This DIY Baby Parrot Costume is easy with FREE pattern templates. On a budget? This can be made for less than $15 using a hoodie and felt!

It’s an easy DIY project for any craft skill level and perfect for Halloween or themed birthday party!

My oldest son is pirate crazy. This kid gets up every morning and immediately asks for his “Yo ho” boots (pirate rain boots). He carries around his pirate sword more often than not, and every paper towel roll from the last 3 months is now in his possession as a “spyglass.”

With that in mind, it wasn’t very difficult to decide on his Halloween costume this year. I just so happen to be one of those dorky, I mean, creative moms who likes to dress in a family theme.

This is my first year as a SAHM, so I needed to do Halloween on a budget. I didn’t like how dark and gloomy most of the pirate costumes available at the store were so the only solution was to make my own.

I also didn’t like the idea of my 6 month old being a pirate, so I decided he needed to be a parrot! What’s a pirate without a trusty parrot, right?

While I could pretty much repurpose things we have, along with some fabric to transform mom, dad, and toddler into pirates, a baby parrot costume was not going to be as simple, but I was up for the challenge. Anything for a great photo opp!

Actually, this DIY project was much easier than I anticipated because I took a major shortcut by using a red hooded jacket!

What You’ll Need to Make a Baby Parrot Costume:

• Red hoodie in your child’s size
• Craft felt in a variety of colors
• Pellon fabric
• FREE pattern pieces for feathers and head [below]

And all you need other than the hoodie is craft felt, and sturdy pellon fabric. In all, this costume cost me less than $12 to make – which is WAY less than other costumes I found and I think it’s even cuter than those too!

How to make your own baby parrot costume

On paper I sketched out a general pattern for a tail feather and wings, taking into consideration the size of my red hoodie, and cut them out to use as a tracing template. Lucky for you, I’ve already done the work! Keep scrolling for the FREE templates.

For the tail, I used the exact same pattern 5 times, as I thought 3 feathers wide would look good. For the wings, however; I cut 5 different templates, one for each color, with each one increasing in width by one feather.

I won’t lie, making this baby parrot costume was a little time consuming, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and I didn’t have any extra felt for mistakes.

I saved some time by cutting both pieces of the same color felt at once so I would have the mirrored wing for the opposite side.

If you are a little more talented, brave, or crunched for time because you have children hanging onto your legs or destroying your house, by all means, just sketch directly on the felt, save some time, and hope for the best!

I started with my bottom color first (for me, blue) and hot glued that to the pellon fabric. I chose to use this as a base because that fabric is like a really thick piece of felt and would help to hold structure better.

You can find this type of fabric in your craft store, but save yourself some time from searching stores and order from Amazon.

Then I moved the next color up just slightly, so you could see a bit of each “feather,” and secured with hot glue. After I glued each color, I trimmed away the pellon fabric so you couldn’t see the white. I did the exact same thing with each of the wings.

Then I centered the tail, just above the bottom of the hoodie, and attached with more hot glue. I truly believe that hot glue is one of the best inventions on Earth! After that, I glued the wings to the back of the sleeves.

For the eyes and beak, I just sketched and cut what I thought would look good. I cut 2 pieces for the beak and sewed them together, leaving the big end open. I just hand stitched them. I am no seamstress. Felt and buttons are the only things I can sew decently, so if I can do it, anyone can!

Then I turned the beak inside out to hide the stitches and stuffed with cotton balls. You could always use fabric batting too.

I glued the big end closed with hot glue and then glued it to the hood, along with the eyes. The eyes are simply white and black felt circles glued together.

I completed the look with some orange baby leg warmers that I already had. You could certainly use orange or yellow tights too!

Voila! An adorable baby parrot costume that you can DIY for less than $15!

Download the Free Baby Parrot Costume DIY Templates Here:

• Parrot Head Template
• Parrot Wing Template
• Parrot Tail Template