Costumes

I have to admit, I was so spoiled growing up! We always had a hand made (sewn) costume for Halloween. I thought ours were always the best, we far outweighed the store purchased costumes. But I think, back in the day, the hand sewn ones were better quality that what was available in the stores.

Today, there are some pretty great ones for purchase. I wish I was the Mom that made ALL my kids costumes...some are purchased while others were sewn. BUT I've also been fortunate enough to have a Mom that saves stuff and my kids have had the opportunity to wear costumes my brother wore when he was young!

I was reflecting back over the last 13 Halloween's the other day....I don't have pictures handy perhaps I'll add that to my to-do list when I have more free time. But nearly all of my oldest child's costumes were made! Then comes along the younger and his tend to be purchased. No right or wrong here...I'm just thinking back over the years.

My Oldest Child's costume list:
1st -- hand made Clown costume sewn by my Mom that I wore, I think I had to sew up some new pom pom balls on the front
2nd -- hand made super cute Mickey Mouse costume
3rd -- purchased Lion costume that was in the box of dress up clothes -- that was a favorite, to go with I made my own Dorothy costume.
4th -- hand made Pirate and won best costume prizes from the local toy store
5th --hand made Peter Pan, I wore it as an elf costume - my brother wore it as Peter Pan, sewn by my Mom
6th -- hand made Spider, I dressed up as Little Miss Muffet
7th -- purchased Ninja costume
8th -- hand made Darth Vader, another of my brother's costumes sewn by my Mom.
9th -- hand made Man with the Yellow Hat to go with the baby's Curious George
10th -- he made up his own and went as Mickey Mouse dressed up as Tom Brady (football player)
11th -- hand made Stick Man using Glo-Sticks
12th-- hand made Stick Man using Glo-Sticks again since it was such a hit the year before
13th -- hand made Charlie Brown Ghost

Let's compare that to my youngest child...

1st -- purchased from Old Navy Monkey costume - he was adorable! It went with brother's Man with the Yellow Hat
2nd -- hand made Mickey Mouse -- it was brother's
3rd -- purchased from the Disney Store Buzz Lightyear, clearance deals far outweighs the time and cost to make sometimes!
4th -- purchased James from Thomas The Tank Engine -- $5 costume he LOVED
5th -- hand made Darth Vader, yes the one my Mom sewed umpteen years ago

Here are they are in 2010's costumes!



For Darth Vader, I just needed to glue on some new buttons. Some had deteriorated over the years. I also needed to stitch up the body suit part since it was sewn for an older child. I took about an inch in on all sides and hemmed the legs and sleeves about 4 inches.

For Charlie Brown Ghost Costume I went to the store for a white sheet...Goodwill didn't have any so I hit Fred Meyer. They were out of FLAT white sheets. I thought for sure I'd see a ton of ghosts around town and I didn't see ANY! I used a FITTED sheet instead and pulled out the elastic. I bought a black flat sheet as well to cut the black spots out of and sewed them all down. If I was smarter I would have bought all iron on patches and used those! It would have saved a lot of time. I did use Iron On's on the eye spots and cut holes in the centers to see out. All in all, an easy costume! "I got a rock!"

I think together my kids scored over 10 pounds of candy!