Halloween Costumes

People say I am crazy for taking on so many projects. But there is nothing that I can't stand more than a lame Halloween Costume. And what's worse, when 5 kids wear the same lame costume.

So about mid August, I asked Riely what he wanted to be for Halloween. Yes, August. I had to give myself time to prepare.

My 2 and a half year old looked at me and said, what else, "Thomas the Train"! Yup, saw that one coming. So my follow up question, who should Eliza be? One of Riely's favorite episodes of Thomas is when Rosie, the lavender engine comes to Sodor and splashes in puddles for some reason. For those of you unfamiliar, here is a screen capture from said episode.

Anyways, the creative juices began to flow. So basic Halloween shops offer a smock like costume with a Thomas face on it and a conductor hat for about $20. LAME!

I wanted Riely to be a real, 3-d train. So my first attempt at Thomas began (yes, first. there were many). Cardboard box+ spray paint= semi crappy version of what I saw in my head. 

My second attempt involved stenciling the designs onto boxes, but it still wasn't great. 

Then Thomas 3.0 was born. I cut the shapes out of remnant fabric and covered the box.

Then I took an oatmeal container, covered it with black fabric and hot glued foam batting to the top for steam. Finally, I took a thick piece of ribbon and sewed it to the box to make a strap. 

And TA-DA! Thomas the Train :)

Now for Eliza. I obviously wasn't going to make my 7 month old walk around wearing a cardboard box. Mostly, because she can't walk. Also, I wanted to "girlie" it up a bit. One day, while browsing Pinterest I found this...

And it really got me thinking...I decided to make Eliza a lavender onesie, paint the face on the front, and then add a tutu. Perfect!

 

And here are my two little engines all dressed up!

Now for the bottom line. Cost. For Riely's, the box came courtesy of Amazon.com. The blue fabric was 1 yard of fleece I bought a while ago, which was roughly 3.99. The rest was remnants. He decided last minute he didn't want to wear his "funnel" hat, and in stead wore his conductor's hat.

For Eliza, I had to buy the tuile, which was 1 yard of lavender, 1/2 yard black, for a total cost of about about $3. The rest was remnants. So if you had to buy everything, you are looking at about 10-15 dollars for both. That sure beats $20 for Thomas and $45 for the tu-tu costume.

Now, who wants to see the awesome Zelda and Link costumes I made for my friend's kids...

This one was more complicated, but ended up costing around $50 for both.