Every year around late August I start getting antsy that Fall is right around the corner. The stores start slowly creeping in signs of Halloween, and it gives me the itch to watch scary movies and get started making Halloween costumes! My kids usually already have an idea of what they want to be, and it is my favorite thing to see them get so excited over it!
Since I have no chill when it comes to Halloween, I’ve already had this years costumes finished for over a week. Yep, before the calendar even turned to October. More time to focus on the scary movies part of the holiday, right?
Over the next few days, I’m going to show you how I made the pieces to this years costumes and their props, but first I’m taking a quick walk down memory lane to a few of my favorite costumes I’ve made.
When my son was 3 he went thru quite the garbage truck phase. I shouldn’t have been surprised when he requested to be a garbage truck for Halloween. Not a garbage man…but a truck (trust me, I asked) I used diaper and baby wipes boxes to make the truck body. We cut the top of the hopper to be open so he could use it as his candy collector, first collecting them in his miniature garbage bin and then dumping it into the back-which he thought was so much fun! Some spray paint and little details, like working headlights and tail light reflectors, really brought this thing to life. And it will forever be my favorite costume, simply because he was so unbelievable cute in it and he loved it so much.
This is Halloween 2018. My son, like most 7 yr old boys, was in love with Fortnite. Thankfully I was able to find a youtube tutorial for the mask and the gun, both of which I was able to make with a glue gun, EVA foam, craft foam, paint, a utility knife, and a dowel rod. His shoe covers were made from craft foam and elastic, and it took some work to figure out the best way for me to make them and to let them be removable from his shoes! The rest of the pieces I was able to make from doctored pieces of clothing I found on Amazon and at Walmart. His trick or treat bucket is a Chug Jug, which I made out of a Cheese Balls container and hand painted it with some duct tape details. We got several compliments and even had adults stop us to ask for pictures with him, which he thought was the coolest!
My daughter LOVES all things Tim Burton, and The Nightmare Before Christmas is her favorite movie of all time. When she said she wanted to be Sally I was thrilled to have a chance to try to make it for her (mostly because I also love all things Tim Burton!). The wig and basket were purchased at Wal Mart. I was able to find some fat quarters of fabric in the basic colors of Sally’s dress and I just cut the pieces and hand decorated them with a fabric marker. Her arms and legs are 2 pairs of white tights that I purchased and then dyed blue, adding hand drawn stitches on them for that ‘sewn together’ look that we all know Sally for. We topped it off with some black and white striped socks a pair of black mary janes (that were some old tap shoes she no longer was using!) and she was a perfect Sally! In fact, she still has this dress in with her princess costumes and it’s a regular part of her dress up routine!
And here we are, Halloween 2019. Now both kids are into video games and nothing comes close to Bendy and the Ink Machine! My son knew right away that he wanted to be Sammy Lawrence, and my daughter quickly decided that she was to be Alice Angel-and I jumped at the chance to do a group themed costume for them! Every piece of their costumes has homemade elements to it, and it has really been a labor of love. Check for my future posts as I break down each costume and prop from this year and how I made them!
Murphy Party of 4 