A Homemade Halloween: 50 Empowering DIY Halloween Costumes for Mighty Girls

My daughter Kaelyn who is 15mo old, she loves to explore and examine everything. We found that Miss Frizzle was the perfect costume for her curious nature.

Girls belong in the Boston Marathon just like Kathrine Switzer! (Her story is told in the picture book Her Fearless Run.)

The Paper Bag Princess: "I'm the hero of this story. Don't need to be saved"
2 yr old Lily slays dragons with her brain.

Inspired to fight equality as Susan B. Anthony!

Caitlin, 9, adores Harry Potter and her favourite character has always been Fleur Delacour but she couldn't find a costume to buy, so she asked her Grandma to help her make one instead. They picked the fabrics together and Caitlin helped her sew it. She is so proud of it and would wear it all the time if she could!

The Sound of Music is Flynn's favorite movie. She's wanted to be "ria" for Halloween since last year. You can see her pride in this picture.

Ella has spent the last year making her voice heard. After a boy told her girls shouldn't vote, she became even more vocal. For Halloween, she wanted to celebrate women's suffrage!

When Amelia and Eleanor were in first grade the did a project and learned that Amelia Earhart flew Eleanor Roosevelt in a plane and the idea for their second grade Halloween costume was born! (The story of this historic flight is told in the picture book Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride.)

Our daughter loves your site for music, books and movies. This year she made her outfit and went as Mighty Girl! Thank you for the inspiration!

Modern Superhero: Defender of the Free Press

Grace, who is 6.5, read Victoria Jamieson's graphic novel Roller Girl about eight times within the first two weeks she owned it this summer. There was never a question about what her costume was going to be, and with Nana's knitting help (those socks!), she nailed it.

“Why? What? How? When? Why?” Ada Twist, Scientist!

Natalie is Nancy Drew, as pictured on the cover of The Secret of the Old Clock

My daughter decided she wanted to be a volcano this year. She had a blast Trick or Treating and I enjoyed watching people's reactions to her unique costume.

My daughter was enthralled over discovering Dr. Who on BBC this summer. Her outfit is her own design, complete with bowtie, fez and, of course, a sonic screwdriver.

Isabelle, age 4, became interested in Dr. Jane Goodall after finding an article about her in National Geographic. In her imagination our yard has become a forest in Tanzania and she's been busy studying chimpanzees.

Larkin (12) dressed as Sir Alanna the Lioness (from Tamora Pierce’s Tortall books), complete with her signature gold-washed chain mail, coat of arms, amethyst drop earrings, and trusty sword Lightning.

Combining her love of the honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg and hip hop.

Sophia, age 9, choose to be a Dalek, as she loves Dr. Who. We are excited to see the new female Doctor!

Esmé, at 14 months, had a little help choosing her Ewok costume from Star Wars Return of the Jedi, but she really enjoyed helping her mom to make it (pulling out the stuffing of a large teddy bear).

Save the ocean from plastic and straws. #stopsucking

Trick or Cheese

Peyton, 7 years. A passionate advocate for animals, our girl has the same big heart and tenacity that Fern did in Charlotte’s Web. She loved the story about as much as she loves animals!

This mighty girl has a newly discovered love of reading and asked if she could go as a stack of books this year! Some of the “book” titles she made up and some were books she wanted to include. She loved it!

Ms. Marvel! Inspired by Kamala’s desire to be true to herself and embrace her own path, my daughter was excited to make this costume even though this character isn’t widely recognized. She even took some teasing at school due to her choice but she stayed true to her own heart.

Math Fairy, ‘because I love fairies and math. Everyone is going to think this is the best costume ever!’

Ruby,4, LOOOOOOVVVEEESSS bugs! When we asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween, she enthusiastically said, A BUG SCIENTIST! It's also her future career of choice. Since learning that a bug scientist is called an Entomologist, she loves to use the proper wording and explain to anyone who doesn't know, what an entomologist does. She just doesn't understand why anyone wouldn't love bugs, especially spiders and her most favourite bug of all - BEES. We had lots of fun making her costume and placing each bug just so. My Mighty little bug Girl.

My daughter Helena, 4 years old, always said she wants to be a pilot whenever we travel. She was inspired to be a pilot for Halloween when we had a woman pilot in our last trip. She was so happy when she saw a woman pilot, in uniform saying goodbye from the cockpit!

4 year old Kalia as Astrid Dragon Tamer.
Costume made by Daddy.

Rosie, 2.5 years old, was Marie Curie for Halloween this year. Here she is proudly showing off her two Nobel prizes. Note the vials of Polonium and Radium in her pocket! Poor Marie still had a few crucial things to learn about the health hazards of being exposed to radioactivity!

We love to have our little Rosie dress up as strong women for Halloween. When we found out that she was going to be born with Down syndrome, we didn't know what the future would look like for her. Once she came into the world, she showed us how hardworking, loving, and mischievous she was! We know that our Rosie's future is bright and full of potential! Her Halloween costumes are one way that we like to challenge society's expectations for individuals with Down syndrome!

Julia Child! Whipping up some fun!

Eudora, 8, wanted to be the solar system for Halloween! She is so pleased with how it turned out, she is beaming.

Marianna, age 10. My daughter is a fan of science fiction and fantasy. Over the summer, we watched the entire Doctor Who series as our family entertainment. She loved the weeping angels. For Halloween, she helped me sew the dress and craft the wings (foam board base with craft foam feathers hot glued on top and elastic straps for wearing).

Katie Smith, age 13. Wanted to think outside the box, but wound up in the box flying high.

My 2.5 year old mighty girl loves the CAL Berkeley Marching Band and asked me to make this costume for her.

