Halloween is just around the corner and with it the dread of figuring out what to dress your kids up as. Little Jimmy can’t just be a vampire like everyone else.He wants to be Bad Cop from The Lego Movie. Suzie, a princess? Oh hell no, she wants to be Zelda (YES… ZELDA, not Link!). If you’re anything like me you’re scratching your head to figure out how to deliver on these outrageous requests that your kids might have. If they have no inspiration you’re left trying to figure it out on your own. At least we can turn to video games! They are a great inspiration for many costumes and I am going to give you my Top 5 for kids, but be sure to check out the picture gallery below for other ideas that didn’t make my top 5.
Minecraft
Minecraft is huge and there are plenty of customer ideas out there. Some of them are easily purchased and in a lot of cases these costumes are home made. It can be as simple as running to the grocery store and picking out some great boxes to construct your own. Dress up as Creepers, Steve (put a box on his head, you’re done!) or take your own creation and just make sure you put it in the Minecraft theme and you’re gold. Check the images below to get some ideas flowing.
Skylanders
Another huge gaming market for the kiddos and teeming with costume ideas! With 292 Skylanders released (this includes all the variants) there is a plethora of ideas with a huge chunk of them being able to be purchased in many of your favourite shopping locations. However, to get complicated ones like Tree Rex, Hot Head and Bouncer you might be making them yourself to get the right size for the trick or treaters in your home. Luckily, if your kid wants to be a Skylander there are plenty of pre-made ones available at your local Wal-Mart, Target… the usual suspects.
but if you’re handy with a sewing machine the possibilities are endless!
Classic Characters
This is a little bit of a cheat but I didn’t want to list the obvious ones like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Bowser, Sonic, Tails, Link, Samus Aran, Mega Man and so forth. We already know these are all amazing ideas for costumes and as gamer parents you probably get a little excited to get your kids to dress up as the classics gang. I bet you a lot of people handing out the candy will get a kick out of seeing the costumes as they spring forth memories from back in the day. If you want to get really awesome looks, you can’t go wrong with dressing up your kids as Tetris blocks, especially if you have three or more so you can choreograph that stuff.
Pokémon
Pokémon has been around since I was in grade 9 and I remember hooking up my OG Gameboy with a link cable to trade Pokemon. Suffice to say there is an enormous amount of material that you can draw from here from the Pokemon themselves along with Trainers and other characters known to fans. Pikachu is a favourite that’s for sure as I found with all of my searches online. Still, talk with the kids first on this one because there are so many to choose from. There is going to be a vast amount of resources online to purchase or get instructions on how to do it yourself. My son would love to dress up as a trainer this year so that’s something I’ve got to look into.
Lego
Lego game characters might be a cop out for some of you but in my home, probably like many homes out there Lego didn’t become popular until we popped  Lego: Star Wars into our console and started playing the crap out of it. Of course it was followed by a ton of other Lego themed games like Lego Batman, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lego Indiana Jones, Lego City Undercover, Lego Harry Potter, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Pirates of the Caribbean and more. Geeze, that’s a lot of Lego! Many of these Lego Characters would make awesome costumes. Characters like Batman, Robin, Darth Vader, Jack Sparrow, Bilbo Baggins or just some plain old Lego Minifigures inspired from Lego City Undercover will do the trick. Just have some fun with it!
These are just a small handful of options and I know there are a whole lot more out there. Comment below if you feel I missed anything that needs to make this list and keep in mind these are for the kiddos out there. I know full well there are some great adult costumes out there!
