DIY Zeus Costume for Halloween

One of my favorite family costumes to date was Greek gods! Create this DIY Zeus costume for Halloween for kids or adults. It’s easy to make and easy to wear.

Henry went through a major Percy Jackson phase (highly recommend the illustrated version, BTW) and it inspired our whole family costume for Halloween! I loved this Greek god Halloween costume, and can’t recommend it enough.

With Henry as Zeus, Ryan as Poseidon, me as Athena, and Maggie as Cupid (yes, we know Cupid is Roman but it was more familiar to her than Eros, Cupid’s Greek counterpart), we had the best time putting together and wearing these costumes.

Psst — before you dive into the costume tutorials, be sure to sign up below for my VIP group so that I can send more of my very best Halloween ideas straight to ya.

More Halloween Costumes

We have a dedicated post for Maggie’s Cupid costume DIY and my Athena costume. Be sure to head over there for lots of detailed photos and the how-to.

If Greek gods aren’t your thing, try one of our other favorite group Halloween costumes!

• Wreck-It Ralph Costumes for Halloween
• Pinocchio Costume for Groups or Families
• Group Halloween Costume: In-N-Out Burger
• Star Wars Costumes for Halloween // Luke, Leia, Han, and Baby R2D2
• Family Peter Pan Costume for Halloween
• Where’s Waldo Costume for a Family Halloween

Make a Poseidon Costume

We spent the majority of the time and effort on the kids’ costumes, but there are a few details from the Poseidon and Athena costumes that were really easy to do and create a cool effect.

Materials for Poseidon Costume

• Plain headband
• Blue paper
• Seashells or paper cutouts of shells
• White t-shirt
• White sheet
• Blue fabric
• Gold pleather fabric
• Stick-on Velcro
• Glue gun
• Broom handle
• Cardboard
• Gold cardstock
• Gold body paint

1. Cut the blue paper into wave shapes and use the glue gun to glue it onto the headband. Then glue on additional seashells or paper seashell cutouts.
2. Cut a trident shape out of cardboard. Then cut small pieces of the gold cardstock and cover the trident with these. Glue the trident onto the end of your broom handle.
3. The base of the costume is a white t-shirt, with a white sheet tied or pinned around the waist.
4. Cut a piece of gold pleather fabric large enough to fit around the waist as a belt. Add velcro to both ends and affix around the waist.
5. Add a sash of blue fabric over one shoulder, affixing with a safety pin or hot glue to the shirt. Tuck this into the belt.
6. Wear the headband around the forehead, similar to a crown.
7. Paint some cool gold designs on Poseidon’s face with gold body paint.

Make an Athena Costume or a Cupid Costume

Our Athena costume is super simple! Head over to this post for the full tutorial, and find the tutorial for Cupid as well.

Supplies You’ll Need for a Zeus Costume

• Kids’ toga
• Gold pleather fabric
• Sheer gold fabric
• Plain headband
• Stick-on Velcro
• Glue gun
• Cardboard
• Gold cardstock
• Gold body paint
• Scissors
• Sandals or brown flip flops

How to Make a Zeus Costume for Halloween

1. We used this costume as a base and added lots of fun touches from the craft closet. Start by attaching a sash of sheer gold fabric to one shoulder of the toga (we found some cheap fabric at a thrift store).
2. Cut out geometric pieces of gold cardstock and glue them onto the headband to be worn as a crown. This can be worn in front, across the forehead, or behind the head, like Henry is doing here.
3. Cut a piece of the gold pleather to be used as a belt. Add velcro on either end. Cut more pieces of gold pleather to hang from the belt and create a shield. These can be any shape you like. Glue them onto the back of the belt.
4. If you like, create another layer of larger hanging pieces and glue pieces of gold cardstock to these to add some texture. Glue these onto the back of the belt, behind the other hanging pieces.
5. Cut pieces of gold pleather to create wrist cuffs; add velcro to the ends of these to attach around the wrists. If desired, add more of the geometrick gold cardstock pieces to the fronts of the cuffs.

How to Make Zeus’ Thunderbolt

The thunderbolt makes the outfit!

1. Cut a large lightning bolt shape out of cardstock. If desired, cover the edges with gold washi tape.
2. Cut geometrically-shaped pieces of gold cardstock and use the glue gun to cover both sides of the thunderbolt with the pieces.
3. Use scissors to trim around the edges and clean up the shape of the thunderbolt.

Greek Gods Family Costume

Be sure to check out this post for more details on our Greek gods family costume. Have fun! xoxo

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