Since Halloween will be here in a few weeks, it's time to start thinking about costumes. I thought I would share some of my kids' costumes from year's past. Maybe you'll find some inspiration!
{Zeke's 1st Halloween- 2004}
Of course Zeke didn't go trick-or-treating when he was eight months old, but I wanted him to look cute & festive sitting on the front porch with me! I taped some raffia to the insides of a hat, flannel shirt sleeves, & some overall pants and used red lipstick & an eyeliner pencil to make his nose & mouth look like a scarecrow. I'm pretty sure he was the cutest scarecrow ever!
{Zeke the Lion- 2005}
Not a whole lot to explain about this one. We bought the top part of the costume at Big Lots & added some brown fleece pants & a brown shirt that my mom made. His chubby little face looked so cute in that lion hood!
{Zeke- 2006}
{Eliana's 1st Halloween- 2006}
2006 was the year of hand-me-down costumes. I have yet to figure out whether Zeke was a dinosaur or a dragon! This would have been his first year going trick-or-treating at a few houses, but he ended up with a stomach bug, so I guess it's a good thing we didn't spend a lot of time or money on his costume! I was quite a bit less creative for Elie's first Halloween, although she still made a cute little caterpillar!
{Japanese Beetle- 2007}
{Ballerina- 2007}
2007 was the year Zeke began telling us what he wanted to be for Halloween. He has always loved bugs, so it was no suprise that he wanted to be dressed like a Japanese Beetle! Luckily, my husband's mom took on the task of replicating the beetle by making the wings & body with some irredescent green fabric she found. Other than that, we dressed him in a black jogging suit & added a headband with some pipecleaner antennas.
Elie was a simple ballerina. My mom made the tutu and my mother-in-law made the pink leg warmers. Then, I just added a pink long sleeved onesie to complete the look. Her sweet little baby face makes me wish I could go back in time & squeeze her cheeks!
{Robot- 2008}
{Raggedy Ann- 2008}
Zeke was really into robots this year. We made his costume out of boxes (turned inside out, hot glued together, & spray painted silver). We added some aluminum foil antennas & a red spray paint cap on top (you know, for a light!). For the body of the costume, we added a compass, light switch, some other trinkets from Home Depot, & some battery opperated Christmas lights. We used silver dryer vent piping to cover his arms & legs. He was a hit this Halloween & his costume protected him from a hard tumble!!
I dressed Elie as Raggedy Ann. She hated it! My mom has a large Raggedy Ann doll, so she took the clothes off the doll & we put them on Elie. Somehow, I made the wig & added some red tape to her white tights.
{Apple Tree- 2009}
{Flower- 2009}
For some reason, Zeke really wanted to be an apple tree for Halloween. The local art teacher was willing to help us out, by creating the tree shape out of cardboard. I spray painted the tree brown & then Zeke & I glued on some artificial leaves. I found some apple Christmas ornaments at Dollar Tree. I glued some of them on & hung others by thread so that it would appear they were falling. Can you spot the squirrel, bird's nest, & cardinal in the tree?
Zeke & I decided that Elie should be a flower, so we could have a theme. I used hot pink felt to make the flower headband, which was a total nightmare! My mom sewed the green tutu for me after I made a botched attempt at doing so! I dyed her tights & white shirt to match, added a hot pink sash, & gave her a couple of gerbera daisies to complete the look.
{Cheerleader & Basketball Goal- 2010}
Last year Zeke wanted to be a basketball goal! We dressed him in all black, for the pole. Then, I made the backboard using white foam board & red posterboard. We used the hoop & net from a nerf goal we had. The most difficult part was getting the backboard to stay up. The poor kid had dowel rods going down his shirt & duct tape around his stomach (He had two shirts on, so nothing was touching his skin!)! He survived & didn't complain though! Oh, I guess I should explain why Zeke looks like the devil...I thought it would be neat to paint Zeke's face like a basketball in the net. As always on Halloween, we were down to the wire on getting everyone ready to go, so my husband decided to do the face painting. I'm very thankful he did it, but maybe next time he'll added a little white to lighten up the orange!!
We borrowed a cheerleading costume for Elie, so thankfully, she was pretty easy to dress!
So, have your kids been anything unusual for Halloween? I'd love to hear about it, especially since I need some ideas for this year!
Sharing here:
Blue Cricket Design
