store-bought costumes are for the birds // DIY family Halloween costumes

For the two of you who read this blog who aren't related to me, an old college friend, or in my moms' group, and therefore haven't already seen these pictures, I now present you with our 2013 Family Halloween Costumes.

Yep, we're a bunch of bird brains around here.

For two years in a row, my husband has come up with a "theme" idea for Halloween and I've had to figure out a way to make it happen. I'm not a pro with the sewing machine, by any means, and I don't want to spend a bunch of money on something we'll wear for such a limited time, so our costumes are mostly thrifted, upcycled, and thrown together with a lot of hot glue, staples, safety pins, and maybe a handsewn stitch or two. (Here's last year's costumes for reference.)

This year, Jason said he wanted to go as birds. That seemed a little...weird, so during a very rare date night when my parents were visiting, we sat together over cappuccinos and brainstormed how to make it come together.

Here's how I ended up doing it:

Since I was going to have to wear Phoebe in a carrier, I decided that it would be cute if she could be a little bird in a nest and I could be the tree she was nesting in. She already had a brown and white striped beanie, so I attached a fake nest and a package of plastic robin's eggs from Joann Fabrics with some hot glue and brown embroidery thread.

For my tree apparel, I bought a garland of ivy at Michael's and wrapped it around the sleeves of a green sweatshirt, then pinned it at the shoulders and wrists. I already owned a green Moby and a pair of striped brown pants. Done.

Do I have any makeup on? Had I even showered? Nope and nope - 

but when you promise your toddler you will go trick-or-treating, you go, end of story.

Lorelei's costume wasn't too hard - I found a Carter's duck costume (albeit in an 18-month size - it's a little tight, but you go with what you can find on the cheap!) and bought a sheet of posterboard and a bag of craft feathers, then went crazy with a gluestick one afternoon during naptime. A yellow shirt from Goodwill plus black leggings and yellow rainboots that we already owned helped to finish things off. It's not going to win any awards, but it gets the job done.

And Jason's was the easiest: a birdwatcher! He is one, so everything he's wearing is his own. There's even a bird guide tucked into the pocket of his vest.

Peeking out of his other pocket? A burpcloth, naturally. 

And Lorelei had never eaten candy before, so please excuse all the shots of her digging around in her little bucket.

We already have our idea for next year all mapped out...and we hope to keep up the family themed costumes for many years to come!

p.s. Phoebe is sad you couldn't see her face in any of the photos above, so here you go:

a corny family | DIY upcycled, repurposed family halloween costumes

In case you were ever in doubt, we're a very corny family.

Since we live in the heart of corn country, Jason had the idea to have Lorelei go as "corn on the cob" for Halloween this year. We decided to make it a family affair -- and we had a blast at the community downtown "trick or treating" event yesterday afternoon! It's harder to tell from this picture, but I went as the farmer for my two corn cobs -- I have on a Monsanto hat, twine suspenders, and long rolled-up blue jeans along with my flannel shirt. Jason was a good sport, wasn't he? :)

I'm pretty excited to have made all of our costumes -- and especially excited about being able to do it on the cheap with repurposed items. There weren't many corn costumes online to use as a guideline, so here are my tips if you decide to do it:

one green sweatshirt (I found lots at our local Goodwill -- you can always turn them inside out if they have a weird pattern that might show)
a few feet of bubble wrap (I save it from online purchases and had plenty to repurpose)
a yard* of green felt ($2.99 at Jo-Ann Fabric)
twine, brown yarn, or raffia (I used a ball of twine we keep in the garage for tying up sticks and yard waste)
yellow spray paint (I bought a very small can for a few dollars at Jo-Ann)
green thread and a needle [or tape/glue, if you can't sew]
optional: yellow or green tights
*I used one yard of felt for both Lorelei and Jason's costumes, just FYI

Spray paint the bubble wrap on one side and let it dry.

Meanwhile, cut the felt into "leaves" that are just slightly longer than the sweatshirt. I cut them into different widths for visual interest. Cut the top of each "leaf" into a rounded point. Then use your hands to pull on the leaves a bit to make them look a bit more natural.

Once the leaves look good and the bubble wrap is dry, go ahead and sew it onto the sweatshirt. I just used a running stitch at the shoulders and bottom hem of the sweatshirt and it worked perfectly (sewing the bubble wrap under the leaves seemed to keep it in place, and didn't hurt the appearance at all). If you can't even handle doing a running stitch, I bet you could tape or glue it in place.

I ended up putting the corn kernels + leaves on both sides (front and back) of the sweatshirt. If you're pressed for time, you could always just do the front.

For the hat, I used some leftover felt curled into a circle and then stitched up the side (again, you could staple or glue/tape here). I cut about 15 short pieces of twine, put them inside the top of the felt cylinder so they stuck out to look like tassels, and then cinched it all together with a brown hair tie to hold the twine in place. Then I cut the felt above the hair tie into leaves and pulled on them (same as on the sweatshirt) to help them stand out a bit.

And that's it! I thought about wearing overalls for my costume, but decided not to spring for new ones, since I couldn't find any at Goodwill. The Monsanto hat was a good find (and an easy get around here in the midst of farmland -- it might be harder if you're in a big city!) and helped to pull my "look" together.

Can't wait to get her into this costume again next week to go around our neighborhood (Lorelei will be bringing treats to give out to our neighbors rather than getting candy, since she doesn't eat it!). Share your costume ideas and links to pictures below, please!

I shared this post at:
Project Run and Play
Fine Craft Guild
Momnivore's Dilemma
Naptime Crafters
Someday Crafts