Motherhood Monday: On Halloween in 2020

Happy Monday!! We're *almost* in October, so naturally, I have Halloween on the brain! And I'm wondering - what are you planning to do for Halloween this year? 

(was she ever really this little?!?!?!)

Last year I went the laziest route possible. Mia was a cool seven months old, so I just put her in a little skeleton outfit and called it a day (which LOL I found on clearance at the end of the season for $2 and bought a size for this year! #momhack). We were just getting her dressed up for daycare so I didn't quite see the point, especially since she'd mostly be rolling around on the carpet and ripping off any hats or accessories I tried to put on her. 

But now that I have a cute little 18 month old running around, I want to put that girl in a costume! The only thing is, where to wear it? 

My plan is, for pandemic safety, to just take her "trick or treating" (read: costume showing off) to a few of our family member's houses, and social distance while we're there. I'm thinking we'll also end up dressing up for a day at preschool, but that remains to be seen. 

I originally got really stuck on the idea of dressing up Mia as Madeline after seeing this cute picture from Danielle Moss. But honestly pandemic me has no time to make Mia a complicated costume, and everything I wanted to buy was hovering in the $100 range. Seemed silly to drop a hundy on a costume we won't *really* get to use. Also, I knew my work was going to have everyone dress up on camera for a virtual Halloween and there's no way I was going to be one of Madeline's nuns 😆

So instead I pivoted. I bought Mia some green tights and a green dress, and we're having her go as Peter Pan! Add a couple faux fur items and some face paint, and Jeff and I will be a couple of Lost Boys. Easy peasy lemon squeazy. Costumes made mostly from items we have at home that won't be too hard to pull together. Perfect for a Pandemic Halloween. 

What are you up to for Halloween this year? Are you still going all-out, or have you reigned things in? 

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Janet Snakehole and Burt Macklin Couples Costume

Oh god it's October already?! Halloween is right around the corner, and I haven't started thinking costumes at all yet. Which is really weird for me, considering I once spent a whole month drawing tiger stripes in my spare time and I'm pretty sure I planned my Ralphie costume a whole year in advance.

If you're like me and are trying to come up with something, here's an easy couple's costume idea that Jeff and I did last year - Janet Snakehole and Burt Macklin from Parks and Rec. If you have a little black dress and your man has a button down and a tie, then you're already halfway there!

Janet Snakehole - Dress / Necklace / Heels / Cigarette Holder / Hat / Earrings

Burt Macklin - Sunglasses / Jacket / Shirt / Tie / Duck Tape (for FBI letters) 

Looking for more easy costume ideas? Check out some of my past DIY costumes. 

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Mean Girls Costumes

Last weekend was October 3rd, so of course there was a Mean Girls marathon on tv, reminding me of its greatness and of how much its lexicon has slipped into my daily life ("Boo, you whore"). So who wouldn't want to dress up as one of the Mean Girls for Halloween? I actually was in a group Mean Girls costume thrown together at the last minute for a costume party in college (I thought about finding some photos, and then I decided instead to destroy all of the evidence), and let me tell you, if you need a last minute Halloween costume, Mean Girls is a pretty easy one to pull off. Here are a few fun Mean Girls costume ideas:

Regina costume: Cardigan, Tank, Skirt, Heels 

Damian costume: Sweatshirt, Sunglasses

Purple Bra costume: Skirt, Bra, Heels, Tank

Mouse costume: Dress, Mouse Ears (add a circle of pink felt to the centers if you're feeling DIY-y)

Would you dress up as a character from Mean Girls? Which is your favorite?

Oh, and completely unrelated - I finally joined Snapchat! I know I'm YEARS late on this. Now if I could only find a young person to show me how it works. You can follow me at kristinadoes. Stay tuned for amusing high school reunion pics this weekend!

photo sources 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5

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My Halloween Costume: Ralphie from A Christmas Story

I've been teasing my Halloween costume for the past couple weeks, but I actually decided on the idea over a year ago and just didn't get it together in time for last Halloween. A Christmas Story is definitely my favorite Christmas movie and I quote it year round, so Ralphie in the bunny costume seemed like a no brainer. For some reason I had it in my head that the costume would be really hard to make, but it actually ended up being super easy.

Step one was to buy a pair of hooded footie pajamas. I found mine at footedpajamas.com, and since I was shopping off season they were on super sale. Then I proceeded to wear them around the house for six months (Jeff even wore them once too ;).

