Whether for pretend play or as a Halloween costume, $39.99 is way too much money to spend for a costume. Furthermore, the $39.99 Jedi costume available in stores is not very well made. Pieces are sewn together so that kids don’t have wearing options and the included accessories (belt) are very cheap rubber or plastic. Also, the price doesn’t include a lightsaber or Jedi hair braid. With a bit of planning ahead and some creativity, you can put together a far superior and more complete Jedi costume for about half the price of the cheesy store-bought one.

Here are the items we used for our son’s Jedi costume:

Young Obi-Wan with hood

• Women’s size medium brown gauze swim cover-up found at Target on clearance rack $4.48 (we cut it down the middle and used it as a hooded cape).
• Women’s size x -small brown leggings found at Target: $6.99
• Boy’s cream coloredlong-sleeved thermal top at Target: $8.99
• Woman’s natural tan hemp belt – From the closet
• Jedi braid – re-purposed from last year’s pirate costume.
• Lightsaber – Yard sale (the person just wanted to get rid of it and gave it to us for free), but Target has basic lighsabers for $7.89

So, for $20.46, we made a comfortable, interchangeable, durable Jedi costume that looks more realistic than the store-bought version. You may already have some of these items and can make this costume for even less money. Please share your ideas for creating this costume. We would also love to see pictures, so send us links to where you’ve posted them!