King Kong and Godzilla :)

  15. I let the kids choose, but try to find something for all of us to work into an overall theme (because I can’t help myself). One year the kids fell in love with plush dalmation costumes at Old Navy while we were supposed to be Back to School Shopping, so my husband dressed as a fireman and I dressed as Cruella. Because you know what Cruella would do if she wanted “MORE PUPPIES?” She’d marry a fireman. The kids loved it! Last year they wanted to be superheros so we were the Incredibles. This year my son wanted to be a raccoon and my husband wanted to be a lumberjack, so we’re going as a lumberjack family who adopts a raccoon in the wild. I love Halloween.

  16. I loved dressing my 3 kids in coordinating costumes. Unfortunately they are too old now to want to dress up with their siblings! A couple of my past favorites: we went as the Scooby Doo gang, a cat, mouse and dog, the Three Musketeers, fairies, and M & M’s. This year my 12 year old wants to be Hello Bat Bob. Which is a combination of Hello Kitty, Batman and SpongeBob. She can’t decide so a combo it is!

  17. We have done wizard of oz, cupcake and baker, this year pirate, parrot, and cha cha dancer. I love a football player, football and referee? So many fun choices.

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