Young House Love

Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Jellyfish Costume With Lights

Happy Friday, guys! As is the annual tradition, we thought we’d share what Clara and Burger are going to be for Halloween this year, especially since I DIYed Clara’s costume for the second year in a row (without crying or cursing!) and I love how it came out. At first when we asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she said “a lawyer!” True story. And we laughed and pictured her walking down the street with a little briefcase. Then a few days later she said “I want to be a jellyfish!” So asked her a few questions like “what color jellyfish do you want to be?” and that’s when she came out with her full request: “I want to be a pink jellyfish… and I don’t want to be a regular jellyfish, I want to be A FAIRY QUEEN OF THE JELLYFISH!” So here’s where we ended up.

Jellyfish Blowing

I just decked out a clear umbrella with some pink tissue paper, fabric ribbon, and that thinner plastic ribbon that you can curl with a scissors. And then John added some battery powered cold-to-the-touch LEDs to make it glow (tech nerd hubby FTW). Clara could not be more smitten (this is her attempting to hug her costume). Burger, by contrast, abhors his, but we’ll get there in a second.

Jellyfish Hugging

As for how I made it, first I hit up Sir Google to check out other jellyfish costumes (guys, there wasn’t a single Slutty Jellyfish costume, which was both comforting and surprising). As for the costumes that I did find, some were of the stuffed hat variety (like this) and others were made from umbrellas (like this), which I thought was a good choice for Clara because she could hold it and swing it around if she wanted, but not have to worry about balancing it on her head like a giant hat. So we grabbed a clear umbrella at Target.

The first step in my umbrella-to-jellyfish conversion was sticking some pink tissue paper into each of the umbrella’s panels (those metal arms held each triangle of it in place) so the entire thing wasn’t see-through. I did this because I wanted the bottom to be clear so Clara could walk and see, but thought the top would look more jellyfish-ish if it were more solid. Next I tied some long strands of thick fabric ribbon around each of the spines inside the umbrella that holds it open so those could hang down around Clara. I saw all sorts of fun tentacle ideas when I Googled (using bubble wrap, ribbon, fabric strips, etc) and loved them all, so I decided to just work with the things we already had around the house (like ribbon leftover from this tree) and see how things went.

Jellyfish 1 Umbrella N Ribbon

Lastly I just cut a whole bunch of long pink lengths of curl-able plastic ribbon (the one umbrella-decorating item that I ran out and bought for $1.50 at Michaels) and tied them to each of the metal spines (I did six lengths of them hanging down on each of the eight spines). Then I dragged the edge of a scissors down them after tying each one in place to make them curly.

Jellyfish 2 Curled Ribbon

When Clara came home from school and saw it, oh man, I wish I had it on video. There were lots of wows and even a coveted “it’s AMAZING!” Then John added his little battery powered LEDs (fairy lights he found on amazon for $6.99) and Clara really went wild. Since it gets dark so much earlier these days we actually think they’ll come in handy. Just look at them glow in the darkest spot we could find in our house: our closet.

Jellyfish In Darkness

It’s a bit ambitious to think that Clara will hold the umbrella the whole time, but she gets to wear a little costume of her own (just a fun tulle skirt that she got for her birthday and other general fairy-slash-queen-ness) so in the event that she’s over the umbrella she’ll still have her fairy costume to go door to door in – and heck, I might just tuck a wand and a crown in my purse for added bling. Yes, I still use that word.

Jellyfish Blowing

As for Burger, well, he’s never a fan of anything on him. Ever. This goes for all sweaters, boots, hats, and costumes. So he was not amused when he magically became a seal thanks to this costume that we found at Target. We just couldn’t resist – especially since it’s a tradition to dress him up with Clara every year (heck, we’ve been dressing him up since way before she was born). We joked that he just needed a crown and a scepter so he could be a King Seal to match Clara’s royal sea-creature status. Still kinda bummed Target didn’t carry the lobster or shark costumes they had in previous years, but he does make a pretty cute seal.

Burger Seal

And maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe Burger loves costumes. Because he certainly seems to take immense joy in shimmying around to wriggle out of them. Wish we caught that on video too.

Burger Suspicious

And this year John and I actually have a costume party to attend, so after a little “uh… what should we be?” pondering, we came up with a theme of our own. Some people say that I look like Kahleesi from Game of Thrones (and who am I to argue with the idea of dressing up like a chick who HAS DRAGONS?). So a cheap blonde wig from Target and a green dress that I already had (you might remember it from Clara’s party a few years back) became my somewhat completely ridiculous costume…

Khaleesi Full Shot1

Oh and I used a strategically placed ten cent placemat from a yard sale to make a gold belt and some little shoulder things. You know. For flair.

