Super easy DIY elf fairy costume for Halloween or cosplay
Our luscious garden had the perfect materials for this year’s elf fairy costume. And I’m not going to lie I had the hardest time naming this costume. It is also a woodland elf costume, fairy elf costume, woodland fairy costume, or forest elf costume. You be the judge! What do you think it should be called? It’s fantasy and can go either way.
This costume is made from twigs, leaves, moss, and pretty makeup. Usually, our daughter likes being a villain or something a bit scary like her DIY Maleficent costume (more ideas below). So this was a nice change to see and fun to come up with.
I first had this idea when I saw how big our elephant ears had gotten over the summer because we all look like elves and fairies next to them.
Elf fairy costume tutorial
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It’s such a simple costume and I wanted to do so much more but you have no idea how much actually went wrong along the way. First off the weather has been terrible all year and even though we’ve been thinking about doing this since we got back from Germany, the fact that there have been continuous downpours hasn’t helped to get this blog post finished.
Since this is a Halloween costume, you can and should of course let your imagination take this costume to whatever you want it to be. That’s the fun part of dressing up. I just thought it was also interesting to address the history behind the stories about elves and fairies. Since I’m from Germany (born and raised), I especially find Germanic folklore interesting and forest elves often appear in those stories. They also appear in Norse and old English folklore.
What’s the difference between forest elves and fairies?
Both fairies and elves are supernatural beings as part of old folklore, mythology, and fictional stories. They both have many similarities which make them easily confused with each other. While both forest elves and fairies live in harmony with nature and the natural world, I wanted to point out their unique features and differences according to those fictional stories.
- Elves are both female and male and supposedly live in forests which is why a lot of people call them forest elves. They have pointed ears and feet. Forest elves are believed to be normal-sized or small in stature. Forest elves supposedly are amazing carpenters and masters in the crafting of bows and arrows.
Famous elves from popular stories/movies are - Fairies on the other hand are mostly believed to be females and live anywhere outdoors even water. Fairies do not have pointed ears and feet but have big wings attached to their back that help them fly. They have tiny bodies like insects. Fairies don’t carry weapons.
Famous fairies from popular stories/movies are
(However, I have seen stories where fairies have pointed ears too.)
Materials used for this elf fairy costume
- green or skin-colored cami dress (children or adults), skin-colored camisole leotard (children or adults), or for colder weather a long skin-colored bodysuit/leotard (children or adults) – we had the tan/skin-colored leotard and I didn’t want to buy more things but I think a green one would look even better and it would certainly look awesome with a renaissance outfit as well
- leaf branches in different colors and sizes from any yard
- flat elastic string cord
- belt (similar belt to ours)
- preserved moss
- gold floral wire
- elf ears or elf ear tips (we bought the tips)
- fairy wings (optional) – we chose not to get them
- wig (optional if you want long hair like my daughter) – I have this wig and wore it for this costume. Or this wig is great too.
- a variety of makeup and this is what I used
- primer
- pale foundation ( we used the color fair)
- a variety of green eye shadow (I love this color for example, one of ours was Zodia from Urban Decay but it’s not available anymore – this eyeshadow palette would be great too)
- green liquid eyeliner (we used ink metallic eyeliner by Maybelline but it’s not available anymore. This eyeliner in Ghosted Green or Cyan Simp might work great instead. Or I’m loving this green multichrome metallic liquid eyeliner)
- gold glitter liner
- black eyeliner
- cream eye shadow
- black mascara (my favorite mascara)
- eyebrow pen
- glitter lip gloss
Step-by-step simple elf fairy costume instructions
I had taken photos along the way about how we made the crown and skirt and they all got deleted accidentally. So this is my best attempt at explaining to you how we made this super simple costume.
The crown or headpiece
For the elf fairy crown, I cut down fresh thin branches and removed the foliage. The Key is that they are fresh and bendable. If they are dried then they break way too easily.
We lost the photos for these steps, but when you look at the photo below, you can see exactly what we did. My daughter pretty much made the crown herself.
All you need to do is take the twigs and form them into a crown while wrapping them with the gold crafting twine. We added some small plants and moss. You can go all out and add gemstones or more plants and twigs and even fake butterflies or other insects.
The outfit
The leaf skirt for the forest/woodland elf was so easy that I’m almost embarrassed to say what we did. I knotted a flat elastic cord around her waist and literally just hung branches on it the way it is pictured below. I had her wearing the band and just kept going all the way around her waist with different colored leaved branches until the skirt was full.
