Our Family’s DIY Harry Potter Costume

Last year, we decided to do a DIY Harry Potter Costume for the family that was so fun and so easy to put together with a few store bought items, things we had at home, and a few easy sewing projects. Here’s the how-to on doing a Harry Potter family costume yourself!

These family DIY Harry Potter costumes for Halloween are really easy to put together. They’re a little more clever than your standard Harry Potter costumes.

Our Harry Potter family costume this year for Halloween

Right now I’m reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban to my boys. We’re a little more than halfway through and loving it, so it was no surprise when B requested to be Harry Potter for Halloween. So we ran with the idea and did DIY Harry Potter costumes for the whole family.

Harry Potter is a little overdone for Halloween, so we went a little out of the box

The thing is, so many people do Harry Potter for Halloween, and I felt like it was overdone. But in an effort to not dash B’s dreams, I had the idea to do characters just from the third book.

We ended up doing Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy, Hedwig, Professor Trelawney, and a Dementor.

A castle house in a neighboring city makes for a perfect “Hogwarts” backdrop

About a week before our church’s Trunk or Treat, I mentioned to Philip how awesome it would be to take these pictures in front of a castle, like Hogwarts. He immediately reminded me of a few homes in a neighboring city that had very large custom homes, several of which were built with stone and turrets.

I did a couple of scouting drives through the area and discovered this big beautiful home tucked back from the road with an empty lot next to it. Next to the lot was an old road with a perfect view of the side of this house. It was meant to be.

It makes the perfect “Hogwarts castle” backdrop for our photos!

Our DIY Harry Potter Costumes are a combination of store bought, pieced together, and DIY.

Easy Harry Potter Dementor costume

Philip’s costume is the one we completely purchased. I planned to use an old Halloween costume cloak we already had and cut it up, but I ran out of time. This DEMENTOR COSTUME FROM AMAZON is under $25 and looks amazing (also so creepy).

The reviews said the mask came smashed and the rib cage didn’t attach. For us, the mask was folded, but it ended up being fine. And the rib cage doesn’t attach, so we just safety pinned it to the sides of the cloak and it worked perfectly.

Philip wore his RUNNING TIGHTS underneath, and DARK GRAY SNEAKERS.

A simple DIY Professor Trelawney Costume from Harry Potter

This was a fun one to put together. The base of the costume is this awesome KAFTAN FROM AMAZON, paired it with a GIANT BEADED NECKLACE and a few other necklaces and bracelets I already own.

A scrap of fabric makes a the perfect head wrap, and then THESE GLASSES (we used the tie for the Draco Malfoy costume) and THIS CRYSTAL BALL complete the look.

Underneath, because it was cold, I wore a tan THERMAL TOP, OLIVE JEANS, and LACE UP HIKER BOOTS.

Oh, and we can’t forget about the hair! This WAVER TOOL creates nice big waves, and then a little brushing and teasing helps it get frizzy and huge.

DIY Harry Potter Costume

Ok, so this was more like pieced together than actual DIY. That’s kind of how we’re rolling these days, especially when you have Amazon prime.

THIS CLOAK and glasses set is an easy base, and don’t forget the HARRY POTTER WAND.  THIS SCARF from Amazon is actually really good quality and works for kids or adults. A WHITE POLO SHIRT, BLACK JEANS, and a tie we already owned are perfect underneath the robes. And then this WATERPROOF WUNDERBROW to draw on the lightening bolt scar helped it last all night long with no smudges.

This Harry Potter costume is so easy to piece together!

DIY Draco Malfoy Costume

Draco’s costume is really simple with THIS CLOAK from Amazon, a GREEN TIE, and of course, the ELDER WAND (although my kids have no idea why he ends up with the Elder Wand…shhhhh!)

You can buy a Slytherin scarf, but since Malfoy never wears one in the movies (that I can remember), and I wanted Harry’s scarf to stand out, so a simple GRAY SWEATER with a WHITE POLO underneath, and BLACK JEANS are perfect.

Since Malfoy has his hair slicked back in the first movie, and that makes him a little more recognizable, THIS HAIR GEL is our favorite for slicking your hair back.

Easy DIY Hedwig Costume

This was the only costume I actually truly DIY’d. I’ll share a full tutorial another time, but basically you make a tunic out of felt and then cut a million white feathers out of felt and sew them on in layers. Then same thing for the wings, and add elastic loops on the wrists so the wings can open.

Underneath are a WHITE LONG SLEEVE TEE and GRAY LEGGINGS (from the girls section). And for his mask, it’s just more cut out felt feathers and a felt beak hot glued onto round glasses.

It’s a little time consuming, but so easy and turned out so cute!

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