Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Costumes

With less than an hour to spare I got my kids' costumes done and they loved trick or treating in them at our local zoo! Thankfully it's not even Halloween yet so they'll get to wear these costumes again...which makes me happy since they were a LOT of work to make! (Why, oh why, can't I just buy my kids' costumes and save all the craziness of making them?)

Early this year my kids watched the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie for the first time and it's probably the first non-animated full length movie they ALL loved. I also let them watch the Johnny Depp version, which they thought was ok, but the first version captured their imaginations more and I was not-so-secretly planning out how all 4 kids could dress as the characters for Halloween this year. They really didn't get a choice. (Sorry, not sorry.)

I love my little Willy Wonka, Wonka Bar, Oompa Loompa, and Violet Beauregarde! Want the details on how I made each costume? Here you go...

KCW Day 6...Vikings Costume and Vests

I thought I had the kids' costumes all finished...but after seeing the size of the pants with the Vikings costume Elliott planned to wear, I knew I had to whip up one more thing for Halloween.

Elliott has worn his Minnesota Vikings football costume each of the past 3 years at least once. We go to several Halloween events so sometimes the kids get to try out other costumes, and the Vikings player has always been a favorite. The pants for the uniform are probably a size 3T...not exactly right for a 7 year old!

The shirt still fit, though. Maybe it was designed to go over some shoulder pads or something?? For Kid's Clothes Week I cut a pair of white leggings for Elliott in a size 7 and made them extra short. Then I added a purple and yellow stripe down each leg to mirror the stripe layout on the jersey. (although when my husband, a true Vikings fan, saw the pants he pointed out that the stripes weren't like the 'real' uniforms...oh well)

The pants have a simple elastic waist and then I made a cuff out of purple fabric to be worn above his socks to get the whole effect like the football players with their fancy socks. :)

Elliott loves it and it's always fun to see the reaction people have to his costume. Sometimes he gets extra candy (from fellow Vikings fans), but more often than not people give him a hard time about his team.

The other two things I whipped up for KCW were actually at the request of Emma's Kindergarten teacher. She thought it would be fun to have a 'helper of the day vest' for the student acting as the classroom's special helper. She wanted the boys' vest to be camouflage and then to have a girl version as well. Emma was thrilled when I let her go to the fabric store with me and choose the vest fabric. It's definitely not what I would have chosen, but I won't ever have to be the one to wear it. Ha!

I quickly self drafted a pattern and then altered it to be shorter than originally planned because I only had 12 inch zippers on hand. Oops. They turned out pretty cute though and now the teacher is working on a badge or patch of some kind that says 'Helper of the Day.'

The biggest challenge was to make a vest that would fit the variety of sizes that Kindergartners can be. So this vest fits Elliott (a first grader on the big/tall side) and also fits Emma (one of the most petite kids in Kindergarten).

I made a pattern for this vest as I cut it since I had to sew two of them and didn't want to re-figure it out the second time. If anyone is interested in making a vest like this just leave a comment and I'll scan the pattern and post it along with a few steps in a mini-tutorial.

Homemade Princess Belle Costume

Be sure to head over to The Train to Crazy and enter for a chance to WIN a copy of my Halloween Treat Bag pattern!

Saturday was my baby girl's birthday. She is 4 and acts so grown up. We had fun celebrating her and I, of course, had to make her something special for her birthday. The first time I made a birthday outfit for her was 2 years ago...and it was really the first thing I had sewn. Ever. (other than a pair of shorts in home ec in high school which was too long ago to count)

But a special occasion deserves a very special dress. And even though she's never seen the movie Beauty and the Beast, Isa loves Belle right now because of her cameo on a recent episode of Sofia the First. :)

For the most part, I followed the pattern for Look Number 10 from the Five and Ten Designs eBook Volume One. The main changes I made were to the neckline. Isa is a size 6, but I cut the neckline (both front and back) of the pattern down to the 18 month size so it was lower. I also cut the shoulder line a bit narrower and did not add cap sleeves. Instead, I left it sleeveless and then made a standalone little shawl so the dress would look more like Belle from Beauty and the Beast.

