This easy nutcracker family costume post contains affiliate links.
It’s no secret, we sorta love Halloween around here. We start planning our family costume idea on November 1st, the day after Halloween, for the following year. People ask me all the time how I get my kids on board with a themed costume for the entire family. We usually run through a few ideas until everyone in the family is happy, which can take some brainstorming and out of the box thinking (the sword sold my rat king this year). I buy costumes at consignment stores for year round play and my kids can wear anything they’d like from our collection at school parties or neighborhood festivals. On the night of Halloween, we dress up as a family. When I say dress up as a family, the grandparents and neighbors are usually involved too. It makes it that much more fun when everyone is excited about it. Our kids are still young, but I’m holding on to this tradition for as long as possible!
For the rat king, I used a plain grey shirt and a pair of leggings for the base of the costume. I found the perfect king cape and crown on Amazon. The package came with other accessories, but I just used the belt, crown and cape. You can’t have a rat king without some sort of ears, so I used a mouse hood and nose mask to complete the look. We love to play dress up around here and these pieces will be a fun addition to our pretend play bin after Halloween. We grabbed a play sword from the closet and our rat king happily chased his ballerina sister around the house.
If your child is in dance, I’m sure you have a few tutus and leotards in the closet. If not, you can always make your own cheap tutu and pair it with an inexpensive leotard and tights. I found the cutest crown combs on Amazon, which look super cute with a bun. Here’s a little dance mom tip, from me to you, get a bun maker to create the perfect ballerina bun. It’s life changing and only takes a few minutes to do. Don’t forget the ballet slippers or pink flats would work too. On Halloween night, I’ll be spraying my ballerina with glitter hairspray for some added sparkle.
I was planning on crafting a Nutcracker shirt before I spotted the perfect shirt on Amazon. I love crafting, but I’m okay with buying if the price is right and it’ll save me time. If you can’t find a shirt that’ll work for you, you can always use your digital cutting machine, like a Cricut Maker, to cut out heat transfer vinyl pieces that look exactly like the shirt I found. You’ll also need a nutcracker, soldier hat to complete the look. Our hat was a tad flimsy, so we stuffed it with newspapers and that worked great.
THE RAT KING COSTUME
King Cape & Crown
Mouse Hat & Nose
Play Sword
Grey Shirt & Grey Leggings
BALLERINA COSTUME
Leotard Tutu
Tights
Ballet Slippers
Crown Comb
Bun Maker
Glitter Hairspray
NUTCRACKER COSTUME
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You might also like these family costume ideas:
Martian and Astronaut Family Costume
Fish and Fisherman Family Costume
Care Bear Family Costume