Khaleesi Placemat

I just snipped it in half and cut off the curved part at the bottom and used the green rope belt that came with my dress to hold that in place in the front like a big ol’ gold front plate or something. As for the shoulder things, I just cut the remaining part of the placemat in half to create little triangles that I could tuck under the straps of my dress and pin them to keep them there (forgot to get a detail shot of those for ya, but you can sort of see them peeking out from behind my wig in the full shot above). Overall, it was really easy and only ran me $9 for the wig and ten cents for the placemat.

Khaleesi Belt 2

But I might like John’s “costume” most of all (ok, it’s tied with The Fairy Queen Of All The Jellyfish) because it’s so him. Keeping with the Game of Thrones theme, I actually proposed that he be Khal Drogo (to which he responded “have you seen me?”) so then I suggested Littlefinger (hello, he’d get to sport a mustache). He went silent for a second and then said “I have a better idea.” Any guesses?

Snow Straight

Yup, that’s his pun-tastic interpretation of Jon Snow. Since he looks nothing like the character, he figured “well, I’m already John, so I’ll just wear a wooly hat and add a big ironic snowflake to my shirt or something and poof: I’m John Snow.” Not sure if it would pass muster at Comic Con, but it cracks me up. And if nothing else, at least the background of his photo brought of touch of Winterfell to it. Yes, that’s a deer just grazing about ten yards behind him.

Snow Deer

As for how he made his shirt, it’s just white duct tape on a blue t-shirt (so he can peel it off and still wear the shirt the rest of the year when he’s being John Petersik).

Snow Snowflake Detail

It was pretty funny watching him place each strip of tape in the mirror… whilst wearing the shirt. I think he’s nothing if not dedicated (my version of a snowflake would have a lot fewer line segments).

Snow Making In Mirror

We’re pretty low key about this stuff, so admittedly nothing that we made is super intricate, but we think it’ll do the trick nicely for the costume party. Now to figure out what dish we’ll bring. Ahh!

Khaleesi Snow Together1

Also, if you watch Game of Thrones, this ridiculously inappropriate dubbed video of other things that match up with their lips has us walking around saying “Are you a fan of the pikachu?” and “I’m working on a gravity belt.”

Oh and the buggy pumpkins! Here they are. No, they didn’t get infested or anything, I just love unusual pumpkins and Clara loves bugs, so she helped me turn one into a spider and the other one into a caterpillar. Here’s how they started out (we got them here because they looked so bug-like, which spawned this paint-job idea).

Pumpkins On Porch

I loved them as-is (yes, I truly adore oddly shaped pumpkins just as they are) but I couldn’t resist having some fun with Clara and some paint. So here they are after a laugh-filled little painting sesh with the bean:

Pumpkins Close Up

She painted the spider with some craft paint (I just told her to go to town on the top and we left the bottom orange since we thought that would make it look more leggy and creepy – just like Clara likes ’em). Meanwhile I added a little dot for an eye on the caterpillar and swiped my paint brush around it to quickly make some rough little wrinkles, like the sections of a caterpillar. When they dried, we added some little painted on eyes to Clara’s spider (she loved the idea of four of them since I showed her a picture online of a real spider with four eyes) and we called them good.

Pumpkins Far

We still have to grab some pumpkins to carve (there’s a field trip to a pumpkin patch with Clara early next week so we’ve been holding out for that) but one thing’s for sure. There will be some last minute pumpkin seeds baking at our house (mmm, my favorite). What are you guys doing with pumpkins and costumes? Let’s hear it.

*******************************

Psst- For anyone who wants to walk down memory lane and check out C & B’s costumes for the last few years, here’s the post about Jesse & Slinky Dog (my first attempt at homemade costumes).

Halloween 1 Greeting

And here’s the dynamic duo as a monkey & banana.

Costumes Petting Burger

And here’s their very first Halloween together as a hot dog & hamburger.

Halloween Costumes

Comments

  3. Susan K says

    My four year old son is going to be a cement mixer (his idea). I always make our costumes, and have a $10 + use-what-you-have rule. The only thing I had to buy was a flag pole holder! I mounted it to a board and added straps for over his shoulders, cut down a dowel, and threaded it through 2 plastic planters turned end-to-end to make the barrel. Some boxes taped together, left over spray paint, and poof – he’s a cement mixer!

