At Carnival, it’s wonderful to slip into creative carnival costumes.
For a few days, you can forget about being a child, a mom or a dad and dive into an exciting world of adventure as a pirate, a superhero or a rescuer: That’s fun for everyone.
We tell you what really matters in a successful costume and which variants are particularly popular.
Table of contents
What Is Important For A Successful Carnival Costume In General?
It is crucial that the wearer feels comfortable in his or her carnival costume, regardless of whether it is for children or adults. To ensure this, the particular costume for carnival should meet several criteria:
- Look good
- Be comfortable all around
- Be complete
Optics
For children and adults, the motif is usually the most important aspect. If your children and you already have concrete ideas about how you want to dress up, you should also look specifically for it.
Otherwise, let yourself be inspired by our guide as well as the offers in stores.
Children love bright colors and glitter. For them, carnival costumes can’t be shrill enough.
The same goes for some adults – when else do you get the chance to present yourself in such peppy, eye-catching clothing?
But of course there are also parents who prefer to dress up in more restrained costumes, even during carnival.
The good news is that there are countless carnival costumes to suit every taste. The selection is huge.
Convenience
Whether your child and you are just going to have a blast on Mardi Gras Tuesday or celebrate a few days of carnival right away: Make sure your carnival costumes are comfortable.
Here we refer to several points:
- The costume must fit perfectly. It should neither be too small/narrow nor too big/wide.
- The costume should be made of high-quality, skin-friendly materials, such as cotton. Make sure it is free of harmful substances.
- The costume should not be constricting. You should be able to move without any problems. Our tip: One-piece suits are often more comfortable than costumes with lots of ribbons, chains and strings.
Note: A carnival costume that meets all of these comfort factors usually requires a much deeper reach into the wallet, but is actually worth the money.
It Must Be Complete
For the carnival costume to be perfect, it must be complete. From head to toe, without exception, every part of the body wants to wear an accessory that fits the character that is to be represented.
Neither the hat or other headgear, nor matching shoes should be missing. The same applies to other accessories (tail for an animal, etc.).
Only with the complete equipment the transformation is completely successful, so that the dressed up person can comprehensively put himself into his temporary self and identify with him.
Carnival Costumes For Children And Parents
The selection of costumes for carnival is impressively diverse. There is almost nothing that does not exist. So at the end of the day, you (your child and you) can always decide for yourself what look you want to swing into.
In the following, we will primarily present popular carnival costumes for kids and adults. Maybe you will come across the ideal disguises for your taste.
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Which Carnival Costumes For Children Are Particularly Popular
During carnival, but also outside of carnival season, children like to put themselves in the shoes of people from everyday life – for example, a doctor or a nurse, a policeman or a firefighter.
All these “everyday heroes” are available as carnival costumes.
At least as nice – and often even nicer – children feel a very wild transformation into a hero character from stories, books and movies.
Flying superheroes who save huge cities from evil and magical fairies who turn evil to good in the end are charming role models for kids – and great costumes.
Carnival Costumes For Girls
Many little girls want nothing more than to be a gorgeous fairy princess saved by the handsome Prince Charming for once in their lives.
Fortunately, at carnival your child has the opportunity to fulfill this wish imaginatively.
Whether timeless classics like Cinderella, Snow White or Sleeping Beauty or more modern princesses like Tiana from “Kiss the Frog” or the ice queen Elsa – there are varied options for noble princess carnival costumes.
Fairies and witches from the fairy tale world are just as popular with girls when it comes to costume choice.
However, some girls yearn less for a princess existence than for a swashbuckling life of adventure in which daunting hurdles must be overcome by themselves, i.e. without the male savior.
Strong girls and women like Bibi Blocksberg, Xena or a wild pirate know how to inspire and are also available as carnival costumes.
Here again an overview of potential carnival costumes for girls:
- Cinderella
- Snow White
- Sleeping Beauty
- Tiana
- Ice queen Elsa
- Bibi Blocksberg
- Xena
- Pirate
Carnival Costumes For Boys
When it comes to costumes for boys, you can also distinguish classics and modern characters.
Apart from everyday heroes such as policemen, firemen and soldiers, characters from times gone by – such as pirates, Indians and cowboys – are still among the highlights for carnival in our very progressive times.
Another classic hero, but taken from a story, is Robin Hood, who helps the poor. An incredibly cute costume for an ambitious fellow!
Superheroes of modern times, mostly featured in movies, include Batman and Spiderman, for example, who use their superpowers to save a city from evil.
Characters from the Star Wars movies are also very popular with boys. Darth Vader, for example, is often seen at carnival parties – for children and adults.
Here is an overview of possible costumes for boys at carnival:
- Policeman
- Fireman
- Soldier
- Pirate
- Indian
- Cowboy
- Robin Hood
- Batman
- Spiderman
Tip: Generally very popular – whether for girls or boys, for younger or older children – are animal costumes: cat, tiger, wolf, butterfly, bee, mouse and so on provide joy for every child.
