DIY costumes

Halloween has become the most busiest time of year for me. With cost of EVERYTHING going up   I've had to use my skills to help keep some cost down. And that's where DIY costumes come into play.
It took me about the entire month to plan/make/and finish everyone's costume but a month well worth it.

First off is Ducati.

 She wanted to be a princess. But not any princess but Princess Ducati. So I was planning on sewing her a dress but instead I found this princess dress at the thrift store for $2. No characters on it. No affliction to other princesses like red/yellow/blue=Snow White.
This helped me alot on time.

 But I wanted to add alittle something extra to her costume. I made this crown with 2 pieces of felt and some fusible web. I sewed the edge to reinforce it just in case...Project done within 15 minutes.

So total cost for Ducati's cost $2.50.


Mason-
He's so funny. He originally told me that he's too old to dress up for Halloween. When I asked him how he was going to get candy he informed me that he'd just eat Ducati's gluten candy. hahaha....he figured everything out. So I left it alone until we were invited to a Halloween costume party. When I told Mason about it and that he had to dress up he agreed. But he wanted something simple.
So I found an easy tutorial on Martha Stewart.com on animal hoodies. So Mason agreed to be this wolf. Easy enough for me.

 I had this vest hoodie for a while now and just couldn't part with it.

 The face is just some felt with fusible web. But since the pieces are alittle oddly placed on the hood I just hot glued them. You can sort of see some glue strings but I think it adds to the costume. Sort of like wolf snot.

 The gloves are Mike's.

So total cost of Mason's costume was $1.  

Lily-

She was going to be Diego orginially. Until she cut her hair herself. This meant I needed to even it out so her hair went short. Real short. So sometime last weekend she was trying on her costume mostly so I can see if there was something else needed when she started to cry. Mike and I comforted her and asked what's the matter. 

 She said she looked like a boy. That all she wants for Halloween is to look like a cute girl. Break-my-momma-heart! So with only a few days I was searching on-line for some sort of idea when it clicked with me....Ballerina.

 We had most of the costume from when Hailey was in dance. The shoes we borrowed from a friend so cost for Lily's 2nd costume- Free! However her 1st costume cost $2. Still not bad for 2 costumes.

Hailey-

She planned on being a butterfly. But when Mason was indecisive about dressing up Hailey volunteered to match him. Since he was going to be a wolf what better match up then Little Red Riding Hood. 

I know Red wears ruffles and a corset but c'mon Hailey's 6. So I skipped the corset. Plus to keep the cost down most of her costume was stuff we had around the house. The basket I had already. She wore her black shirt and black leggings. 

 I had a red ruffle dress that didn't fit anymore so I just cut it up and made it into a ruffle skirt. But the cape was alittle different for me. I actually used a pattern. This was a first for me. I picked up 1 yard of red felt from Joann's. Thankfully it was on sale for $4/yd.

But I absolutely love it! As well as she did. So her cost for her costume was the $4.

Mike and I-
Alittle back story for those who don't get it. And don't worry if you don't get it right away. I didn't :-) Mike seen this photo on Pinterest and couldn't stop laughing.

Which lead for him to search for tons more. Who knew that Carmen and Waldo were lovers? But this lead to Mike wanting to be Waldo and Carmen for Halloween. 

 Here's my Waldo. The jeans and shoes he had so that was easy enough. The white beanie we had so I just painted it. The cane a friend loaned it to us.
But the shirt....that was what took me so long. Retail these official Waldo shirts are around $30. I know for a shirt! So I searched for red striped shirts at Target, the thrift store, Walmart, etc. And I found some but just not the right shade of red. So I resorted to making him one. It took 2 shirts for me to be finally successful.

The first shirt the paint bleed under the tape. So I had to pick up another shirt and try again with different paint. And it seemed to work but it had to lay flat for 24 hours for each side. So it took 2 days to paint this shirt.

But it turned out great! Total DIY cost for Mike was $4.
Now for me. Being Carmen Sandiego was alittle harder than I thought.

 She wears pretty distinctive clothing that if it's not right it can really take away from what I was dressed up as. The red trench coat a friend loaned to me. I had the black dress, tights and heels.

But what was holding me up was that silly hat. Finding a red floppy hat that's not made out of straw can cost around $30. For a hat- No way!
After searching and searching I finally gave up and another friend offered to help me sew one. Something I was dreading. Not being with me friend. The sewing thing.

But while at the D.I. thrift store I seen it! My eyes must of jumped out of my head because Mike just laughed at me. The hat was pink and has these lines on it but at this point I just didn't care.
But this time instead of painted and having to wait 24 hours I just picked up a can of red spray paint from Wal-Mart. It took a couple of coats but after about 2 hours I was done. Now the ribbon/scarf. I picked up some yellow fabric from D.I. as well and just cut, hot glued, and then put my feet up. I was done with minutes to spare until our Halloween party.

DIY cost for my costume $3.

So total cost for all 6 people with 7 costumes $14.50.
Pretty good way on keeping cost down without it effecting these sweet smiles.