After that, I used a belt that I tied over the branch ends. If you don’t have one like mine, any belt would do, or even a pretty scarf. And you can just tuck some more leaves into it afterward and use some more wires to help them stay attached.
I originally wanted to use bark for her costume somewhere which I had collected in abundance but she was so frustrated with her tight shirt that I skipped that idea. Remember she grew up with sensory issues (you can catch up on her journey HERE) and tight clothing still bothers her sometimes although things have gotten much much better.
The elf fairy make-up
Here is my video about how I applied the makeup that you can see in the below photos. It’s not difficult at all. If it doesn’t load then you can watch it on my YouTube channel instead.
And now we are ready to share a ton of photos with you which is always our favorite part. She was complaining along the way through. I’m not going to lie 🙂
You can use glue for the ears but we chose not to because it worked well without and we didn’t want to risk getting her hair stuck in glue.
Fancy eyelashes would look great for adults. I love these eyelashes just as an idea. The glittered ends are like pixie dust.
Another idea is to include more hair accessories like these clip-in dreads or clip-in natural feathers.
As I mentioned earlier this makeup would look great with a renaissance outfit too like Arwen Undómiel in Lord of the Rings. For example, I love this green long-sleeved dress or this green hooded long-sleeve dress.
Photos of the finished costume
As I mentioned above, I would have liked to have a green top which we didn’t have and I didn’t want to buy anything else so I think the tan works great too.
And it was freezing that day for the first time. Go figure!!! It’s been ridiculously hot nonstop but when we have time to do this it ends up being wet and cold.
More Halloween Costume Ideas
- As I mentioned earlier, our daughter likes being a villain and this easy Queen of Hearts costume DIY using duct tape was a fun and easy way to make this costume.
- Dressing up in a dark angel costume was another way to look like a mysterious villain and left some freedom to be creative and put our own spin on it.
- I’m a big fan of apocalyptic shows and movies and wanted to come up with my own version of a apocalypse costume. It was so fun to put together.
- If you love easy face paint instead of make-up, then you have to check out this easy DIY sugar skull costume. You only need some really basic supplies and cheap face paint.
- My daughter loves wearing fun wigs and we found a really cool white wig for her sad DIY clown costume. She won her school contest with this costume.
- My daughter loved her zombie soccer player costume. It is such an easy costume to put together.
- If you don’t like doing Halloween make-up, check out my tutorial on how to make a scarecrow mask with burlap.
- Also check out my 4 easy sensory-friendly Halloween costumes for kids that are struggling with itchy clothes while dressing for Halloween
And I’m really really curious as to what and if you are dressing up or what your kids are dressing up as. Please do tell.
Tschüß,
this is super cute! it reminds me of the elf costumes emmy and i did together last year- they were my favorites!
Yes it is definitely similar.
So creative! You are both so beautiful and smart. I hope she knows what a great mom she has.
Thanks June, she was actually rather annoyed with me and my photoshoot 😉
Wow! Amazing costume and what a beautiful young lady! Well done!!
Thank you so much Susan
You are so creative:) The costume is great and your daughter is beautiful, just like her mom.
Thank you for the kind compliment Debby
Lovely costume and absolutely gorgeous model! And yep, she is at the age where mom is annoying. Go figure…
Ugh I know! I’m annoying and my blog is annoying but at the end she enjoys having the photos and I told her I’d make her a photobook with all her costume photos over the year. So she is happy in the end.
And thank you.
She looks so grown up in these photos! And she should be modeling, she’s beautiful! Maybe because I’ve been following you since she was much younger, these photos with the makeup make her look like she’s 17.
What a great idea and most of the costume is biodegradable, lol!
Oh my word, this is amazing. How creative
Your daughter is BEAUTIFUL ! Hope Dad has the shotgun ready !
I soooo enjoy your site.
What a great costume. You did such a good job.
Marilyn
What a creative costume and beautiful young lady. She really looks like she’s from another world, a fairy world. It’s been so interesting to see her Halloween costumes over the years.
Julia, you are a true artist! Your creativity amazes me! You really should be famous! The costume is so over the top great I don’t even know what to say. Your daughter is into character too which helps pull the whole thing off! Good job! Great Job! She is so beautiful too!
Amazing job as usual–and your backyard is SO PERFECT for this costume!
thanks Gretchen