And one more note: if your daughter would like to be Spiderman, just let her. Conversely, a boy may calmly represent a handsome prince, of course, it does not always have to be the tough or gloomy guys.
It’s best to give your offspring the chance to choose for themselves, if they are ready.
These Carnival Costumes Are Especially Popular For Parents
While adults who go to an adults-only carnival have the full choice, parents who celebrate carnival with their children should adapt to it.
Accordingly, it is advisable to choose a costume that is either relatively “neutral” (policeman or policewoman, fireman or woman, animal costume, doctor, etc.) or specifically coordinated with the children’s costume.
Parent-child Partner Look
Nothing can be said against the parent-child partner look, on the contrary, it is fully in trend, both in relation to the carnival and outside this period.
There are two variants to implement the partner look in carnival:
- You put on the exact same costume as your child (just a few sizes bigger)
- You put on a “related” costume (from the same fairy tale, book, movie etc.)
Here’s a little collection of ideas for creative parent-child partner looks at Mardi Gras:
- Hippie couple costume
- Roman couple costume
- Medieval queen couple costume
- Witch couple costume
- Penguin couple costume
- Bat couple costume
- Supermario and Luigi
- Ninja couple costume
- Flamenco dancer couple costume
- Strawberry couple costume
- Pineapple couple costume
- Lucky Luke and Dalton
- Star Wars couple costume (various combinations available)
- Musketeer family costumes (for child, mom and dad)
As you can see, the options are extremely diverse.
Buy Or Make Your Own Carnival Costumes
Basically, you can either buy or make your own carnival costumes for your kids and yourself. DIY is on everyone’s lips, so there are many tutorials available to you online for free.
Ready-made carnival costumes are available in specialized stores and often also in larger supermarkets or in stores whose assortment is mainly composed of decorative items.
On the other hand, various online stores are good addresses if you want to buy carnival costumes.
Buying a costume for carnival has advantages and disadvantages as well as a DIY solution.
Buying: Hints, Pros And Cons
If you decide to buy the carnival costumes, you must urgently consider some points.
Carnival clothes and other carnival items are generally not produced in a very high quality. Nevertheless, extensive costumes often already cost a lot of money.
Most carnival costumes, whether for children or adults, are largely made of polyester.
Although the synthetic fiber has its justification in sports thanks to its moisture-wicking properties, it should not play the main role in other areas, including costumes for carnival.
This is due to the fact that you start sweating pretty quickly, which logically reduces the wearing comfort significantly. Moreover, polyester is not the most skin-friendly fiber.
Tip: We recommend that you spend a little more money and buy clothes for carnival, which are largely made of cotton fabrics.
In addition, it should not contain any softeners or other harmful substances. These can cause allergic reactions (reddened, itchy skin) as well as endanger the overall health of the wearer of the respective carnival costume.
Therefore: Hands off such costumes! You should always leave strict or strong chemical smelling carnival costumes, so do not buy and certainly do not wear them.
Buy – Pro:
+ large selection+
little time required+
no effort required
Buy – Con:
– often made from fabrics that are hazardous to health and/or uncomfortable
How To Handle A Purchased Carnival Costume
Regardless of what materials the costume for the carnival is made of: so that it does not harm the sensitive skin of children, you should definitely wash it even before the first fitting.
Make It Yourself: Tips, Pros And Cons
There are two main points in favor of making your own carnival costume: the individuality and the possibility of using only sensible fabrics.
What’s also great is the fact that you’re sure to recognize your child well in the crowd, as he or she will clearly stand out from the majority of kids present.
Of course, DIY does come with an immense time commitment though – apart from that, sourcing the materials needed can also be quite costly.
In addition, you should expect that your child will nag you at first because he or she would have preferred a certain costume from the store.
Our tip for do-it-yourselfers: let your child choose the costume motif and adapt all the materials to it.
Depending on how big your little girl or boy is already, you can make the costume together with them. It’s guaranteed to be tons of fun.
DIY – Pros:
+ absolutely individual+
fabrics freely selectable (no health hazards)
+ possibly tinker with the child
Do-it-yourself – Con:
– high effort (sometimes also financially)
Tip: Weigh exactly which advantages and disadvantages weigh heavier for you to make a sensible decision. Of course, you should be as skilled as possible in sewing or crafting in general.
Otherwise, such a large project will probably overwhelm you at the start.
Why Dressing Up For Carnival Is More Than “just” Fun, Especially For Children
Carnival gives children the opportunity to make their wishes, dreams and fantasies come true.
As soon as they slip into their costume, they “really” become the princess or superhero they admire for a day. Great!
Such role-playing is important and good for kids of all ages. In their new “role,” the little ones try out personality traits. They learn more about how one might theoretically be.
This experimentation helps children develop and solidify their own, still naïve nature.
In this sense, dressing up at carnival also has educational value. The fact that it’s also huge fun is all the better.
In short, girls and boys benefit in every way from the hustle and bustle of this colorful, joyous celebration called Carnival.
Take the time to choose the right carnival costumes for your child and yourself. And then just get in on the fun!
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