Dude, I did it! I semi-DIYed my very first Halloween costumes, and I lived to tell the tale. It actually wasn’t too hard (do you believe that I didn’t sew a single thing?). Holla!
In case it’s not super obvious, Clara asked to go as Jessie (the cowgirl from Toy Story) and Burger gets to be Slinky Dog (also from Toy Story). Here were most of my supplies for Clara’s costume:
- a “cowgirl hat” from a local pop-up Halloween store
- red yarn and white duct tape from AC Moore
- flared jeans from Old Navy (you know I used a coupon and bought them on discount Tuesdays)
The first thing I tackled was making a long Jessie-ish braid from the yarn and used the white duct tape to connect it to the hat. Looks pretty bad from the inside, but thankfully it’s all covered up when Clara puts it on, and it doesn’t seem to bother her (she loves her Jessie hair, and it actually seems to help make the slightly-too-big hat fit her a bit better – even though it still slides around a little).
Oh and she needed winter shoes/boots, so I found these cowgirl-ish boots at Old Navy on sale, so they’ll not only serve as shoes for the costume but she’ll hopefully get lots of wear out of them this winter. I also picked up an on-sale white button down (in the boy’s section) that she can wear well beyond this costume. And speaking of wearing-beyond-the-costume, see the jeans? I cow-patterned them up with white duct tape that I cut into different cow-spot-ish shapes. So it’s 100% removable so the jeans, the shirt, and the boots can just be worn normally after Halloween until Clara outgrows them.
As for slinky dog’s costume, I just got a quarter yard of brown felt from JoAnn (on sale for 50 cents), cut it into a small strip that wraps around Burger’s tummy, and used velcro at each side of the strip to secure it under his ribcage. Then for the “slinky” we just got two yards of silver trim (from the aisle with all the fringe and beaded trim that you buy by the yard at JoAnn). I didn’t even sew the slinky trim onto the felt since I secured it with safety pins on the outside of the costume under his belly (so they’re not against Burger’s skin, they’re on the outside of the felt sleeve). I intended to stitch it after pinning it just to see how it looked, but it seems to work as-is. Burger doesn’t exactly love Halloween costumes – he wiggles out of them in about 5.5 seconds – so I figured it wasn’t worth breaking out a needle.
Oh man, and my favorite detail is the gold fringe that I added to the bottom of Clara’s flared jeans. She LOVES it (“look how they shake mommy!”) and I’m so excited that it was only $1 worth of trim from JoAnn which I safety pinned in place (so once again, it can be removed and Clara can wear these jeans for the rest of the year). Although she loves them so much, we might de-cow-spot them and leave the fringe on for a little while… just because she gets such a kick out of it.
Here’s Clara’s Jessie hair from the back. Isn’t that long braid adorable? Oh man, I think my brain will explode when she actually has hair I can braid. Squuuueeeee!
Oh and the belt! I made that with another trim thing I found at JoAnn (it was woven leather-looking trim that was the perfect width for her pants). I secured it with a round plastic pin/button (you know, the ones people wear on their lapel that say “vote for me for student council”) but it was a clear fillable plastic button, so I opened it and put yellow construction paper in it with a star in front of it that I cut from leftover brown slinky dog felt. Since it has a safety pin on the back of it, it holds the woven trim together like a belt, so for around $4 I made her that little cowgirl accessory.
Weirdly enough, Clara’s favorite Jessie activity so far has been sliding her legs out on the floor like this in her boots (and occasionally hurting Woody, if he’s nearby). She’s got the moves like Jagger.
What sort of costumes are you guys DIYing this year? Anyone else using odd things like white duct tape when it comes to your costume? Or are you happy to buy something cute off the rack if it grabs you? I gotta admit we did that last year…
… and the year before…
… and it was tons of fun too. Hope you guys all have a safe and happy Halloween!!! And I’d love to hear (and see!) what your kiddos are going to be this year. And any grown ups in costume = awesomeville. Links, links, y’all!
Mary C says
Omg, the cuteness. The fringe on the jeans is the very best. Jessie/Clara is the bomb. I just looked at Barb’s photo of the poop factory. I am loving, loving, loving it. We have a similar factory situation here…may have to borrow that idea.
courtney says
OH MY GOSH! she is so cute-such a lucky girl to have such great parents :)
can’t wait to have my own kiddos to dress up
xo, courtney
Gina says
Love the costumes! My kids are grown now but I always tried to be creative and make their costumes out of something we could use after Halloween was over. Hated the ones you could buy back then.
