Halloween 2014: Four Costumes

I have 3 kids but made 4 costumes this year. One was for my niece because my sister just had a baby and I wanted to help her out.

1. Cardboard Butterfly

So first is her morpho butterfly costume. This was one of the easiest costumes I've ever made, and it was completely FREE. Free cardboard box, leftover spray paint and acrylic paint, and some black marker. I made the lines on the front side lighter, and I think I prefer that, actually. Ribbon and elastic to strap it on, and voila! What I love it that it's free, light weight, and disposable. And FAST! P.S. my favorite way to cut cardboard boxes is not with a box-cutter (my blade is ALWAYS dull) but with a cheap serrated kitchen knife. It's so much easier, seriously.
2. The Witch

Next was the witch. For someone who loves making costumes, this was a little boring. But she really had her heart set on being a witch, and her best friend was a witch too, and they looked very cute together. I bought the plain hat for $3, the tights for $4 the tutu was free (traded for the butterfly costume), she already had the shirt, and then rounded up a bunch of scraps of ribbon and tulle  and plastic spiders and leftovers of stuff to put on the hat. And by the way, if you like tutus, this one was incredibly fluffy and huge! The pictures really don't do it justice. It's from 500 Babies.

3. The Swing Set

Ezra was next. When I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween he threw out several ideas before I heard one that seemed feasible to me. A bit strange, yes, but do-able. So I ran with it. It's a swing set. Wrapping paper tubes painted silver, upcycled rope, some vinyl fabric for the seat, and the most expensive part were the grommets on the swing (I had to buy the whole kit for $10. And actually my dad bought it for me and wouldn't let me pay him back, so technically the whole cost was just a can of spray paint and $3 of vinyl). After trick-or-treating I promised him an easy-to-walk-in costume next year. It wasn't awful, it just didn't stay on very well because the hat was a little too small. (The hat was sewn to the silver frame). Had the frame been longer it might have been hard to walk up and down stairs, so this was just right.

4. Magic Rabbit in a Hat (on a table)

It's a shame the lighting was bad by the time I got her pictures, because she ended up being the star of the night. (And why is Blogger turning this picture yellow??) I got lucky with this costume too. I borrowed a red wagon, just happened to get a cardboard box the perfect size for the "table" a few weeks ago (cut a hole in the middle), and the black hat and bunny hat and bow tie were all made from leftover scraps. The only thing I bought was the red fabric for the table cloth ($3). That will probably turn into a cape or something next year. For the black hat I created a "frame" using cardboard and covered it with felt. Oh and the wand is just made from a dry cleaner hanger (you know that white tube for pants to hang on) wrapped with electrical tape. 

The key to this one is that there is a Bumbo seat inside the black hat, so she was able to ride comfortably the whole evening. Perfect for an 8-month old! And the fleece hat and long sleeve onesie kept her warm. What you don't see is her white tights and socks with pink pom-poms on them. She was pretty darn cute. Not that I'm biased or anything.

Happy Halloween!