Flower Pot Costume DIY (Halloween 2017)

Happy Halloween! As every since our oldest was born, we had a family Halloween costume this year. A few months back, as we sat around the dinner table, the topic of what we should be for Halloween came up and the girls decided they wanted to be butterflies. We then thought my husband could be an entomologist (that studied butterflies, of course) and I would be a flower.

We’ve been talking a lot about pollinators in Girl Scouts and with the various flying insects that have been around our vegetable and wildflower garden this summer.

This costumes were a mix of store bought and DIY (mainly store bought pieces) this year that just needed a glue gun and duck tape. (See how I made my Ringmaster costume.)

Butterflies – It was easy to find these cute butterfly costumes on Amazon. They came in different colors so the girls could choose their favorite and came with a mask and antenna. Next was picking up a black long sleeve t-shirt and leggings and adding a colored skirt because who doesn’t love a fluffy skirt? The butterfly pieces will go into the dress up box after Halloween and the clothes will go in to their wardrobes as layering pieces.

Entomologist – My husband’s costume mostly came right out of his closet. We already had the pith hat from his “tiger tamer” costume from the circus Halloween and just picked up a bug net that the girls have been wanting anyways.

Flower Pot – Mine, was the costume that required the DIY this year (last year my costume was an Olaf onesie but I built my husband a Kristoff costume and the year before that I made Alice and Cheshire Cat costumes). I was planning on ordering a flower headband and calling it a day when, on a whim, I decided to see what the folks on Pinterest had to say on the matter and discovered the Flower Pot DIY.

It’s pretty easy and you can customize the container, flowers, etc. If you have a tub that has seen better days, this is a good way to repurpose it or I suppose you could use a large cardboard box. I ended up purchasing a plastic bin for this project and cut out the bottom, using a layer of duck tape to cover it the raw edge so I wouldn’t scratch my legs.

I raided the local dollar store for the flowers which I then cut off the bunches. Laying the bin on it’s side, I laid out a row of flowers then taped them down with duck tape. Once I went all the way around, I laid added a second row of duck tape to catch all the stem ends. We happen to have green bungee cords with hooks that I could use as suspenders.

I selected a few for the headband, which was purchased at the dollar store, and hot glued them on to make a flower crown. I tied on some ribbon since we were also going to a local Oktoberfest earlier this fall.

Wear the pieces over a green long sleeve t-shirt, jeans, and boots and I was done.

I didn’t feel as tired as I look in this picture from a trunk-or-treat event but I worked my flower pot into the theme for my trunk (rainy weather ended up making us take it inside).

What’s next?

I wonder if the girls will be on board with a family costume next year? Hopefully, we can come up with something that works for everyone but we’ll have to wait and see.

 

Looking for more Halloween fun? Check out these felt Monster Faces.

In Dayton, Ohio? Dayton Contemporary Dance Company is hosting its first Trunk-or-treat event! Oct 31, 6p-8p at 840 Germantown Street, Dayton, there will be a DJ, games, food trucks and candy outside plus dance demonstrations inside. Pick up a code for discounted tickets to the holiday performance, The Littlest Angel, in December 2017. Then, be sure to swing by the Stoddard Street Pumpkin Glow near Dayton Art Institute, a Dayton tradition.

Disney On Ice presents Treasure Trove in Dayton!

Discover endless riches when Disney On Ice presents Treasure Trove comes to your hometown!  Disney On Ice sets the gold standard with its newest skating spectacular.  Get tangled up in Disney’s 50 ^th animated feature with Rapunzel and Flynn and enter the worlds of your other favorite Disney princesses –Tiana, Cinderella, Jasmine, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Mulan and of course, the one who started it all, Snow White.

Ahoy, Mateys!  Set sail with Peter Pan, the always sassy Tinker Bell and the cantankerous Captain Hook & his pirate pals on an adventure beyond Never Land!  Trek the wilds of Africa with Simba, Nala, Pumbaa and Timon as they discover the true meaning of the ‘Circle of Life.’  Tick-Tock!  Tick-Tock!  Don’t be late to a very important date with Alice & the Mad Hatter as they march with the Queen of Hearts’ Army Of Cards.  Be sure to see this show full of memories guaranteed to last a lifetime.

In Dayton, Ohio at the Nutter Center from Oct 21-25, 2015, weekday tickets are just $13 – No code needed! Family 4-pack offer: $119 includes 4 tickets, 4 popcorns and 4 lemonades! (Use code FAMD26.)

Purchase your tickets here. Visit and follow Disney On Ice to always know when they are coming to your town on Facebook and Twitter and check out the hashtag #DisneyOnIce

This year, our family costume for Halloween will be characters from Alice in Wonderland with my oldest being Alice, my youngest being the Cheshire Cat, my husband as the Mad Hatter, and myself as the Queen of Hearts. I’ll probably still be working on the costumes right up until Halloween, but if you are looking for some Alice in Wonderland inspiration, check out my Pinterest board.

I am hoping we’ll be visiting family in Florida soon and maybe squeezing in a trip to a Walt Disney World park. If you are planning a Disney visit, check out these pins and if you baby wear, check out the Disney Babywearers group on Facebook. *Warning: If you aren’t sure you can resist decorating everything Disney, don’t click that last link. Also, check out my Ribbon Minnie Mouse Ears for your little mouseketeer.

