Looking for the easiest no-sew costume idea?! You can make this DIY bee costume using extra fabric, recycled cardboard and clothing that you already own! Making Elliot a Halloween costume is something that I look forward to every year— remember last year’s DIY No-Sew Mushroom Costume? You can also check out E’s past costumes on our Instagram account or by searching for the hashtag #elliotincostume. We’ve been bzzzzzzy working in our garden, so it’s only fitting that we celebrate our pollinator friends the bees by dressing up as one of them! The method used to create the body of the costume allows you to re-use your clothing and the wings are made using recycled cardboard boxes. Our finished wings measure approximately 27.5’ wide at the widest point. I didn’t include measurements in the instructions since you can easily create them in a size that fits your child. My son is 4.5 and very petite and slim for his age if that helps with a visual on sizing. After Halloween you can remove the stripes to re-use the clothing and keep the wings and headband for pretend play.

Materials:

for the costume body:
– Yellow jumpsuit or yellow shirt/black pants
– Black felt or fleece fabric
– removable fabric tape

for the wings:
– cardboard
– elastic
– paint
– small piece of driftwood or bark

for the headband:
– black headband
– paper wrapped floral wire
– black paper tape
– hot glue or fabric glue

Instructions for making a DIY bee costume

Step 1: How to add the stripes to the body of the costume

Cut several strips of your black felt fabric that are 2-3” wide and long enough to wrap around the torso section of the yellow clothing item that you are using as a base. Use the removable fabric tape to strips on until you reach the bottom of the torso. Alternately, you can glue them on with fabric glue or sew them on if you are not planning on re-using the clothing.

How to make the bee wings

Bees have two sets of wings (two forewings and two hindwing) but we will be cutting the wings out as a single piece for durability. Create a template by folding a paper in half and sketching out one side of the wings. Cut the template out, unfold and trace the wings out onto your cardboard. Cut the wings out. Paint the base of the wings with a white or ivory paint, then sketch vein details with a pencil.

Paint over the vein lines with a black or brown paint. We used a thin paintbrush and I really like the imperfect organic look that the lines have. Alternately you can use a paint pen if you prefer crisper lines. Attach your small piece of driftwood or bark down the center of one side of the wings using glue. I also chose to attach an additional piece of cardboard on the opposite side down the center of the wings for additional support.

How to finish the bee wings

Score a line down each side of the center support so that the wings bend freely outwards when being worn. Measure your child and cut two pieces of elastic to use as the straps that will go around their shoulders. Glue the ends of the elastic on the back of the wings.

How to make a bee headband

Secure two long pieces of the paper-wrapped floral wire around the base of the headband to create the antenna. Overlap the wire at the tips for safety and make sure that there are no sharp ends exposed. I cut a strip of thick fleece (leftover from making the stripes) that is the width of the headband to attach on the underside. This helps to cover and add padding to the area where the wire is wrapped around the headband. Wrap black washi tape around the base of the headband to secure everything. Wrap the antennas with the washi tape as well, or alternately you can paint the antennas with black paint.