I LOVE Halloween

Did you know?

Well I do!

I'm really a fan of dressing up as a whole family. Over the years I've mixed a lot of store-bought items with homemade attempts.

Halloween costumes is where I did most of my beginning sewing (as an adult). I desperately try to make stuff up in my head. Sometimes it turns out cute; MANY other times it's laughable. Disaster. A crying shame. But every year I've got big plans and have a ton of fun in the process.

Here's a look at some of the more successful Halloweens of yester-year...

These "3 Wizards" won us first prize

at the costume contest at a local farm.

I was pretty darn excited. I think we won $20.

I made Jason's hat and robe. He made his beard by cutting up some "witch" hair off a store-bought hat and glued it to some cardboard. I made my robe and bought the hat. The toddler costume is obviously store-bought.

"The Royal Family"

Jason's hat was purchased, but I made his cape and vest. My entire outfit was purchased. Mitchell's "knight" accessories were from the store, and worn over regular clothes. Tucker's "court jester" outfit was really a sweatshirt and sweatpants from the store, matched with homemade velvet hat and pointy shoes (with bells on all the points!)

"Star Wars"

Darth Vadar helmet and voice box were purchased, but I made the chest plate, belt, and robe. Queen Amidala dress and headpiece were made by me. That was my REAL hair in there too -- quite the project. All Jedi clothing was homemade, too.

"Peter Pan"

Mr. Smee was pieced together with store-bought items but I made the hat. Tinkerbell's dress was homemade (if nothing else in order to be modest!) with purchased wings and shoes. Captain Hook's wig and hat were bought, then I made the jacket and white ruffle shirt and paired it with the perfect sweatpants. What a find! Peter Pan's outfit, hat, and little brown boots were all homemade.

This year I think the adults looked kinda stupid,

but the kids were BEYOND adorable!!!

"The 3 Musketeers"

I had 3 boys by this point, how could I resist??? I made their tunics out of upholstery fabric I had leftover from recovering a rocking chair. Then they wore them over church clothes. I made the "boot covers." We bought swords and hats, then added feathers and hot-glued one side of the hat up.

"Scary Classics"

As the kids get older and want to choose their own costumes, it's hard to make everyone match with a nice theme. This time around, the older boys both insisted on something classic, so we worked the rest of us around that.

Frankenstein was mostly make-up and hair color. He wore his suit coat and luckily, he's already freakishly tall. I got SO LUCKY and found those green hands for a couple of dollars! I dressed up as his bride by wearing an old bridesmaid dress that my mom owned. (Let a few decades go by and it worked so perfectly for a creepy look!) I teased and sprayed my own hair, and it took hours to painfully comb out later.... ouch.

Our mummy was made by hot gluing strips of unbleached muslin to an inexpensive t-shirt, sweat pants, and winter hat. The vampire was a store-bought shirt and cape. The skeleton was also purchased.

Here's a few other things I've made for cousins...

The Superman baby gown.

Oh how I love this one!!!

It's fuzzy and warm, and the cape velcro's on or off.

Dorothy

Robin hood

Ben 10 jacket

I'm VERY excited for this weekend! The big boys once again chose our costume theme for the whole family. Can't wait to show you how they turned out!