    Reply

  4. Dawn says

    The jellyfish is brilliance, but the burning question is however did you go so long without a waist length blonde wig? You should totally wear it to the grocery store and if people stare, just look at them like, “What?” :)

    Reply

  8. alg (amy) says

    You guys are too hilarious!
    I love all the costumes, except Burger’s freaks me out a little. It kinda looks like he’s being swallowed by the seal… lol!

    Reply

  9. Emily says

    Wow, you really do look like the Khaleesi! And I am actually envious of Clara’s costume, haha. That umbrella is perfect!!

    Reply

  10. erin Moria says

    I love the traditions you guys are making. It is so fun! I can’t wait to see how your baby will match the them for next year. :) P.S. You look amazing in your costume, Sherry! Oouu!

    Reply

  11. Nicole Y. says

    When my husband finished watching game of Thrones, he said, “dude that Sherry girl from the blog you love looks like one of the characters!!” So I sent him the link to this morning’s post and he said, “ded, she totally looks like the dragon lady.” hahah be flattered :) hahah

    Reply

  13. Carrie Berry says

    Sherry you really do look like Khaleesi!!! I LOVE the John Snow costume as well. I’m glad no one is a Lannister!

    Reply

  15. Erin says

    I have to say, when I read “Fairy Queen of the Jellyfish”, I almost choked on my lunch from trying to laugh and swallow food at the same time. Sherry, this costume is amazing and should win prizes. I especially loved your comment about no slutty jellyfish…although now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m sure someone will come up with one! =)

    Reply

  16. leila says

    ohmygosh, y’all nailed it!! Love Clara’s costume with the lights, the ironic Jon Snow and Sherry you look fabulous (I’ve been trying to get my husband to be Jon Snow since when his hair is grown out he looks like Jon Snow’s tan-er cousin or something but that was rejected.)!!! Also, that video is amazing. Hope everyone has a great Halloween!

    Shameless plug for a family member – my aunt who is an awesome artist made Khaleesi’s ring and bracelet worn off-and-on throughout the series. Much of her jewelry is iron and heavy as heck! http://www.pinterest.com/farringnearrain/game-of-thrones/

    Reply

  18. Sylvie says

    My two (almost three) year old decided to be Mothra. Who’s Mothra you say? Oh, just the giant moth that battles Godzilla in those Japanese movies. Did I mention that I have a little girl? No princess costume for her, i guess! we ended up painting over some fairy wings and adding sparkly blue eyes and pipe cleaners to a stretchy stocking cap.

    Reply

  22. Shelby says

    I love everything about this post! Clara as the FAIRY QUEEN of the Jellyfish is the BEST. Such a cute diy costume!

    Sherry, the actress for Daenerys always did remind me of you. Took me a while to figure out why she seemed so “familiar” when I was watching the show! And no worries about not having dragons on you. When she was pregnant w/ Kal Drogo’s baby, she didn’t have dragons yet. But, you’re not pregnant w/ dragons, they hatched from the eggs she was given when she got married… anyway, that’s my nerd advice.

    The Jon Snow pun costume is great! Easy to pull off and clever!

    They need to make more of those Medieval Funland videos for sure! The dubbed voices crack me up.

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha, that’s what John says too! In my warped mind she gave birth to them but I’m totally mixing up that scene with the scary witch lady who had that birthing scene and that spirit/fireball thing came out. But John’s like “nope, just eggs.” I do remember she lots Kal’s baby. So sad.

      xo
      s

  23. Isabel says

    Love the costumes and love the ideas! All you need know is the ring tone that my colleague at work has so that at some point during the party you can have John send you a text and your phone will scream: “Where are my dragons?!”

    Reply

  25. Joy T says

    I am in love with Clara’s costume! She has the best ideas. My two and a half year old son changes his mind daily about whether he wants to be Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates or Captain Hook, so I just bought a generic pirate costume and found a glow in the dark sword at Dollar Tree. That way he can change his mind all night while out and about if he wants. We also couldn’t bypass the dog costumes at Target, and bought a cowboy hat for our corgi mix. They had a pirate hat, but there is no way it would have fit his ears!

    Reply

  27. Robyn says

    This year my 4.5 year old son said he wanted to be a Peregrine Falcon..um what?! I seriously had to google that one and as I did my husband tells my son “oh mommy can make that for you!” What! I haven’t busted out my sewing machine in years…well I just spent the past four night sewing wings based on pictures of the bird and wing tutorials online without a pattern (really testing my limited sewing skills). I am quite proud of the the results! Love the jellyfish!

