Don't worry: there are plenty of easy-to-make Nativity costumes you can create at home, whether your child is playing a King/Wise Man, a Shepherd, an Angel, Mary or Joseph. Of course, the role of the Three Kings/Three Wise Men in the Nativity is to bring presents for the baby Jesus, so your little King or Wise Man will need a present too! The example in the picture is made from shiny gold fabric, but velvet or a different coloured material like red or blue would work well too. If you don't want to buy a new piece of fabric, then you could use fabric from old bed linen, curtains or find some in a charity shop. First thing's first: equipment! Get yourself organised with everything you'll need in our handy list below. That way, you won't be scrambling around the house halfway through making the costume or realise you need to go to the shop! You will need:

King for Nativity - Etsy UK

Cut around the semi-circle so that your child has a hole to put their head through. If you like, you could stop here with the tabard, but if you want to make it neater and more decorated then follow the next steps. A metre of fabric for the cape – in a colour of your choice, whether it's red, blue, green, gold, or whatever your child prefers (unless you've been given instructions from the school) First, you'll need to make a tabard or tunic as the main piece of clothing that your child will wear. Of course, a King wouldn't be a King without their crown! You can make a crown really easily from some gold card. Here's how: To secure the tabard, have your child put it over their head and then take either a length of leftover fabric, a ribbon, some rope or even a dressing-gown belt to tie it around their waist. Voila! You have your tabard.

You'll need about a metre and a half of fabric for the tabard, but you can always use more or less depending on your child's size. Lie your card flat and draw the outline of the crown with some pencil; you can just do simple triangle cutouts. The example in the picture is purple, but you can use any colour fabric you like (unless the school has given you specific instructions). Red, blue, green or gold will also work well for a King or Wise Man. Christmas is the time for celebrations galore, and a common tradition for primary schools is to put on a Christmas Nativity play. While it's lots of fun (and very cute) seeing the kids perform, making your child's Nativity costume yourself might feel like a daunting task!

Nativity King Costume - Etsy UK

To neaten up the tabard, you can hem the edges. You can do this with a sewing machine if you have one, but for a no-sew option use some Wonderweb (also called Wundaweb). Place the Wonderweb on the inside of the fabric, a couple of inches up from the edge. Then, fold the rough edge of the fabric so that it covers the Wonderweb. You can then place a damp cloth on top and run a hot iron along the hem to bond the Wonderweb in place. Fold about 4cm of fabric over along the top, and use more iron-on Wonderweb tape to form a hem. Make sure you leave enough of a gap above the hem to thread through the ribbon. As with the tabard, if you want to decorate your cape any further, you can add accessories like tinsel, ribbon, or some festive gold and silver stars.Handily, if you don't have access to sewing equipment (or you just don't fancy getting out a needle and thread), this DIY King/Wise Man costume is totally no-sew! If your child is playing one of the Three Kings or Three Wise Men, they'll probably be excited to be playing such an important role! And they'll need a fabulous costume for their big day. Read on for our how-to guide. For the present, you can simply wrap an empty cardboard box in foil or brightly coloured wrapping paper and tie a colourful ribbon around it.