The Giving Tree Parent and Child Costumes

We’re kicking it off with a few costumes from children’s story books. And the first up, is The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein, a personal favorite.  I always wanted to be a part of the story and now I can with the adult tree costume DIY and little boy costumes along with an apple trick-or-treat bag DIY.  The best part is, this whole costume can be non-sewable by using a glue gun.  Just be mindful if there are little hands around.

Tree Costume DIY

1. Print out the leaf template and use it as a stencil on the green felt. We cut out 75 leaves
2. Hand stitch them onto the shirt (or glue gun them if you would prefer not to sew).  Start from the bottom of the shirt and working your way up. Add more leaves around the collar of the shirt and less at the bottom.
3. Finish off by sticking some in the hair. We bobby pinned each one in by making a hole at the bottom of the leaf and sticking it into the hair. You could also make a headband, cover it with felt, and glue the leaves onto it.

Little Boy Costume

1. Dress in green shirt, red overalls, and sandals

Making the Apple Trick-or-Treat Bag

1. Download the apple shaped template, print off, and trace it onto the two pieces of red felt and cut out.
2. Use a leaf from the tree costume.
3. Use the template to cut out a black stem.
4. If you’d prefer not to use a sewing machine, lay one red piece down, position the cotton binding  to the top of the apple and glue in place. Repeat to the other side.
5. Glue the stem in place on the inside of the apple piece.
6. Glue the two apples together with glue. Finish off with the leaf.
7. If using a sewing machine, sew the cotton bindings to the first piece of the apple, add in a stitch at the top for the stem and leaf. Then stitch all the way around from one binding to the other.

Voila!  You are now ready to go trick-or-treating in this simple DIY costume.  (Don’t forget to add “The Giving Tree” to your reading list if you haven’t already.)

Photography by Lindsay Graviet  |  Crafting by Ashley Isenhour  |  Illustrations and costumes based on Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree  |  Additional crafting by Devynn MacLennan, Jordan Blackhurst 

And thank you to our models, Amy and her cute little guy, Joshua. Thanks for playing with us! And thanks to Primary for providing part of the costume!