I originally considered buying two pairs of pajamas so that I would have extra matching fabric for the ears, feet, and gloves, but instead I just took a swatch with me to the fabric store and found a near exact match of fleece. I got a quarter yard of the lighter pink and a quarter yard of a darker pink to use for the inside of the ears. I also picked up some googly eyes for the feet and some thin floral wire.



For the ears, I decided I didn't want them connected to the hood. As a faux redhead who pretends she has the same experiences as real redheads, I'm very temperature sensitive, and knew that odds were I would not be able to keep a hood on for very long. Instead, I decided to attach the ears to a headband so I could wear them separately. I found an old headband and whip stitched a cover out of the extra light pink fabric. For the ears themselves, I cut out pieces of the hot pink and light pink fabrics, and then cut a piece of wire to fit around the perimeter of the hot pink piece, plus a little extra. I then sewed the ears together with the wire (but you could easily glue them or use liquid stitch).  I did not sew the bottoms at first, and instead wrapped the bottom of the wire around my headband, and then wrapped and sewed the bottom of the ear around the headband.

For the feet, I made smaller versions of the ears, then glued on some googley eyes and used a permanent marker to draw a nose & mouth. I forgot to take a picture of this, but I also decided to make mittens out of some of my remaining light pink fabric since Ralphie's bunny suit covers his hands.

To make myself more recognizable as Ralphie, I also had to have a Red Rider BB Gun. I found mine on eBay for ten bucks or so. My gun shot air darts, you know, so I wouldn't really shoot my eye out.

And there you have it! Ralphie from A Christmas Story. Maybe I'll break this out again for Christmas with my in-laws, so they know exactly what kind of girl is joining their family ;) 

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The Friday of Halloweens Past

This weekend I had to finish my Halloween costume since I'm traveling the next two weekends for weddings, and while digging through my costume dresser (what, do other people not have an entire dresser devoted to costumes?) I was reminded of some of my favorite Halloween costumes of the past couple of years.  Here are some of my favorites:

Holly Golightly

Loofah

Tiger

Clue

Wendy from Peter Pan

Carebear

What's been your favorite Halloween costume?  Are you dressing up this year?

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Holly Golightly Costume

Happy Halloween!! This year I put together a last minute Breakfast at Tiffany's costume after seeing the idea on Face It Catalog.  I already knew I could pick up a similar mask on the cheap from Fred Flare, and I added one of Jeff's old button downs, a crazy cat purse I found in the kids section at Sears, and some tassel earrings I made from a package of embroidery thread and an old pair of earrings.  Sleepy face optional.

(Oh, and don't worry you guys, I was wearing shorts under there.)

Happy Halloween!!

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Fun Group Costume: Clue

You know how sometimes you end up going to more than one Halloween party in a weekend and feel like you need a second costume?  I know some people will wear the same costume multiple times, but I always like to wear something different, even if it's thrown together at the last minute.

A couple of years ago my friends and I needed a second costume idea, so we went for Clue.  My friend just happened to already own a maid costume (what?) and for Ms. Peacock and Ms. Scarlet we wore blue and red.  Add a couple of fascinators and some weapons (Who just has a lead pipe laying around? We do.)  and you're good to go!

P.S. Nooses can get dangerous on the dance floor, especially since we tied them correctly thanks to our Internet research.




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Easy Halloween Costume: Tiger

Usually for Halloween I'll try to dress up as something creative or add a twist to my costume, like the year I was Tinkerbell "on Pixie Dust" (ahem).  Other years, I just feel like being cute.  Hence, the tiger.

Step one:  Find an orange tee shirt and orange leggings.  What, you can't find orange leggings in a normal store?  Don't worry, American Apparel can help.  If desired, cut said tee shirt into a v-neck, and use the extra fabric to make some tiger ears (attached to a headband, of course).

Step two:  Find a picture of a tiger print online.  Use a permanent marker to vaguely approximate said print all over the place.  Use cardboard in the middle of the shirt/leggings to avoid bleed through.

Step three: Admire your handywork.

Pssst, looks like I was trying on the old Carebear costume too...

Step four: Tease your hair like nobody's business.  Ask a friend to draw on a nose and whiskers before the party starts.

Step five: Find some other cats (hats optional).

Step six: Get them to pose "fierce" with you in the streets.

And congrats!  You've had a successful Halloween.




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