Last year, my daughter took a huge chomp out of Halloween dressed as a kid-eating shark. The getup was purchased from Old Navy and elicited more than just a few oohs, aahs and smiles from neighbors. The rest asked me how much the shark costume set me back.
Like most store-bought Halloween costumes, the plush denizen of the deep getup cost a pretty penny. Whereas I could have waited until mid-October when Old Navy discounts its Halloween costumes by 40 to 50 percent, I knew there was no way I would be able to find my daughter’s size if I didn’t snag the shark outfit during our shopping trip in late August.
However, I can’t blame Old Navy for not keeping size 5 shark costumes in stock especially when Halloween is just days away. Rather, I blame my schedule. If I had more time I could have saved a bundle of cash by making a shark costume at home. After including a photo of my daughter dressed in the shark getup in our family Christmas card I got several emails from family members and friends noting that they had seen similar costume patterns online.
Since I seriously doubt I will need to sew a shark costume for my kid in the future, I thought this blog would be a great place to share my pattern finds with other parents whose children might want to suit up to trick-or-treat as a Great White:
McCall’s Costume Pattern P18 features a shark costume that slips over a child’s body. It’s designed more for older children than toddlers, though if you know how to alter patterns, you could easily make this work for your little one. Butterick also has a shark costume pattern. It is Vintage Butterick Pattern 6386 and features a not-so scary open mouth shark. Meanwhile, Simplicity Pattern 4926 is a fish costume that could be modified by an advanced seamstress to look like a shark. It features a big slip-on foam head that would fit most elementary school age children. Finally, if you can get your hands on it, Vintage Simplicity Costume Pattern 0629 also features a large head shark pattern, though it’s modeled after the 1994-1995 animated series “Street Sharks,” and not the traditional deep-water predators.
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