DIY Amelia Earhart Costume with Smarties

This blog post is sponsored + in partnership with Smarties. 

It’s that time of year where we start choosing our Halloween costumes! Gracie is 2 years old and is finally grasping the idea of dressing up as someone else for the holiday. This Halloween, I was inspired by the Smarties Candy Company new campaign: Smarties Throughout History. This campaign highlights the importance of helping children learn + connect to historical intellects. We decided to choose a “smarty” from history to dress up as this year!

Check out Gracie’s big feature on the Smarties Blog.

There are tons of smart women throughout history, so it was tricky to choose one to have Gracie dress up as. My dad (Gracie’s grandpa), is a pilot and Gracie loves looking in the sky at the airplanes. So, for our “smarties” costume, we chose Amelia Earhart! She is super inspiring, as she was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She got many awards + set tons of records. Gracie and I were so excited to make a DIY costume of her!

This costume is super easy to create. For most of the costume, you can use pieces from your daughter’s closet!

MATERIALS NEEDED:

+Cardboard box

+Scissors

+Duck Tape

+Aviator Hat

+Brown Jacket

+Brown pants

+Boots

+Scarf

+Smarties to snack on while you craft 🙂

STEPS TO MAKE AIRPLANE:

1+ Start with a medium sized cardboard box.

2+ Cut off the flaps from the top (this will become the bottom of the box!). Save these to use the for the wings (step #6)

3+ Turn the box over, and cut out a whole in the middle of the box. This will be where your child either sits or stands through. We ended up making this whole a little bit bigger later.

4+ On both sides of the box, cut a small rectangle to be a hole for the arms! This way, your child can either hold the box up, or they can stick their arms through.

5+ Cover the box with duck tape.

6+ Time for the wings! Take the two long flaps from step #2 and cut them into airplane wings by rounding off the top.  Add a few pieces of duck tape for a nice look.

7+ To attach the wings to the airplane, I used a few small pieces of duck tape and stuck them right above the arm holes.

8+ Cut two small rectangles for the front propeller. Tape them together in an “x” shape. Add a circle to the front of it + cover it with duck tape.

The plane is complete!

Be sure to add some Smarties candy to really finish it off! We really love Smarties as a candy in our house. It really is a smart choice because it’s peanut, dairy, and gluten free! And each roll is only 25 calories. I love them because Gracie really takes her time eating these! And, they bring me back to my childhood. They have always been a classic!

STEPS TO COMPLETE OUTFIT:

1+ Start with a simple white onesie, or pilot’s onesie! We had this one from Gracie’s grandpa + it came in handy for this costume! The jacket covers most of the bodysuit, so I wouldn’t put too much thought into this part.

2+ Add some brown pants! We used some simple leggings.

3+ Add a brown jacket! We looked everywhere for a cute bomber jacket, but decided to use a simple sweater instead.

4+ Throw in some boots!

5+ Purchase an aviator hat if you can find one! We picked one up at Party City, but you can easily use a brown winter hat + throw on some goggles. If you have colorful goggles, you can always spray paint them brown or black to give them an aviator feel! Gracie’s lucky to have her pilot grandpa who lent his pilot’s goggles to her!

6+ A fun trick-or-treating bag makes a nice touch! We used this small luggage to hold Gracie’s candy + I think it’s the perfect touch!

7+ Add a scarf! Amelia Earhart was often seen wearing a white scarf. We had a gray one laying around, but Gracie wasn’t a big fan!