After our son’s space-themed first birthday, I wanted to create a coordinated family Halloween costume inspired by rockets and planets. This colorful space family costume works perfectly for a family of three, but you can expand it by adding a sun, moon, or star for extra family members. Each costume is simple to make, looks great individually, and pairs well as a group or couples costume.
Below are straightforward, kid-friendly tutorials for an astronaut, a rocket ship, and a solar system costume. The supplies are easy to find and the steps rely mostly on hot glue and basic craft tools, so you can complete everything in an afternoon.
How To Make An Astronaut Costume
The child astronaut costume uses a simple sweatsuit embellished with patches and a soda-bottle backpack to mimic rocket thrusters. It’s comfortable, lightweight, and perfect for trick-or-treating.
Materials for the astronaut:
- Sweatsuit (any color you prefer)
- Space patches or embroidered patches to personalize the suit
- Two plastic soda or drink bottles (24 oz for small children; 2L for older kids)
- Orange and yellow felt for flame details
- Elastic (about 1/2″ width) to form straps
- Silver paint and a paintbrush for the bottles
- Scissors and a hot glue gun
- Clean the bottles and remove labels and caps.
- Paint the bottles silver, applying 2–3 coats and letting each coat dry completely.
- Cut two flame shapes from orange felt and two smaller flames from yellow felt.
- Glue the yellow flames onto the orange flames, then roll the base so they fit inside the bottle necks and glue them in place.
- Cut two elastic straps long enough to go around the child’s shoulders and under their arms.
- Glue the two bottles together along their sides, then glue each elastic strap to a bottle, forming loops that sit like backpack straps.
- Attach patches to the sweatsuit by following package instructions for ironing or using hot glue for a permanent hold.
Make a Planet Candy Bucket
Turn a typical pumpkin candy bucket into a planet by adding a painted foam wreath to simulate a ring. It’s a quick, kid-safe prop that completes the astronaut look.
- Plastic pumpkin candy bucket
- Smoothfoam wreath sized to fit over the bucket (trim the inside slightly if needed)
- Two colors of non-toxic paint
- Hot glue gun
- Paint the pumpkin bucket one color and the foam wreath a contrasting color. Allow to dry fully.
- Slip the wreath over the bucket and secure with a few dots of hot glue so it won’t shift while carried.
How To Make A Rocket Ship & Solar System Costume
For adult costumes, a few craft foam pieces transform a simple dress into a rocket ship and a plain tee into a colorful solar system. Both are lightweight, wearable, and easy to customize with color choices to match your family theme.
Materials for the rocket ship:
- Silver, white, or colored dress
- Craft foam in multiple colors for rocket details
- Shoe clips or glue to attach foam flames to shoes
- Scissors and hot glue
Materials for the solar system:
- Blue t-shirt
- Smoothfoam half-spheres or full spheres you can halve (various sizes to represent planets)
- Mini smoothfoam wreath for Saturn’s ring
- Paint in a variety of colors and paintbrush
- Wax paper to protect the shirt while gluing and a hot glue gun
- For the rocket: use two circular household objects (like bowls) of slightly different sizes to trace and cut foam circles. Cut three larger circles from one color and three smaller circles from another.
- Cut two fin shapes from a third foam color. Layer and glue the smaller circles onto the larger ones, then attach the layered circles to the front of the dress and secure fins at the side seams.
- Cut flame shapes from orange and yellow foam, layer them, and attach to shoe clips or glue directly to shoes so they can be removed later.
- For the solar system: if you have full spheres, carefully cut them in half and slice the mini wreath in half to use as rings.
- Arrange the planets on the shirt to decide placement; photograph the layout to remember it.
- Paint all halves and the wreath in vibrant colors and allow to dry completely.
- Place wax paper inside the shirt to protect the layers, then hot glue each planet and the ring to the shirt in your chosen layout.
More Family Costume Ideas
- DIY Mickey + Minnie Mouse family costume
- DIY bubble bath family costume
- DIY school supplies family costume
- DIY family weather costume
- DIY family Cinderella costume
- DIY mommy & me pasta costume
Photos by Jeff Mindell