Are you in or near Dayton, Ohio? Enter to win a 4-pack of tickets to Disney On Ice presents Treasure Trove’s opening night in Dayton, Wednesday, October 21, 2015 at 7:00 PM. Giveaway ends October 14, 2015, 11:59pm. Good luck!
Enter giveaway by clicking here!

 

Easy Ringmaster Costume

Last year I managed to find two of the same tiger costumes in the sizes for my daughters for this year for $5 each on local yard sale Facebook groups. That determined that this year we were doing a circus them for Halloween!

The tiger costumes just needed a good washing to brighten them up and trim a few loose threads. I found an item at a thrift store that was made of red sequin fabric that had seen better days so I cut it apart to make bows for the head and tail (I used this same basic fabric bow process for the ones on the head). Done! They actually really enjoy wearing these so I decided not to tempt fate by trying to draw whiskers on them.

The benefit of knowing what you want to do well in advance of Halloween is that you can take advantage of getting the items you need when you see them. The ringmaster costume basically hinged on being able to find a red jacket so I was thrilled when I walked into a thrift store while visiting family in Florida a few months back and found one that also happened to be half off that day.

Fast forward to about a month ago when JoAnn’s had a percent off your whole purchase coupon available. I used ready made shoulder pads that were already black and the base for the epaulettes. I than eyeballed the length I would need of gold fringe trim to go around the shoulder pads. I hot glued the fringe around the rounded edge of the shoulder pads and then hot glued the shoulder pad on to the jacket. I had just a little piece left over so I hot glued that on the front chest.

For the front of the jacket, I eyeballed the length needed of a black and gold cord I found. I put tape around I would cut the piece apart and then heat sealed it. I then hot glued the cord into place. I also removed the lower buttons to mimic a military style jacket and reinforced the remaining buttons so they wouldn’t fall off.

Add a top hat with a dollar tree red sequin headband around it and an inexpensive black bowtie. I put them all over a white button down, dark fitted pants, and knee high boots I already owned. Here is more “Pinspiration” that I gathered.

Now, we are just hoping for decent weather to go trick or treating. We have a red wagon with a canopy so it will look like an old fashion animal train car. My husband will be in all khaki with a safari hat and whip as the animal tamer. The circus will be in town! Happy Halloween!

Monster Faces Activity

Halloween is around the corner and this year my almost 4 year old is into monsters. I love that the library near us has book bundles, a handful of books banded together on various topics that are on display. It makes it easy to grab a few books without trying to keep track of two girls heading in different directions while reading book spines. The latest batch that Kelsey picked out is a Monster themed set.

One of the favorites has been Mostly Monsterly by Tammi Sauer. It’s about a monster who is like every other monster except she has some hobbies the other monsters just don’t get.

In my usual fashion, I had some materials laying around, in this case sheets of felt, and had a quick idea. In the end, we have a fun new “busy bag” idea that my preschooler enjoyed and even my 1 year old had fun checking out. To create your own Monster Faces Felt Activity, just get a little creative with some scissors and felt and cut out shapes that could be eyes, mouth, etc. I just used basic shapes like triangles, circles, and squares in various sizes and some zig zag pieces that could maybe be hair, or teeth, or eyebrows.

That’s pretty much it! It took a few minutes to get started and I just kept making more pieces from the scraps after cutting out bigger shapes. The girls played with these for a while until, well, the 1 year old started acting like a 1 year old and trying to grab all the pieces. You can only do so much.

Don’t mind the bedhead. We were still in pajamas at almost lunch time – who doesn’t love a lazy weekend morning. I hope your little monsters enjoy the activity, too!

 

Apples, Apples, Apples!

We went apple picking at the start of the month. It is something I wanted to do last year but we finally did it this year. It was great to let the girls walk around and pluck them right off the tree. After picking strawberries and raspberries this summer, Kelsey had the drill down. I just needed to show her once what to do and she was off. Aubrey was happy to take them out, taste test a few, and put them back in the bag. It only took about half an hour to fill a half bushel to overflowing.

Of course, Kelsey had two and Aubrey had one apple right off the tree. We made caramel apples at Aubrey’s birthday party. Apple pancakes, oatmeal with apples. A few batches of applesauce in the crockpot and lots of sliced apples for snacks and with meals. Today we finished off the last of it by making some apple pie filling to toss in the freezer for a later time, maybe Thanksgiving.

Kelsey has been familiar with the life cycle of butterflies but when we found a tadpole this summer, we really got into life cycles. This was another opportunity to discuss how trees grow from seeds and we plant seeds to grow plants and trees that give us food. Of course, this was a little confusing because she was not happy about me roasting pumpkin seeds instead of planting them.

Thanks, apples, for seeing us into fall, pumpkins will taking it from here. I have already roasted two, with the puree sitting in the freezer. So far, we’ve made pumpkin spice syrup for coffee, pumpkin pancakes, and pumpkin French toast. And, there are still two more pumpkins sitting outside waiting to be cooked.

I wish our butternut squash had done better in our garden, but at least we’ve been able to get a great variety of local produce to choose from. After our morning of apple picking, we played at one of the nature play areas with a creek next to it. Playing in creeks and turning over rocks has become of my 3 year olds favorite things now and now, apparently, my almost 1 year old likes it to. Can’t wait to see what else fall brings.