My dacshund has a hot dog costume like Burger wore two years ago. He shakes out of it in less than 5.5 seconds though!
Dannyelle @ www.lifeisaparty.ca says
Love the diy costumes, here’s what I came up with for my little girls, ones a magician and the other is her white rabbit coming out of a hat! So much fun.
http://www.lifeisaparty.ca/2012/home-made-halloween-costumes-the-magician-and-her-white-rabbit/
Happy Halloween!
YoungHouseLove says
Clever! Might have to steal that one year. Burger would make a good rabbit…
-John
Laura @ Never Listless says
Cute costumes! I love a good home-made one!
Here are some of my costumes from the past… Jem (from Jem & the Holograms, Uncle Jessie (along with Danny, and Uncle Joey), bizarre adult smurfs, and the creepiest costume you have ever seen- my husband dressed up as the weirdest, fakest tanned wrestler in the world: Ric Flair.
http://neverlistless.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloweens-of-years-passed.html
YoungHouseLove says
Oh man, my little sister was so obsessed with Jem back in the day that even I know all of the lyrics.
-John
Anna says
My three year old just said “that’s so cute! When can I get one of those!”. She is seriously impressed with Clara’s costume.
Also, I can’t believe it is actually called ‘Ducktape’ on the packet. Here I was thinking half the internet couldn’t spell duct tape…and it is another thing they obviously spell different in the US! You learn something new every day :)
candice q says
This is simply amazing Sherry!!! Love Clara’s big smile in the picture…she seems to love it!!
We havent made any costumes this year either…hopefully next year when we have our own little princess to play dress up with :D
Wendy says
Thank you for this today!
My hub emerged from his paper-writing den looking like he needed a break, so I showed him this post. His face lit up, his shoulders relaxed, and he said, “Aw! I like the previous years’ costumes, too!”
This combined with Will Bower’s nail-a-pumpkin and a steak refreshed him and he has regained his paper-and-class groove.
Lesson learned- cute kids on other peoples’ blogs and a healthy helping of meat= husband rejuvenation when going for a long run isn’t desired. :-)
Elizabeth says
OMG so adorable!
Tracy says
Loving Hamburger as a hotdog, and Clara as a hamburger!
We did “DIY” costumes this year. As in “Dig in ya’ll” when I pulled out the bag of costumes from Halloween’s past. Each of my kids wanted to be something for which we already had pieces/parts. Works for me.
Kate says
Ha, I used some white duct tape for my costume at work today! We were storm troopers…who knew black clothes, an opaque white trash bag as a ‘suit’, white paper plates as armor, a little white duct tape, and a mask could make us look like the real deal? (And on a personal note, my husband and I DIY’d Doug Funnie and Patty Mayonnaise costumes). Can you tell I’m a Halloween fan?
Monika says
SUUUUUUUUUUPER cute! I’m all about the DIY costumes, and you did an awesome job! Do you and John dress up???
YoungHouseLove says
Clara asked the same question, but we just went as Mommy and Daddy this year.
-John
Brittney says
LOVE the Jessie and slinky idea!
Hadley went as a strawberry this year for her second Halloween and she looked pretty cute! Check her out here: http://babyrenneberg.blogspot.com/2012/10/happy-halloween.html
YoungHouseLove says
What a cute strawberry!
xo,
s
jill says
She is absolutely adorable. Burger is a good sport.
Hope you all had fun.
Sarah says
Best. Costumes. Ever!
Michelle @ AM Dolce Vita says
This ought to be my favourite Halloween costume from the blog. Love love the cowgirl’s red braid!
Btw, I received the YHL book I pre-ordered in the mail yesterday and I absolutely love it. I’ve already put a couple of tricks to work (e.g. hang the shower curtain from ceiling to floor). When I am done with it the book goes straight to the coffee table in our living room and it will look so pretty there. :)
YoungHouseLove says
So glad to hear it Michelle! It’s so fun to know people are finally getting it in their hands. Hope you’re loving your newly hung shower curtain too. :)
-John
Becky says
Last year, my husband and I went to a zombie prom. Here we are with our 1950 Buick (before we painted it) as 1950s zombies. We won best dressed couple!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24000613@N02/6796308115/in/photostream
This year, I dressed up as a Hogwarts student (from Harry Potter) for work:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24000613@N02/8143226745/in/photostream
I also went as “Maleva” the gypsy from The Wolfman. My husband was supposed to be the wolfman but the costume gave him some issues so he went as a Manchester United footballer instead :)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24000613@N02/8143254970/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24000613@N02/8143252370/in/photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24000613@N02/8143260280/in/photostream
I LOVE DIY costumes and grew up putting things I already had together for costumes. This year I didn’t spend a dime for either costume.
