Costumes of Halloween Past

 I know Halloween is over, but I wanted to get these costumes documented for future reference. Last year's costumes were some of my favorites. For a Halloween party, I got a great idea for a Raven costume from Martha Stewart. I don't think the host of the party liked me too much when I left though, cause I left feathers all over his house! Oops!You can find the Raven here. For Trick-or-Treat with the kids, I got a fun family costume idea from Parents magazine. My baby was a hot dog and I was a hot dog vendor. My older son had asked to be french fries (his favorite food) so it worked out perfect. To complete the look, I had my mom ( such a good sport) dress as a fountain pop. No way in the world,  would my husband have walked around the neighborhood in this get-up! You can find the hot dog and vendor here. To make the fry costume, I used an old diaper box, cut out holes for the arms and head, and decorated it with poster board. I used  yellow fleece and stuffing to make the fries.  My mom's costume was a felt tunic that was pinned together (too lazy to sew) and a paper plate covered with wax paper. The straw was made out of a paper towel roll.  I attached a headband to her headpiece.

  When Aiden was 3, he was totally obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. He wanted to be Muno, a big red cyclopes. But at the time, the show wasn't really popular yet, so there were not many Gabba costumes around. I did see a DJ Lance, Foofa, and Brobee costume, but no Muno. I found some red fleece and just traced a pair of pjs onto it. I had to sew the costume by hand because it was before I had a sewing machine.t When Aiden saw the costume, it was worth all the work. I used fabric glue to attach the red pompoms. When sewing the huge eyeball to the headpiece, I added some stuffing to give it more dimension.

  One of my favorite classic horror movies is The Birds . I saw a costume on Roseanne many years ago, where Darlene was dressed up as the main character from the movie. So I got an idea to make a costume like that in 2007. I searched high and low to find fake birds, but for some reason I had a hard time finding a lot in the same color. So I decided to use all different types of birds. I found some with clips attached, and they stuck perfectly to my nylons. It looked like the birds were attacking my leg. I used a huge crow for the top of my head. I had to end up sewing it, because the hot glue was not strong enough. I wasn't able to find an outfit exactly like Tippi's from the movie, but I did find something appropriate at the thrift store.If you look closely, you will see I added some birds to my shoe. The year after, I saw that Party City was selling a Birds costume, but I thought mine was more fun. :)







 



My husband makes a great Nosferatu!



Halloween 2011

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love to dress up. Whenever I ask my 5 year son what he wants to be for Halloween, he always picks something that can't be found in a store. I love this because it gives me another chance to make something. My favorite part of it all,  is trying to figure out what materials I will use. This year Aiden wanted to be Fantastic Mr. Fox. It is such a cool movie. My husband and I love Wes Anderson movies. Hardly anybody knew what the costume was, but he loved it. He got mistaken for a werewolf, a lion, and a bear. I think his ears could have been more pointy. 

Last Minute Leaf Mask

  Since I wasn't able to attend a Halloween party this year, I had not made myself a costume. But on the morning of Halloween, I felt sad to not be dressing up with the kids. Aiden had asked me to be a "Bug girl", but it was too late for me to run to the store. I searched for quick ideas online and found a leaf mask from Martha. I downloaded a mask template,  and traced it on to some construction paper.  The leaves were from my backyard. I hot glued them, added mod podge to stiffen them a little, and punched a hole in each side, where I pulled a ribbon through. Each piece was about 13 in. long, but a person with a normal size head, might want to make theirs longer. My husband likes to tease me about my peanut head! haha. You can find the leaf mask idea here, and the mask template here.