Baby Cowboy Costume

Our Baby Boy needed a cowboy outfit to wear to his birthday hoedown and a DIY Woody vest was the perfect addition. A baby cowboy costume is just too cute! I wanted to keep it simple and tasteful.  I already had a pair of jeans, a plaid shirt, and a cowboy hat in Baby Boy’s closet.  But his outfit needed a little something to make it extra special – he was the birthday boy after all!  So, I made him a vest out of cow-print fabric.  For more baby play ideas, check out our fun ideas!
Here are more of our party ideas to check out as well.

baby cowboy costume

I want everyone to know I am NOT a seamstress – by any means.  This cowboy vest was not perfect.  It had wobbly seams, and the fabric pieces did not perfectly line up….OK that’s not even the worst of it.
To be honest, the final vest was actually my second attempt at the project.  I may have accidentally sewn together the arm holes on the first vest.  Like I said, I’m no seamstress!
That being said, the final product still looked cute.  No one at the party was examining my sewing (as far as I know.)  And remember, I made this vest for a kid who still likes eating dirt – perfect seams are not one of his top priorities.
So here’s how I did it.

How to make a baby cowboy costume

The key to a baby cowboy costume is to use items that are comfortable like jean leggings, or jeans and a shirt that the baby is already used to wearing. Add a pair of baby sized cowboy boots or booties and you’re all set. The only thing to add is a cowboy hat and a cowboy vest.

I couldn’t find a free pattern for a vest, so I traced a suit vest that Baby Boy wore to a wedding.  I wanted to get the general shape of a vest, but I made my vest longer than the suit vest.
If you don’t have a vest in your kid’s closet, you could just trace a t-shirt and then cut it down the front to turn it into a vest.  Just trace it a couple inches wider than the shirt to give enough fabric to create the two extra seams in the front.
I gave myself a one inch margin around the vest when I was tracing.  This gave me enough space to sew the seams, and it helped to make sure I wasn’t making the vest too tight.
I then cut out each of the pieces of the vest.
I pinned down the material along the arm holes (of both the front and back panels) and sewed those seams first.  I tried to make the seams about a 1/2 inch.
I then did the same to the neck hole of the front and back panel.  The neck area was definitely the most difficult part.
Then, I pinned the front and back panels together while they were still inside out.  I sewed them together along the side and shoulder seam.
 I don’t know how a “real” sewer would do this, but I took the pins out as the machine got close to the pins because they were getting in my way.
The picture below shows the front panel attached to the back panel.  I then pinned down the front seams (also shown in this picture) and sewed those.
The last seam to be sewn was the bottom seam.
Take a look at the final baby cowboy costume project:
baby cowboy costume
Making this vest actually didn’t take me too long.  It would have taken even less time if I hadn’t accidentally sewn the arm holes together during my first go at it.
I think the moral of this blog is don’t be afraid to do some simple sewing.  Take a look at how something is sewn together, trace it, and try your best to put the pieces together.  If you’re making it for a child, they wont notice the imperfections.  Cute babies can work any outfit!

Sensory Room DIY Ball Pit

Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit

Using an inflatable pool as a sensory room DIY ball pit for sensory play is one of our favorite ball pit activities for toddlers and babies. In this blog post, we’ll cover why and how a baby pool sensory space is so much fun.

If you have little ones in the home, you know that baby toys can quickly take over the home. That’s where this baby play area in the living room comes in. We used a baby pool right in the living room for a kiddie pool ball pit. It was a fun way to create a baby play area without taking over the whole house. We could keep our ball pit balls contained (slightly).

Baby sitting in a baby pool in the living room, without water and the pool is full of ball pit balls. Text reads DIY sensory ball pit

Check out more baby play ideas here.

DIY Ball Pit

If you’ve ever wanted to set up a calm down corner or even a sensory room, then having an inexpensive way to create a calming ball pit is ideal. That’s where this Sensory room DIY ball pit comes in!

You could use this baby pool ball pit idea in the home, in a mobile therapy practice, in an occupational therapy clinic, or other space. For young children, a great calming tool that supports learning, social participation, and school tasks is a space to chill like a ball pit. 

A DIY ball pit using an inexpensive material like a baby pool can be a great sensory strategy to support emotional regulation needs in children. It’s a place to calm or re-organize.

 
Sometimes the easiest way to bring some fun into the day is to just switch things up! 
 
Bring something unexpected into play.
 
You should have heard the cheers and excitement when I pulled the baby pool up from the garage and into the living room! 
 
All you need is two items:
  • An inflatable baby pool 
  • Plastic ball pit balls

You could use a hard shell baby pool as well, but it’s nice to deflate the baby pool and put away the DIY ball pit occasionally!

 
Children playing in an inflatable baby pool filled with ball pit balls.
 
Everyone immediately climbed in.
 
Baby sitting on the floor in a DIY sensory ball pit and playing with a variety of balls
 
And out. 
 
Baby sitting in a blow up baby pool with plastic ball pit balls
 
And in…
 
Baby playing with plastic ball pit balls in a baby pool without water
 
It’s that easy to provide an instant boredom buster!
 
Toy balls in a DIY ball pit made from a blow up baby pool without water
 
Looking for more INDOOR play ideas? We love simple yet effective baby play activities designed to promote development, cognitive skills, learning, and baby brain building. 
 
 
 
Or check out any of the ideas under the Kid Play tab above!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Colleen Beck, OTR/L has been an occupational therapist since 2000, working in school-based, hand therapy, outpatient peds, EI, and SNF. Colleen created The OT Toolbox to inspire therapists, teachers, and parents with easy and fun tools to help children thrive. Read her story about going from an OT making $3/hour (after paying for kids’ childcare) to a full-time OT resource creator for millions of readers. Want to collaborate? Send an email to contact@theottoolbox.com.