Thursday, September 25, 2008

It Takes Some Backbone to Be an Invertebrate


After yesterday’s post about totally inappropriate Halloween costumes, I still have my mind on playing dress-up. I started thinking about my all-time favorite homemade Halloween costumes. A couple of years ago I was challenged when my kids announced they wanted to be jellyfish for Halloween. Maybe a couple thousand hours of watching SpongeBob had something to do with their choice.

This sounded like a design disaster waiting to happen. But a trip to the dollar store brought success! Out of hula hoops, plastic mixing bowls, and cheap shower curtain liners, two giant sea creatures emerged. We couldn’t predict how their gelatinous goodness would be enhanced under the glow of the streetlights, or how those filmy tentacles would undulate like floating strands as the kids made their way down the street. Little goblins from all over the block screamed, “Jellyfish!” from behind their mass-produced masks. Everyone loved them, except for one little girl who was just miffed that her beauty queen ensemble was being upstaged.

Last year my husband and I got a last-minute invite to a Halloween party. The jellyfish were still stashed on a shelf in the garage. We dusted them off and were good to go. We even won first place in the costume contest. Not bad for a couple of bucks worth of plastic.

Halloween is a little over a month away. There’s still time to break out the cardboard and duct tape and dare to be something unwieldy.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my gosh! That is BRILLIANT!!!

Brenda said...

What great costumes!

I am so bad at making things...my poor son went as an M&M once...I used one of his dad's t-shirt and a pair of my son's sweat pants (both were red)...I took a black marker and made a big M&M on the front...I stuffed the shirt with a pillow and I used red face paint and he wore a red baseball cap...with white gloves...thank goodness he was only 6 at the time and didn't know how cheap and lacking of talent his mother was...grin..

I applaud you moms who have the talent to make costumes for your little ones...

Kimbra Kasch said...

OMG! Those are the cutest. I can't believe you came up with that. Way to clever for me.

Amazing!!!

Rena Jones said...

Awesome costumes! I'll definitely have to show my boys. They will love these. They love jellyfish!

My second daughter has had some interesting costumes. One year she was a TV. We used a box and put the TV Land logo on the screen. It was really cute. Another year she dressed up like a "mommy" with a ratty bathrobe, fuzzy slippers, curlers in her hair, cold cream on her face and twin baby dolls in her arms. Priceless.

Rena Jones said...

I just showed Nathan & Neil and they loved it. Neil goes, "Can you make one for us?" Bahahahaha ...

Adrienne said...

Green Girl,
Kim - I have to give the credit to my kids - they like to go against the current!

Brenda - Sewing is the thing that drives me up the wall. Once in a while I give in but I always tear my hair out (along with my crooked seams!)

Rena - Love the TV idea. There are so many great uses for a box! I wonder how you'd make a flat screen, though. And hey, the jellyfish is cheap and easy...you can cheat and use an umbrella and party streamers!

Carrie Harris said...

Fabulous idea! I think homemade costumes are the way to go; so much more fun than purchased ones. And yeah, you win more prizes too. :)

Adrienne said...

Carrie - I know, the possibilities are endless! And kids always have the best ideas.