Sunday, October 16, 2011

Halloween, Part I

What better to bring me out of my blogging funk than my favorite holiday?  Halloween!

Let's review: I love making costumes. I love candy. I love cool, sunny days. I love pumpkins. I love making costumes. I force my kids to have coordinating costumes (at least two of them anyway).

E mocks me for spending time doing what Party City has already done. Yes, well. I prefer not buying poorly made scraps of polyester in favor of littering my house with poorly made scraps of fleece, felt, and hot glue. To each her own.

Well, I thought I'd go ahead and post my kids' costumes because they had an early party this year, which means that I had to get it together early this year, which means that if you're looking for an easy DIY costume, you can take these ideas and run with them. Because they are cheap, accessible, and easy.

Simon & Charlie wanted to be Mario and Luigi. Well, Charlie hasn't a clue who Luigi is. But he likes to do whatever Simon is doing, so it all works out well. These costumes were perfect and so easy.
1) Overalls. Overalls for a two-year-old are a cinch to find. For a six-year-old? Not so much. Beg on facebook until you find some.
2) Green shirt, red shirt. Plato's closet.
3) Mustashes: dollar store.
4) Hats. Found these on Amazon for a few of bucks each. (Plus, they're prime eligible).



5) Gloves. Amazon again.


6) White craft foam for the M & L circles.


Too much cuteness!






Simon wanted Ben to be Toad. 
Ben was thrilled.
He loves Halloween as much as I do.
In fact, every year he begs me to think of costume ideas for him. He especially loves it when my ideas include him wearing tights or being shirtless or wearing ridiculous things on his head.

So, when I made him this giant mushroom head, he could barely contain himself. I know your husband wants one too, so here you go: (adapted from here)

1) Buy 1/2 yard of white fleece. Fleece is stretchy, which works out perfectly here.
2) Double up the material and cut out a circle - so you end up with two large circles.
3) In one circle, cut another small circle in the middle so you have a doughnut. This is the head hole, but make it a a LOT smaller than the head you are fitting.
4) Put the two circles together and sew around the edge. Flip it inside out.
5) Tear apart a pillow and put the stuffing into your mushroom.
6) So that the stuffing doesn't fall out all over your husband's head (even though he is SO in the spirit of the holiday that he wouldn't even mind), take a piece of fabric (I used a cloth napkin) and lay it over the stuffing. You're too lazy to sew it, so just place it there and tell him to be careful.
7) Cut circles of red felt and hot glue them on.
8) Stick it on his head and tell him how much you love him.
9) Put pictures of him on facebook and then giggle with each comment that comes in.



Talya wanted to be My Little Pony. I have no idea why. But, since I liked My Little Pony when I was a little girl, she is more than allowed to like it today. After figuring out to dye and curl dollar store hair, I canned that idea. Too much work and kinda gross looking in the end.

I went with a ribbon headpiece which was cute.

She wouldn't let me take pictures, but if I can get some I'll post more about her costume because it was cute.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

oh my goodness - so sweet! I would make the Toad head, but my husband would have a FIT! Everyone here calls him Toad (instead of Todd!)

Mamastiks said...

Very cute. Last year Ava wanted to be the tooth fairy, so I made her costume (pics are somewhere on facebook). Made the skirt, stitched a felt tooth on a pink bodysuit, made a tooth purse, and dollar store crown). This year she wants to be a princess. $16.99 at Costco. :) Michaela wants to be Scoo-B-Doo. Found it on clearance at Target last year. So, I get a year off of costume creating. :) (Of course my absolute favorite was Michaela as Cindy Lou Hoo when she was not quite 1. I'll have to talk her into that next year.)

Unknown said...

if i didn't mock you for this, i'd find something else :) and you, in turn, would mock me about my addiction to McDonald's Monopoly (lost again today) and our friendship would continue. we are a match made in heaven.

Unknown said...

still waiting for Halloween Part II :)

kTb said...

I was linked your blog by Shannon Core and I have to tell you that we did the EXACT SAME costumes this past Halloween!
Very fun and even won us best family costume at our church!!
See our photos here:
http://bravinfamilyofsix.blogspot.com/2011/11/wii-had-fantasic-halloween.html

*praying for you and your family.

Anonymous said...

I love your blog and your family is adorable! My boys would go bananas for those Mario costumes...they are obsessed. I will def keep checking back in, and please swing by my music blog if you have a sec. Thanks!

Miss White said...

I'd really love an update on how you are doing. I know this must be an unbelievably hard time for you and your family, but just a few sentences. We all want to know how things are. Our prayers keep flowing.