Halloween Costumes (Part 1)

I don't care how much my husband makes fun of me.  This is one of my favorite things all year: making costumes.  The hardest part is usually figuring out what they can be.  Kaitlyn is on her own planning now, and  she says she's still deciding.  But Tyler and Jasmine still go along with whatever I make!

So what is Tyler "into" right now?  Well, he is really all about coloring and drawing lately.  He still loves singing his songs all day, though not as much as last year.  But his favorite thing in the whole wide world is his best friend, Ruffy.

Ruffy is a webkinz beagle that Tyler picked out from a group of donations to his preschool class.  Ruffy gets into some mischief every day with Tyler, but Tyler is sure to tell Ruffy "no no!" when he eats things he shouldn't or lands on everyone else's heads.  And Ruffy also loves to lick everyone on the face!  One day, as Tyler headed to school, he picked up Ruffy on his way to the door, said "bye, bye Tyler" in Ruffy voice as Ruffy "waved" to him, and then set him down and ran to the bus.

So maybe Tyler could pretend to be Ruffy!  I started to look at dog and puppy costumes for inspiration.

Um, no.  Yikes.  Not only are many of them . . . odd looking, but every single boy in them was 2 or younger.  I needed a way to make a slightly more grown-up version of Ruffy dog.  And then I found this store on Etsy.

And I was in love!  They are animals, but not meant for babies.  And instead of just wearing the costume a few times, Tyler could wear a coat every day to school if he wanted to!

Now, I'm sure the seller could have made me a really nice one if I paid her enough.  But the designs she already has made are $150, so a special order would be even more.  I'm sorry, but the only article of clothing I ever paid more than $100 for was my wedding dress.  Not to mention, her coats are dry clean only, which has no place in the life of my 6 year old boy.  By all means, if any of you have that kind of money and want a 100% wool coat, go for it!  In my case, not to steal her idea, but . . . it was time to make my own version.  And to make it a bit more of a costume, I made some pants at the last minute for Trick or Treating, while the coat can be for all winter if he wants too.

I made mine out of corduroy,  lined with black polar fleece for warmth.  Obviously it loses the polished look of the original, but is now more comfy.  My only regret is that the hood doesn't stand up as nicely as hers do.  I wasn't going to add pockets originally - my kids never use them - but then I realized that Ruffy needed a place to live.  So I had Tyler write out Ruffy's name and embroidered it onto a pocket.

Oh, and those buttons!  I love them, but they were cursed.  I figured they would be a nice touch, but lost two different sets of them in my house somewhere.  And then I sewed one of them upside down twice in a row.  Sigh.  They were worth it though!

And now Tyler loves to put it on and pretend to be Ruffy dog whenever he can.  Success!

On to Jasmine!  I tried to brainstorm, but . . . she's a baby.  She isn't exactly excited about any one thing in particular. And our nickname for her, Squish, comes from Finding Nemo when Dori names the jellyfish Squishy.  Turning a baby into a jellyfish wasn't a good idea.  Not only would it be hard to make and hard to wear, but it wouldn't even be cute.

And then I saw these at Costco and caved.  Ladies and Gentlemen, my first ever entirely store-bought costume:

I made something to go with every costume I have ever bought before.  A tutu to go underneath and add fullness, a belt, something.  But there was nothing for me to do here. And for $13, there was no way to beat it.  She can use the shirt and tights all winter, and the elephant is stinkin' cute.  So I'm just done!

Jasmine loves hammin' it up for the camera.  And Tyler loves to smoosh her!  I do think she missed them when we went on our trip, because she seemed so bored.  But now that we are back, she can go back to sitting in the family room and watching all of their antics all day. This boy is still her biggest fan, though!  He loves to play with her and talk to her.  So now they can be animals together for Halloween!