Okay, my boys are sort of dress-up-a-holics.

Pretty much the second they wake up or walk into the house, they pull a Clark-Kent-to-Superman switch, stripping off their regular clothes and transforming into someone else. And if your boys are the same, I’m here to help!

Here’s what you can do with a pair of long underwear and half a yard of felt…

Basically, if you can get your hands on a pair of black (or grey) thermal long underwear, you’re well on your way. I got my boys’ ones at Target. I think Target carries them year-round for about $10 (on an end-cap in the boys underwear/belts section), and they have grey ones–perfect for armor–on sale right now for $7 (!!!) on their website, here.

Of course, just a pair of black underwear alone can be a pretty great costume–just add a utility belt and a few gadgets, and you have an instant spy…

…Or a jedi knight ready to wield his light saber! Just add a light saber and a belt (to clip the light saber onto).

And if you can cut a {reasonably} straight line, making these tunics is not much harder! Felt is fantastic because it cuts easily, doesn’t fray, and lasts ages.

I made simple tunics for all the boys who came to our eldest’s knight-theme birthday party last year. I just cut out simple shapes–a sword and an axe–and used Heat-n-Bond to attach them to the tunics. [you can get Heat-n-Bond cheap at any fabric shop, or even Walmart. It comes in cut-able sheets whose surface turns into glue, basically, when heated with an iron. You can also get thin rolls of it in about 1/2″ widths in the sewing/notions section.]

It’s nice to have my knights of the realm at the ready! If you don’t have or want to use a [real] brown belt, you can just make a simple brown felt belt–just stitch a bit of velcro to each end of it.

For an emblem on the knight tunic, you can do a simple detail (like the cross below), or get creative (above)! I just ironed Heat-n-Bond to a square of yellow felt, then drew & cut out this little cutie this fearsome beast for my youngest knight.

And you can even get inspiration from a favorite book! [Have you read The Squire and the Scroll? It’s a really good read, exemplifying godly character traits–one of my eldest son‘s favorites.]

And whether you’re hanging out with Little John & Maid Marion or off to NeverLand, this simple green tunic does the trick. And can I just say how well these wear? I made this one when my eight-and-a-half year-old had just turned four (and can you imagine the epic battles the knight tunics have been through??).

And since we’ve covered medieval & jedi knights, how about one more: the dark knight, Batman! I just added a yellow and black cut out detail, attached with Heat-n-Bond. Li’l Bro also has a $1 yard sale mask and a bat signal light-up belt (from Amazon, here).

Wheeeee! Don’t you just love playing dress up?! So fun!

Maybe a series of simple, cheap, DIY costume tutorials when we get closer to Halloween for more details on these and others? What say you?!