Clara is too cute with that long red braid and she looks mighty proud of it too! Happy Halloween!
YoungHouseLove says
Great costumes! I think the zombie prom was my fav, if I had to pick. :)
-John
michelle@decorandthedog says
I’m a pharmacist at a medical clinic. Almost the entire clinic dresses up. There are prizes. The pharmacy dressed as characters from the Peanuts. I was Pig Pen.
http://snapwidget.com/view/?id=314321794214099609_32459829#.UJHMcYY1hCM
Your children look darling!!
YoungHouseLove says
I remember in middle school the drama department put on some Peanuts play and I arrived just as the Pig Pen character was outside rolling in some dirt. Looks like a fun costume!
-John
statia says
I made the kids simple costumes this year. We just acquired a new family member: A Siamese kitten, which my son wanted to name Perry, after one of his favorite cartoon characters “Perry the Platypus” from Phineas and Ferb. So I made him a Perry the Platypus costume and I made my daughter a Perry the Siamese cat costume. I basically bought both of them sweatsuits in white (hooded sweatshirts). I dyed his Perry colored, bought him a clearanced Fedora hat at Target, and sewed a faux fur platypus tail on the back. Hers I dyed off white, and then dipped the cuffs in darker brown. Used the same faux fur to sew ears and a tail on hers. It was super fun and easy to make, and it made for a funny story. Perry and Perry.
jennifer says
Oh the cuteness! And I love that you made everything temporary so she can still get use out of everything.
Christine says
It’s awesome that you coordinate costumes for Clara and her doggy brother. So sweet and adorable :)
Dominique says
That is awesome! I absolutely cracked up at Burger’s costume. My daughter always likes to be something a little different…last year she was Edward Scissorhands and this year Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas, and luckily I was able to convince her little brother to be Jack!
http://pinterest.com/pin/165718461259948587/
YoungHouseLove says
She’s got quite the Tim Burton obsession going on. :) Great costumes!
-John
Joanna says
Didn’t get around to posting this on the Pinterest challenge, but it definitely was (ideas from Pinterest and a challenge)!
My son’s costume was Sensei Wu from Lego Ninjago.
Very cheaply made, a wee bit time intensive, but I had fun doing it. Cardboard box , cardstock, poster board, tape,and markers all found in my house. I had to buy a can of black spray paint, gold nail polish (because we live in a small town and that was the only metallic paint I could find – it worked really well), and rubber gloves. I attempted to paper mache a head, but I learned alot about paper mache instead.
Joanna says
Here’s the link to a picture.
http://flic.kr/p/dpAncC
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome!
-John
Robyn says
Love the costumes! So clever, and its especially great that she can rewear everything!
This year for my little boy I pieced together a comfy little pumpkin costume. Hes 13mos, and thought the whole thing was very intriguing :-) and for me I diyed a candy corn costume for under ten bucks! Hubby didnt want to dress up, but he says next year he will!
Lauren Q says
It’s my 10 month daughter’s first Halloween! I DIYed a goldfish costume using a boys orange hoodie, cupcake liners/baking cups, ping pong ball for the eyes and cardboard/felt/glitter tulle for a fin! It turned out amazing!!!
Beth says
Check it out! We rummaged through our recycling for boxes and fixed them up nice with good ole spray paint! Happy Halloween!
YoungHouseLove says
So cute!
xo,,
s
Amy @ Croquet & Cocktails says
Waiting on pics from friends, but we went as a duo (Dad’s out of town for work–boo hiss). My little man wore a purchased lion costume and I fashioned a ringmaster costume out of a thrifted blazer and a top hat and whip from a local costume store. Such fun!
Hopefully I’ll have a link soon! Glad you guys had fun.
