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DIY Flamingo Costume for Children

What’s better than a flamingo? Okay, maybe a flock of flamingos rightfully called a flamboyance of flamingos, but we’re sure that one in the house is enough. You can transform one of your very own children, or a beloved child within the family, into the most fascinating and fun birds on the planet. There’s excellent news, too; you don’t need a sewing machine. 

Gather Your Materials

You’ll need a few things for this project, but nothing overwhelming and many of these you might already have on-hand. 

Materials list:

  • Pink dress
  • Pink tights (Ballet tights work great!)
  • Pink ribbon
  • 5 or 6 feather boas (preferably pink, but we embrace blue, purple and all other flamingos as well. If you opt for a different color, then match the dress, tights, and ribbon to the boa color). 
  • Sewing needle
  • Thread
  • Felt (Black and pink, or any crazy color you’ve chosen for your boas) 
  • Hot glue gun

Step One - The Skirt 

Cut your ribbon to about 50-inches long. Don’t worry about it being too long.

Cut the boas into strips that are double the length of how long you want the skirt to be. For example, if you need a 13-inch skirt length (about knee-length for a 4T), then you would cut the boas into 26-inch long strips. 

Tip: grab one of the child’s dresses or skirts and measure that length. It helps when you can’t keep them still long enough to take measurements. 

Tie the boas around the ribbon. You can use a simple knot or a slip knot, either way works. Tie boas around the ribbon until you have a full skirt. Push the boas together, so you don’t have bald spots, and then tie the ribbon around the child’s waist. 

Step Two - Give This Flamingo a Head

You're going to use a boa for the flamingo's neck and felt for the head shape and face. Start making the head and face by folding your pink felt in half. Use the ribbon holder as a guide to create a circle shape. Trace around it then cut out your two pink circles. 

Then, take a slightly brighter pink felt and cut out two trapezoids. Finish off the beak pieces with two tall black triangles. You get the shape we're going for at this point. It should look very much like a flamingo beak. 

Now, you can sew those together by hand in just a few moments. The stitches don't have to be perfect or even close to it. They just need to be secure. You can also use your hot glue gun to add more security by gluing the pieces into place and then sewing over the edges of the fabric. 

Use your marker to make two eyes on the flamingo's head. Take one of the boas from the skirt and wind it up around the top part of the dress. Place the two flamingo headpieces and layer them over the edge of the boa strip. Pin and sew the head closed. You're working wrong-sides together, so there's no turning in this project. 

Step Three - Flamingo Time 

When it’s time to dress up, you’ll take that boa with the head on it and wind it around their shoulder. Then give the skirt a little fluffing, and your bird is ready to take on Halloween! This is also a great dress-up fun throughout the year as it’s not exclusive to Halloween. Keep this DIY costume on hand for rainy days and when staying at home seems a little too boring, because nothing is boring when there’s a flamingo around! 

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If you enjoyed this costume tutorial, check out our other tutorials on our site! If you are looking for a product and need any assistance, contact our customer service team. If you make one of our tutorials, or want to show us any projects you have made, tag us on Instagram! We look forward to seeing your projects!