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Haha! We actually have those (they came with the tulle skirt) but they were getting all tangled with the ribbons in the umbrella (they’re those wire rimmed ones), so I might bring them along and add them to her costume if she ditches the umbrealla at some point!

      xo
      s

  32. kelsey says

    you totally look like kahleesi! i’ve always thought that whilst watching game of thrones. all of your costumes rock.

    Reply

  33. Rachel says

    First off, Clara’s costume is SO great and the picture of her hugging it is priceless, because her face is pure, unadulterated joy! Oh, to love something that much :)

    Second, the lip reading video is made by the same people who made this other video that is one of my all-time YouTube favorites – you should check it out!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zce-QT7MGSE

    You got an orange peanut for me?! Wow, I accept you!
    I want it now! I want cake now!!
    You brought your potion, right?

    Ahh, you’ll get those if you watch it haha

    Reply

  34. Cindy says

    You are such a precious family. I love Clara’s costume. You show your love for her in all of your creative ideas for her. You look a little bit like a pregnant Jessica Simpson in your costume. That’s a compliment, btw. I hope you all have a lot of Halloween fun.

    Reply

  35. Amanda says

    Gosh darn it! I guessed way too fast on what John’s costume was and said, “Winter is coming?” How could I forget Jon Snow! He’s the whole reason I watch GoT! A haha This was a hilarious post Sherry! And I Crack Up everytime i hear Varys say, “a nice massage and everything, okaaaaaayyyy”. LOL! I can’t wait til next Halloween! I can’t wait to see how you dress up your kids especially with New Addition. Oh, and I love Clara’s costume, so, so much.

    Reply

  36. Sarah says

    I love them all!!! I love how you embrace Clara’s imagination and run with it!! It must be amazing for her to see her ideas come to life.

    Reply

  38. Heather says

    I don’t know if it’s the wig, the prego belly, the dress, or the fact that I clearly watch too much Bravo…. But I’m totally getting Kim Zolciak from you, Sherry.

    Exhibit A: http://www.celebuzz.com/2012-04-26/pregnant-kim-zolciaks-tight-fitting-maternity-dress-yay-or-nay-photos/

    Exhibit B: http://realitywives.net/blogs/kim-zolciak-8-months-pregnant-community-event/

    Exhibit C: http://www.lifeandstylemag.com/entertainment/news/life-style-exclusive-kim-zolciak-im-pregnant-again

    Just add a cigarette & cocktail and don’t be tardy for the Halloween party!

    Reply

  40. LauraC says

    Go straight to Joann’s. Get 2-3 yards of that furry blanket-y fabric they sell and MAKE JOHN A CAPE. He HAS to have a cape! No sewing required, just safety pin it around his shoulders. So great!!! :) Great costumes.

    Reply

  41. Tyra says

    Love the costumes! Wish I could make my nephew go as a jelly fish cause that is so dang cute!
    I’ll be going as a never nude this year…any AD fans out there?

    Reply

  44. Kirsten says

    I love the way that mans brain works…. John Snow! BRILLIANT!
    Ps: you have to find a toy dragon and put wire through a rope and tie it around his neck and arrang it so it can stay up right and look like its flying.

    Reply

  46. Anna says

    I LOVE the jellyfish idea for a costume. That is super cute and the umbrella idea is perfect. I think this is one of the most original costume ideas I have been in a long time. Great job! I am super impressed.

    Reply

  47. Angela says

    Haha! I love you guys. The jellyfish is perfect and definitely the lights are what complete it. Poor Burger looks like a rat, trying to swallow a Chihuahua, in the way snakes swallow mice!! I love your belly in your costume. Please include more pics with you in them, as the bun grows. And literal, ironic John, oh how he makes me smile. Award for dedication definitely goes to John with all that precise masking of his t-shirt. 4 eyed spiders are waaaay more freaky than the regular kind (although those too are freaky enough). Hope you guys reap the rewards of all your Halloween making.

    Reply

  49. Natalie says

    I’d never thought of a jellyfish costume before, but it is absolutely BRILLIANT and my new personal favorite!

    The Game of Thrones theme is perfect for you guys! And bonus, Sherry, as Daenerys you are officially pregnant with “the stallion that mounts the world!”

    Reply

  50. Jackie says

    Omg. Clara’s costume is AMAZING!! I thought for a second that you were Kim Zolciak from the Real Housewives of Atlanta….only because of the wig. Your wig and hers look sooo similar. lol. Anyways hope you guys have a fabulous Halloween.

    Reply

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