Amelia Earhart: Mabel, 16 months, New Orleans
My husband and I love making costumes for Halloween and Mardi Gras. We're so happy to now have our adventurous daughter join in on the fun.
Mabel had a blast riding around town in her airplane. She had her best friend who was dressed as a cow riding in the backseat most of the evening (we told everyone that she picked up the cow while barnstorming).

Olivia us all about superhero females, so nothing would do but Xena Princess Warrior. She's got the war cry nailed, too. It's not available to buy, so her mother knocked herself out.

My seven year old as the Fiction Fairy!

Audrey (6) decides she want to be one of her favorite foods, kimbop - rice ball wrapped in a piece of seaweed. (hello, party city?....)

My all things science obsessed wanted to be a stellar black hole for Halloween. Together she and I built this costume from scratch and made her out of this world dream come true!

Aaliyah age 3 as Rosie the Riveter is a mighty girl every day of her life. She can do it is a perfect motto for my amazing girl.

Anika Von Marie, 2 months old
We live in Scandinavia so we thought how apt it will be for her to be a Viking warrior for her first Halloween.

In the middle of a January night, when she was sick with croup, my then 3-year-old asked if she could be a book for Halloween! She stuck with the idea for 9 months and ultimately chose to be a Jenny Linsky Halloween book, Jenny's Moonlight Adventure, as she loves the whole series. Her grandma made the costume and my now 4 year old LOVED it.

My daughter loves the show “Star Wars Rebels,” she adores the character Sabine Wren. I made her Halloween costume out of various fabrics, craft foam, paint and lots of glue!

Super sleuth, Zoe

In a sea of princesses and superheroes, we were pleasantly surprised that Alexa (age 2) had her heart set on being "a purple boat" this year. She served as Creative Director and we merely followed her vision for Halloween 2014. :)

Last year RBG, this year Grace Hopper!

My daughter wants to visit Idaho some day and decided to be a sack of Idaho potatoes for Halloween. The entire costume was made from scratch, including the “potatoes”.

Our daughter chose to bring some sunshine into this Halloween holiday and she chose to be a rainbow. The whole family worked together on this project and made her costume.

My mighty girl loved the novel Rapunzel's Revenge and how strong Rapunzel is. She was super excited to recreate the theme from items found at thrift stores and our home.

Sioma 3 years old - My daughter started out wanting to be Charlotte from Charlotte's web but kept wanting to add different pieces to the outfit. The end result is truly unique.

She loves Nella- planned and worked on this costume for months

Mercedes Velazquez, dressed as Lucia Zenteno, the main character in The Woman Who Outshone the Sun. The book retells the Zapotec legend of Lucia Zenteno, a beautiful woman with magical powers who is exiled from a mountain village and takes its water away in punishment.

Kindness and quirkiness for the win! An intergenerational project from radish earrings to leg warmers: grandma the seamstress and knitter, mom the materials and patterns gatherer, and daughter who loves everything Harry Potter and aims to be as kind as Luna every day!

10 year-old Jala was inspired by the powerful female channelers of magical energy in Robert Jordan's epic fantasy Wheel of Time series.

Ruby created this costume all by herself. She worked in it for over a month.

A few months ago my girls and I started watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. Dr. Michaela Quinn is a female doctor at a time when it wasn’t accepted, she is always pushing boundaries, and she lends her voice to those who aren’t heard. Such a great feminist character for our young women to see.

Lily decided to dress up as The Princess in Black, the main character of her favorite book series of the same name! She fell in love with how Princess Magnolia is more than just a typical princess and that she fights monsters as the Princess of Black on the side!

My 5 year old daughter, Anya, LOVES to read and Zita is one of her favorites!

Mikaela (age 7) was adamant she wanted to be a princess/night/warrior, so her dad Byron built her this costume from scratch (about 20 hours of measuring, cutting, painting, gluing...)

Earlier this year we listened to the Maleficent audio book (engagingly read by Lucy Rayner) with our 6 year-old daughter Maile. Maile has a strong sense of fairness and justice, and by the time the book concluded, Maleficent was a hero to her. Maile knew right then that she wanted to be Maleficent for Halloween -- but the "good, real Maleficent", protector of the Moors and mother figure to Princess Aurora. Over the next couple of months we carefully pieced together Maile's costume to her exact vision; it came together beautifully and she was proud to wear it (and explain it)!

Cadence is 8 and has wanted to be an entomologist since she was 5. This year, she asked to be a praying mantis for Halloween.

My Mighty Creative Girl

Nora loves biology so we made a jellyfish to go along with her siblings under the Sea theme this year.

A velociraptor (made and worn by 11 yo Addie) and her handlers (mighty girls Fiona and Emmy), were inspired by Jurassic Park. The girls had so much fun!

She refused a haircut for almost two years, so that it would be “Long like Dumbledore’s”.

Krystinia, age 15. made the costume herself one piece at a time from the local thrift stores and hardware store for the snake. She loves to dress up and act as strong characters.

As a fellow ballerina, Arihanna’s idol is Misty Copeland and has been dreaming of this costume all year. It cannot be said loud enough: representation is so important! Arihanna has big dreams and we are thrilled she can see any part of herself in Misty.

Emily (10) is a huge Star Trek fan. She is enamored with Captain Janeway, and she rocks it.

Mulan is one of my daughter's favorite characters because she fought for her country and helped her family by doing what was right even if it was against the norm.

Dina was looking for a Mulan warrior costume and figured that Disney would have a costume available. Unfortunately, Disney only carried the "Princess" version of Mulan - but she was bummed that the costume Warrior Mulan was dressed in for most of the movie wasn't available in any store. :(

So with a few items from our closets, a couple of cotton tees, and some sewing items, here we have Mulan the Warrior!

Thanks A Mighty Girl for inspiring girls everywhere to find the Warrior in them! :)