Halloween 2018 – Birds of a Feather

Hey! Who’s tired of talking about depression?!

We’ll take a break in that regularly scheduled programming and step back to talk about Halloween costumes!

I had a great idea for what I wanted to be for Halloween this year but Lorelei shot it down. She very very much wanted to be a peacock, mostly because one of her best friends was also going to be a peacock. In the months leading up to October I gave her ample opportunity to change her mind, especially since her friend’s peacock costume was going to be fancier than I could even begin to muster this year. Or any year, actually, because it involved like blueprints and power tools. Have I mentioned that the vast majority of the costumes I make are being held together by safety pins and hot glue? I’m very much a “make it up as you go along” DIYer.

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Lorelei helped more this year than she ever has before. She made most of her tutu herself, and painted both her mask and her candy bag, too. The mask was a cheapo $2 white mask from Joann or Michael’s or something. I ordered all the feathers and the leotard from Amazon and then liberally hot glued them between foam board.

We went through a few different costume ideas for me. My first plan was a pink flamingo but I ultimately decided that the imagery of a Phoenix was better. The whole rising from the ashes thing sounded good for 2018.

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My wings were belly dancing Isis wings from Etsy. My mask was also from Etsy, and I painted/glittered it up. I found the dress at a local thrift shop for like $2. The lights individual feathers were from Amazon. The rest was flower display accessories from Michael’s (as was part of Lorelei’s headpiece).

We also entered two different contests. First there was the annual Barktoberfest contest, which is a group contest with the dog. I tried to make Maya a tree. The first shirt I bought her was far too small. The second one was for humans and just wouldn’t fit right. Then the bird nest Lorelei and I had made kept falling off. Somehow we won second place, at least.

Then there was a door decoration contest at my work. I didn’t win that one at all — I’ll let you decide if I was robbed.

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The door is made from black kraft paper, a drawing of a Phoenix I found online, and some orange EL wire. The nest is a straw hat turned inside out with straw and burned feathers. The fire is a special fire effect light bulb that I bought a light fixture for, some red LED lights, sparkly tulle, and ribbon.

You may notice that Rowan’s costume isn’t featured. That’s because he was a three year old. He absolutely refused to participate in the costume part of Halloween. Kids who won’t wear costumes don’t get featured on my Halloween post… maybe he’ll consider that next year.

(I’m not sure that my new post notification emails are going out consistently, so make sure to go back to the homepage and see if there is anything you need to catch up on!)