Creative Costumes
Costumes for medical kids can sometimes get a bit tricky. Luckily, many large retailers have begun to realize how important adaptive clothing and costumes can be. For Halloween or playing dress-up, costumes can be so much fun for kids of all ages! While many costumes can work around medical equipment, it can also be fun to incorporate your little one’s medical accessories into the costume! Every child should feel included in the fun, so with a little extra craftiness, all our Tiny Heroes can join in whether you are in the hospital with your child or at home.
In the NICU
📷: Schaumburg Photography, Sally Morrow Photography, March of Dimes
Even our sweet NICU warriors love to get in the holiday spirit. Huffington Post has a great article full of adorable costumes in the NICU. With a bit of imagination, a good pair of scissors, and some felt, many of these costumes can easily be placed on top of your baby even while intubated or on ECMO.
Sliding some wings or a decorative blanket underneath your baby or a fun hat and socks can allow you to dress up your baby around tubes and wires. Ask the nurses or Child Life Specialists if they have any costumes or decorations you can use. You can also print some things for free from Good Housekeeping or other websites to get in the Halloween spirit. While your baby is probably too young to do most of these activities, you and your other children can enjoy them while distracting yourself from the everyday roller coaster of NICU life.
For older kids, or once your baby has been extubated, a cute outfit that is open at the bottom or has snaps to allow wires to come out can be all you need to feel like your baby is getting the full Halloween experience. Many adaptive costumes from most major retailers have Velcro top to bottom - you can drape it over your cutie and tuck the sides underneath without having to close the Velcro and mess with any of the wires. When all else fails, decorate the hospital room with balloons, banners and other fun decorations. The possibilities are endless!
Incorporating Medical Equipment
If your child has a feeding tube, use it to your advantage for a costume. Add some food coloring to the feed bag to make it look like blood for a fun zombie costume (ask your doctor if it’s safe for your child, of course) or find a costume that usually includes a backpack like this adorable Ghostbusters costume! They put a black pool noodle over the end of the tube to make it look like he’s ready to suck up those ghosts. Decorate the feeding backpack as the backpack for an astronaut, firefighter, or scuba diver. Buzz Lightyear’s jet pack is great for the Toy Story fan in your family! Filling the feeding bag with candy makes for a cute picture too.
Decorating the IV pole, oxygen cylinder cart, or vent to incorporate into the costume can be a great way to raise awareness and help your child feel proud of their equipment. Here are some simple ideas to incorporate into a costume:
Wrap the pole in brown or black paper, add a “handle” to the top, then dress your kid as an old man or woman
Turn it into a walking stick for dressing up as a hiker or backpacker
Dress it up as a scarecrow - then your whole family can dress up as any of the other characters from the Wizard of Oz
Add broom-like bristles to the bottom and tie it on with twine to make a witch’s broom
Tie a red sheet around a pillow then around the pole or red paper around the oxygen cylinder, put on some boxing gloves and you’ve got yourself a punching bag
With some white paper and a black marker, create a basketball net and wrap it around the top of the equipment to make a fun basketball player costume
Make a fireman’s hose and let the tubing be the water coming out to put out the fire!
Inspiration: ABC News
Decorating a stroller, wagon, or walker is an easy way to add accessories to your child’s costume without adding extra stuff for you to lug around on Halloween night. Amazon* has tons of cute wagon and wheelchair covers that can easily be adapted for a stroller or walker. Grab some cardboard, duct tape, and paint to create an ice pop cart around a walker, a train around a stroller, or a princess carriage on a wagon. The possibilities are endless!
From Amazon* to Target and even Disney, adaptive costumes are becoming more common! Many of these costumes have holes for easy feeding tube access or have Velcro down the entire back to accommodate wires and tubes without having to go over your child’s head. Some of the long-sleeved costumes have velcro openings are the end of the sleeves which can give you better access to an IV or PICC line.
Costumes can be a fun way for even the tiniest of Tiny Heroes to participate in the festivities. Halloween doesn’t have to be about candy, it’s about having fun with family and friends. For the non-oral kiddos or allergy-prone, always remember to have some non-candy items available for your Trick-or-Treaters. Many of our tubie families will thank you for your consideration, even if their babies are too young to know the difference.
Kids grow up too fast - every memory, small or large, is worth commemorating. Take lots of pictures (and send them to us 😉), have some fun, and enjoy the silliness!
Check out the Costume Idea List we’ve created!
*Note: Tiny Hero gets a small percentage of the sales if you purchase off of our lists.