Susan says
I retaught myself to sew 13 years ago when my daughter was 2. I tackled an anne geddes ladybug. It was awesome…but I learned a lesson about cost of supplies at the fabric store and about making Halloween way too hard on myself. The foam alone was over $70! This year I made two very different werewolf costumes form my twins. The best part were the huge furry tails I made, which I hot glued to one and sewed on the other. From two left over costumes, for a grand total cost of about $13!
Lee says
I’m very much a novice sew-er, but with this being our little girl’s first Halloween (she’s 7mos) I wanted to do something fun and unique and not too cute-sy. But, of course, I couldn’t think of where to get what I was looking for, so I decided I would make it myself. How hard could it be to make a costume for a baby? Famous last words!
Anyway, although it took me all the spare time I could find over a two week period, and I ripped out more seams than I care to mention, I pretty proud of the final product. And my little one ended up looking super cute after all!
Here’s a picture of our tiny dictator: http://instagram.com/p/RdqnVdgxjt/
Lee says
I should clarify that I didn’t sew the hat … I just did some quick and dirty stitching to adjust a hat I already owned to fit her. But I did make the uniform completely from scratch, from picking the fabric to sizing the pieces to making a chest pocket (which you sadly can’t see) to the epaulets to the last minute neck snaps (because her head is so darn big).
Neither Mao nor Kim ever looked so good ;).
YoungHouseLove says
Ha! That’s a great costume. He looks so authoritative!
-John
Mandi says
Love that Clara and Burger wear “couple” costumes, very cute and clever. This year I dressed up as my favorite cartoon Rock Star, Jem. Hope you guys had a great Halloween!
Michele from IL says
Clara & Burger look adorable! :)
Nancy P says
I LOVE it! These are my favorite kinds of costumes. I can sew, but buying a bunch of fabric and turning it into something is totally daunting, so if I can use other things to do the same job, even better! I have used sweatsuits for a number of costumes and they all turn out great. This year we went as two astronauts, which you can see here:
http://thecraftypepper.blogspot.com/2012/10/whats-better-than-1-astronaut.html
And yes, I used white (and black) duct tape. That stuff is awesome!
I wish my little one would have put on the octopus for a photo, but cest la vie!
Kelly says
Clara’s costume is wonderful! You guys are so creative. I’m super impressed.
I was hoping to meet you in Wilton, but we had to leave because of the storm. I’m so disappointed to miss the event!
I just sent you an email but also wanted to ask here – is there a way to have you sign a card or sticker or something and leave it with Elm Street Books? Then I can go buy the book, pick up your note, and it’ll be sort of like I met you and had you sign my copy? (Except not nearly as cool, obviously.)
Thanks!
YoungHouseLove says
Just shot you an email response Kelly. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Jackie says
My hubby and 10 month old and I recreated/DIY-ed the characters from Disney’s Up! I totally stole the idea from Pinterest, but felt like we did a good job kickin’ it up a notch with Russell and Kevin’s costumes! Check it out….
http://pinterest.com/pin/116460340335509507/
Ps, Clara/Jessie is so stinkin’ cute!
YoungHouseLove says
LOL – those are awesome. Love the old man costume the best.
-John
Kim says
What a great costume! Love being able to reuse the clothes, boots. Might try and get my crew (1 girl, 4 boys) to be toy story characters next year. Especially now with your easy DIY Jessie!
I made my 8 yr old a rubik’s cube costume this year. 1Box, 5 different colors of poster paper, double sided tape and black electrical tape! It was a big hit! My kids worked together and Diy’ed an awesome Captain America shield.
Katy says
Clara is adorable as Jessie! I love how simple and inexpensive this costume is AND how cute it looks! Clara looks so happy. Great job, Mama, on your first DIY kiddo/doggy costume!
My daughter, Charlotte was a cowgirl this year, too. She’s only two and doesn’t know Toy Story yet, so she is just Cowgirl Charlotte. :)
http://kccd.wordpress.com/2012/10/31/giddy-up-cowgirl-halloween-2012/
Katy says
Wait. Did I say two? I meant one. Sheesh. Mom brain.
YoungHouseLove says
The horse is a great touch!
-John
hi-d says
Brilliant!!! She is so adorable!
Mina says
What a big and lovely smile on the first picture !
Her disguise is perfect, she’s so cute, she looks so funny !
Rachel says
I love this Blog! Been reading it since Clara was born. She looks adorable and i am so doing that costume for my little girl (They have dress up day every Wednesday at Nursery)
I’m in the UK (Nottingham to be exact)
Have put the ‘Young house love’ book on my Christmas list, Hubby is under strict instructions to buy :-)
Keep up the great work and hope you all had a great halloween.
