Halloween Costumes For Pregnant Women

At Halloween two years ago, when I was 8.5 months pregnant with our daughter, my husband begged to paint my belly like a pumpkin. My response was along the lines of a less polite, “Get away from me and my fat self.” Well, number three is on his way, due in December, and I still feel fat. Nonetheless, it’s time to succumb to creativity and have some fun. I mean, how long do pictures really stay on the internet, anyway?

You need to know I am not crafty. But to quote allParenting writer Angela Amman, "I walk into Michael's and 15 minutes later am convinced I am crafty." Yep. Pretty much.

After scouring the internet and Pinterest for preggo Halloween costume ideas, I focused on criteria important to me: 

Look cute.

Do as little work as possible.

Squash my husband's strange need to paint my belly.

Painting mah belly

I was panicked this was going to be a big ol' disaster. I'd traipsed up and down the aisles of Michael's, collecting all kinds of face paint, paint brushes and sponges. I'd done my homework. My husband had put zero thought into what he really wanted to paint, so I just bought every color under the rainbow.

Feeling over-prepared and overly nervous, I squeezed myself into a sports bra that knew my parts when they weren't preggo and a pair of maternity yoga pants that hit under my belly — decidedly the only option since I am on pregnancy number three and fully understand the need for stretchy fabric that spreads over my tummy to keep pants from rolling to my ankles like slinkies retracting. I also prayed any impromptu house visitors would fall into a ditch.

Turns out, my husband wanted the world. Well, to paint it, anyway.

We used the following:

Blue face paint (non-toxic, of course)

Green face paint

Black face paint

Two types of paint brushes: a wider one to cover "vast expanses," as my husband so eloquently described my abdomen, and a finer one for detail work.

Patience and a neck pillow

While our already-outside-my-body children miraculously napped, I reclined uncomfortably on my husband's bench-press thingie, allowing him the right angle to cover… well, the vast expanses. Working from a Googled image of the earth, he first outlined the continents with black, then we teamed up to paint the blue oceans first, then the green continents. Both required two solid coats of paint, so picture me still reclined with an industrial sized fan chilling me to the bone. "Just a little longer," he said, 14 times.

The result came out better than I expected (sorry, honey!). I went for a dressed up Mother Earth look, which was a great excuse to wear the most comfortable black jersey maternity skirt from the Gap, an earth-colored maternity top from Old Navy and my cutest espadrille wedges.

Focus on simple

With the painting project complete, I moved on to easy, less invasive costumes intended to show off my bump without making me feel like a bump on a log.

^Daisy sans dukes

I think I love this one most because it's cute and comfortable.

You'll need:

A yellow T-shirt (the ruched maternity type hugs the belly best)

2 pieces of white foam paper

Scissors

Gorilla Tape

Directions:

Cut strips of both horizontal and vertical length from two pieces of thin foam paper.

Then cut each of those exactly in half and taper the edges to become petals of various lengths.

Gorilla Tape may be the best invention on earth, because it's all I used to secure the petals in a circle on a yellow T-shirt.

Add some farm girl braids, and voila! Pitchfork not included.

^Lady bug bump

This costume has cute all over it and is even easier than the daisy because it takes less time.

You'll need:

1 (8.5 x 11-inch) piece of black felt (you can use the kind with adhesive on one side or just use more Gorilla tape)

1 (8.5 x 11-inch) piece of red felt (adhesive backed or use tape)

2 googly eyes

6 black pipe cleaners or chenille-covered wire

A coffee mug, a shot glass and a pair of scissors

NOTE^Part of the charm of this project is that you get to sit at the table with a shot glass in front of you and hope someone walks in, just for fun.

Directions:

Round the edges of the red felt so it becomes an oval.

Use the bottom of the shot glass to trace and cut out four small circles from the black felt.

Use the wider mouth of the shot glass to trace and cut out two larger circles from the black felt.

Use the mouth of the coffee mug to trace and cut out a larger circle of black felt.

Arrange as pictured, securing with adhesive-backed felt or tape.

More creative bump ideas

Spider: Take a black maternity T-shirt and tape two googly eyes at the top of your belly and eight chenille-covered wires or black pipe cleaners, four on each side of your belly.

Eight ball: Use white felt and black fabric paint. Cut out a white circle about 6 x 6 inches and affix to a black maternity T-shirt over the belly. Use the fabric paint to paint a number eight in the middle. Let dry.

Pumpkin: Use black felt to cut out jack-o'-lantern features to affix to an orange maternity T-shirt.

These costumes are especially wonderful because nothing is permanent. Using adhesive like Gorilla Tape, you can be whatever you want for that nanosecond of your pregnancy that falls on Halloween. Just hope you don't fail your glucose test right before the big day!