When my Little read Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland for school, she loved the idea of a Mad as a Hatter Halloween costume. The one issue I had is all of the Mad Hatter costumes I found were just either really cheap looking, or a little bit too “spicy” for a young tween. I think for kids, Halloween costumes should be about fun and comfort. Plus, I wanted her to be able to go trick or treating and be able to add and subtract clothing layers if needed (it can get cold here in October)… We’ve had Halloweens that were a hot 85 degrees, and some that were almost a frozen 20 degrees. So, we made a fun costume inspired by the book Charlotte’s Web. I love T-shirt costumes, and It’s so easy to create costume ideas with T-shirts!
How to Dress Up as Mad as a Hatter for Halloween
With creating T-shirt costumes it’s more about creating a mood and and the idea of a costume. For something like the Mad as a Hatter you can go with a classic storybook character look. Our version took key ideas of the Mad Hatter from Lewis Carroll’s original work as shown in his illustrations… the large bow, the hat and mix and matched patterns. Really, the hat and bow are the key pieces (and don’t forget a little tag that says 10/6 in the brim of the hat.). For a more movie version, a fun red wig can be added and a vest or fitted suit jacket can be added or subtracted for the more steampunk Mad as a Hatter look.
Have you ever wondered what the 10/6 means on the actual Mad Hatter’s hat? It is a price tag! It’s the price of the hat meaning 10 shillings and 6 pence! And did you know that National Mad Hatter day is celebrated on October 6th? And if you’ve wondered what Mad as a Hatter means, it refers to a mercury poisoning they used to get when creating hats. It was definitely not a safe job in the 1800’s.
For this version of a Mad as a Hatter costume, we used a black t-shirt (comfort!), a cute, purple tulle skirt, and a fun hat attached to a headband, a mask, and even fun patterned socks (and regular sneakers for easy trick or treating!)!
To create the lapel/bow shapes (pattern below!) I grabbed some purple and bright pink felt and glue to dress up the black t-shirt. It was traced it onto large felt sheets, one smaller than the other, and we glued those together with felt glue. Over the top add two kind-of triangles were made to make the bow ribbons and then the circle. These can be increased or decreased in size depending on the size of the shirt.After gluing, let dry completely. The most complicated part was figuring out how to cut the felt so it kind of looked like a big bow.
The socks were so cute. Fun patterned pants can also we worn as well if its’ cooler out or for someone who doesn’t want to wear a skirt! We just had her wear her black and white sneakers with it. Priorities! You need to be comfortable to get all of that candy for Mama!
She was to go trick or treating in her fun and easy Mad as a Hatter costume! If you love storybook costumes, see how to make this costume inspired by Charlotte’s Web.
Mad as a Hatter Felt Lapel and Bow Template
To save the template below just save as an image and print out as a full page when it’s ready to be used.