Kari says
Is it just me, but the background to this post is a tiled icon for St
Jude’s children hospital, and because of that I cannot unfortunately read the captions and text in the posting:(. I noticed it yesterday but figured it would be gone today , but sadly it’s still there and making me dizzy…hmm, I didn’t notice anyone else saying that they had this problem…? Strange….
YoungHouseLove says
Are you reading on an iPhone or iPad? For some reason Safari does that on occasion and it usually clears up in a day or two – or you can try clearing your history. Sorry for the issue!
-John
SheilaG @ Plum Doodles says
Clara is adorable! Her big grin is the best part- sorry, mommy costume-maker. ;) Seriously, those jeans are jean-ious and the braid is perfect!
Julie Smith says
I used black turtlenecks and black sweatpants I purchased at Walmart and a roll of white contact paper (along with an anatomy book, Ha Ha) to create these costumes for me and my husband.
ps_2011_10_25___15_19_52
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, they didn’t come through. Do you have a link to them on a free photo sharing site like Flickr?
xo
s
Melissa says
SQUEAL!!!!!!!! OMGOSH, BEST COSTUMES EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The hamburger & hotdog is my fave!!!! Love love LOVE!!
Ashley @ sunnysideshlee.com says
Adorable! What a creative way to put together the outfit!
Marisa Fava says
Love Clara’s costume — and her expressions make it even better, to say, “I really LOVE being Jessie!”.
My 19-month old son Ben went as a lumberjack this year (hope this link works: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=4893703783912&set=pb.1337315303.-2207520000.1351775602&type=3&theater). Carter’s had a lumberjack-style red & black plaid fleece jacket on sale. I bought some thick black ribbon and just safety-pinned it on to the jacket directly to look like suspenders (probably could have done a few quick stitches, but we were in a pre-party time-crunch). I made a saw from a cardboard box top — wrapped part of it with shiny duck tape — and the other part I left brown for the handle and just wrapped in clear packing tape for durability. The cutest part I wish I could say I made or had a family member make: a crochet cap with a blonde beard attached — someone *did* hand-make it, but I bought it from a shop on ebay.
Last year, my sew-tastic mother and I put our heads together and came up with a hand-made lobster costume … plastic golf balls for eyes sewn on a red ski hat; a red felt “tail” that slid on like a foot muff while my then-6mo was carried around in his infant car seat; a red felt bib-style front with red pipe-cleaners for the legs; and some red felt claws that just tied on to his wrists. Hope this link works too (it’s a pretty cute costume, if I do say so myself): https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2607479909744&set=a.2504735741204.145715.1337315303&type=3&theater
[sorry for the long post!]
Britta says
The duct tape is SO SO brilliant! And I love the red yarn hair! Seriously adorable and clever.
Stephanie says
Halloween costumes aside, if you ever have a boy you will feel so bad about shopping for your girl in the boy section! The girl’s section is always 2/3 of every kids store and the boys get what’s left! And that you’d steal from our tiny clearance rack! The horror! :P
YoungHouseLove says
Hahaha! So sorry Stephanie! If it makes you feel any better there were about fifteen of them all in a row, so maybe no one is buying plain old white shirts anymore and they’re all going for the printed tees and plaid/striped button downs? Haha!
xo
s
lindy says
LOVE the Jessie costume! And, all of the other costumes too. I can’t pull my eyes away from the costume photos on facebook!
My girls were my dog, Ophelia, and a squirrel. The tail was made from a gigantic stole I found on ebay. My 3 month old son was The Love Boat captain.
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/281579_10151092871637466_2133554361_n.jpg
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/68297_10151070928987466_116669871_n.jpg
And they were all glow in the dark skeletons at night. :)
http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/431747_10151086554132466_779418625_n.jpg
Nicole says
My little love went as a pink flamingo for her first Halloween! I think my fingers are still bruised from trying to sew those boas on!
http://www.nicoledepies.com/2012/10/pretty-pink-flamingo.html
YoungHouseLove says
So cute! Love all the pics everyone!!
xo
s
Bettsi says
I don’t usually comment, but OMG!!!! You guys are killing me with the cute-ness! Kudos on a costume that is definitely a kid popular costume, but is also totally use-able. That Clara- she is too much cute!