A Halloween Follow-up

Hard to believe that Halloween was over two weeks ago!  As Nora’s birthday followed soon after, I haven’t have a chance to post pictures of their costumes until now.  Nora wanted to be a “rainbow unicorn with a yellow mane and a yellow tail.” (stay tuned for more rainbow unicorn fun, as that was also her birthday party theme).

After looking a bit on the internet, I found a unicorn costume that she and I agreed would be a good starting point.  In mid-September, we happened to find the perfect pants and shirt for her outfit at Mama Goose, our fabulous local kids consignment store.  I had already figured out that the mane would be attached with yellow duct tape, so the clothing would be completely in tact after Halloween.

We had a Repunzel wig that she had received for her birthday the year before that I used for the mane and tail.  I trimmed the tail and hot glued the trimmings on a strip of felt.  I used hair bands on the tail to make it look a little more horse-like at the top.  I hooked a piece of string though the top and tied it to her shirt. . 

The horn is made with craft foam and hot glue.  I painted it “rainbow,” as requested, with acrylic craft paints.  It’s then attached at the bottom to a piece of felt covered craft foam about 2-3 inches long, which acts to place the horn on the forehead rather than at the top of the head.  The original version of this costume suggested attaching the horn extension and ears to a headband, but after a trial run at the Wegmans costume parade the Thursday before Halloween, I found that this didn’t work well at all. The headband kept sliding out of place because it was on the hood rather than behind her ears.  So, instead I just hot glued the horn extension onto the felt part of the mane and taped it all down with a thin layer of duct tape.  I taped down the felt ears and “hooves” as well.

Total cost of the outfit was under $10, plus she’ll wear the rainbow clothing for the next year. I also attached the mane and horn back onto a headband so it can be reused for playing dress-up. 

Finn’s Dinosaur costume has been Nora’s from the year before.  He refused to wear the headpiece for more than the 30 seconds it took to get this picture.  It actually worked in our benefit, however, as without the triceratops head, his costume looked a lot like a dragon and everyone loved how well the unicorn and dragon went together. 

Ready for Halloween?

 I've always loved Halloween, so I love that the Ithaca area has so many great events for Halloween.  This year we went to the Wegmans parade on Thursday, the Sciencenter on Friday and Ellis Hollow Nursery School on Saturday.  We still have a preschool party on Monday and Trick-or-Treating in our neighborhood in the evening.   When I was growing up in the Midwest, we only celebrated Halloween on one night!  I guess at least this way the costumes get a lot of use. 

This year my 4 year old will be wearing a homemade “Rainbow Unicorn” costume, while my 2 year old will be wearing the dinosaur costume that big sister insisted on having last year after falling in love with it in Halloween edition of One Step Ahead, despite the large box of dress up clothes that we already had to choose from (I need to remember to hide that catalogue).  At least we can get a couple year’s use out of it. Hubby will be a clown, per the children’s request; and I’m excited to step out in my homemade Dora the Explorer costume.  This will be the first time since having children that I didn’t throw my costume together that the very last minute. (For those of you who still haven’t put together costumes, Mama Goose, Trader K’s and Trader K’s 2 all still had good selection as of last week.)

I’ve always enjoyed making costumes whenever I have the time and creative energy.  Growing up, I remember my mom pouring her heart and soul into homemade costumes, the best of which was an elaborate Strawberry Shortcake outfit that I probably wore for about 3 years straight.  However, once I was older, I learned that my memory is a bit unreliable.  My mom recently informed me that she dreaded making homemade costumes and did so only because it was cheaper than buying them (which isn’t always the case anymore!).  Turns out the main reason I was Strawberry Shortcake so often was because she didn’t want to make anything else. 

How about you?  Do you make your costumes?  Buy them new?  Buy them used?   Borrow from friends?