There really is no excuse for not making your own Halloween Costume - even the laziest of us can take a white sheet and cut out some eyes to make a scary ghost. Anyway, homemade costumes, even however crudely made are always so much more fun. And, who would want to pass up an opportunity to get the kids involved in the imaginative effort... all the more fun! You can make so many costumes from so little too. There is much you can do with a bit of cardboard, or paper plates, left over party balloons, old material, make-up, juice boxes, and thousands of other objects just laying around your house or garage. And, once you ween your older kids off of the store-bought variety you'll see that the ideas are endless.
Some of our readers have sent in some images of their little trick or treaters wearing homemade costumes and we here at Nonchalantmom wanted to share them with you:
Jennifer and Soren in Maine sent us this delightful picture of their little girl AnaSofia dressed as a..... well..... as a monster... or is she a duck.... or a penguin - YES, a penguin!! According to Jennifer, though, the costume seems to be open to many interpretations! Jennifer tells us that she took a basic black hoodie and sweat pants as the base of the costume and sewed on eyes, beak, and a belly. She made the feet so that they could be easily tied with a ribbon onto AnaSofia's everyday shoes. Looking at the pictures of AnaSofia, she isn't really concerned what she is - she's just very happy to be in the costume and trick or treating with her Mom and Dad. How sweet does she look!
As for Rhonda in Rhode Island she used material she found to create the costume for her son Lucas. If you haven't guessed already, Lucas is dressed as Yoda.... except that his own face is much much much more cuter than old Yoda! We love the details on his costume like the delicate rope belt and the cane/stick. And, just that unique touch in the ears gives them that extra definition that says old, wise Yoda. He's one very handsome Yoda!
Alex H in Washington DC sent us a few images of her daughter Io's costume from last year and this year. Last year, as you can see, she went as an ugly monster. Alex tells us that she was a sort of cross between 'Big Toe' and 'Tray' - but either way you cut it, that beautiful smile makes her more of a cute blue monster rather than an ugly one! This year, Alex says she went for a Wild Thing, as in 'Where the Wild Things Are'. The costume was inspired by a gift from Io's Abi (Alex's mother) of bear slippers. Alex said she had to tone down the outfit a bit because Io was a bit afraid of the original idea which was going to include maroon shaggy fur. We're glad she was able to keep the horns though! She's the cutest thing we've ever seen from the Wild Things! Alex tells us that she detailed the legs with scales made from gold material (the same used on the horns) she scalloped and sewed into strips that adhere to the stretch pants (about 10 strips per leg). And, the tunic is made from polar fleece. That was not an easy solution - but that extra effort surely paid off - the outfit looks wonderful. And, the good thing is that Io doesn't seem to be frightened in the least! One very pretty Wild Thing!
And, as we told you - our little girl, upon seeing her older brother's robot/Transformer costume decided she wanted to be a robot too. So, we suggested she go as a robot/princess so that all our bases our covered. In a flurry of late night activity we took our the card board and tape and piping.... and... well.... voila! Our princess is now robotized!
Thank you to all the parents who sent in their costume images. If you'd still like to share yours with us, we'd be glad to see them all and perhaps do a future posting sharing them with all our readers - just send them to Karim@nonchalantmom.com with the title 'halloween costume'... A VERY SAFE AND HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL OF YOU !!!