The details on this dress are just SO fun! I found a gorgeous pearl trim and added it around the entire dress bodice and skirt. Then I got some sparkly ribbon to use for the dress pick-ups. And, of course, sparkly tulle had to be part of the underskirt. (I used sparkly tulle for half of the tulle with regular yellow tulle under it.)

If I were going to make the dress again I would have cut the tulle layers shorter to begin with. I wanted tea length, but made it a little too long. I tried to trim it up a bit after it was done...but it's impossible to cut straight lines once everything has been gathered. I'd also double the amount of tulle I used to give the skirt more lift. But the pattern is pretty easy to follow and went together faster than I thought it would.

I'm really happy with how it turned out overall and Isa LOVES it! That's all I could ask for. This will be her Halloween costume too...so of course I had to make her a Halloween Treat Bag to match. (There's still time to get your pattern for only $5! Get it now!)

While we were taking pictures of Isa in her dress, she asked if I would take some with her baby too. This was her big birthday gift...a Cabbage Patch Kid baby that came with a crib, stroller, and baby carrier. My daughter loves her babies and treats them like they are real. She is in love with this new little one. And taking the pictures cracked me up. It felt just like a newborn photo shoot! Ha!

And one last picture since I couldn't resist. When we got home from running errands (yes, this crazy girl wore her Belle dress to Home Depot!) she sat on our new front porch. I just love how the back of the dress bustles and just looks so cute.

Are you making any costumes for Halloween this year? The Train to Crazy has a fun series going on all about costumes! And be sure to enter for a chance to win the Halloween Treat Bag pattern while at Andrea's fun site.

A lesson in begging

It strikes me as odd that each year we dress our children up in funny little costumes, and tell them to BEG strangers for treats. Every other day in the year is spent trying to get our kids to be cautious of strangers trying to give them candy or lure them into their homes...but on Halloween we encourage kids to go to strangers' homes!

Odd.

But fun.

The kids had a fantastic time dressing up and getting piles of candy again this year. I blogged about Henry's costume a while back, but I actually was busy making the costumes for the other kids too. (I just never got the chance to blog about them since they weren't done until last week!)

Emma's was my favorite that I made. She was 'long hair girl' (aka Rapunzel) from the movie Tangled. It's a very well made dress (not that I made it well...I just mean that the pattern consisted of 3 different skirts with a full head-to-toe lining and crinoline). It probably cost about $45 in materials...but was adorable! (And sorry in advance for the poor quality photos. My camera broke and I'm trying to figure out whether to buy a new one or pay over $200 for the chance it could be fixed. I'm SO sad...but thankful for cell phone cameras in the meantime.)

Isa's was also really cute...although it would have been cuter without the white shirt and crazy leggings. But, you gotta do what you gotta do to keep warm so you can stay out and get more candy, right? :)
She was a blue TinkerBell. I think the costume was technically for the water fairy, but she was thrilled with it! The funniest thing she said about it is that she wanted Daddy to dress up as one of the boy fairies from TinkerBell. What do you think Michael's reaction was to that? :)

Elliott was a superhero and wore the cape I made for him and the other kids in his class. He made the mask one night with Daddy and was a cute little superhero flying around to get candy!

Here are a couple pics from when we went trick-or-treating at the zoo. It's a fun tradition to do every year. The reaction to Henry's costume from other people really surprised me. Kids and adults pointed at him and talked to him everywhere we went...wanting to see the 'dragon.' So, I guess in the end, a dragon is what he turned out to be (instead of a dinosaur, or lizard, or monster-y thing).

I should just get started now on making next year's costumes so I get them done in time...with no stress!

Costume preview

For some reason, I decided to take on the crazy task of making all of my kids' trick-or-treating costumes this year. The insane part is that I'm sewing those along with MANY other things...super hero capes for all of Elliott's little friends for his birthday in a couples weeks, birthday clothes for Isa (a dress, leggings, and jacket), plus flower girl dresses for my brother's wedding and some little things for the boys to wear to the wedding.

If I'm lucky, I'll get it all done PLUS a dress for me and a shirt and tie for Michael to wear to the wedding. T-minus 4 weeks to get all of this done!

The costumes can be finished up once we get home from the wedding, but I couldn't resist getting started on Henry's. It's almost done and I'm loving my little chunky 'thing.' I'm not sure what to call him in this costume - a dinosaur? monster? lizard? chicken? Whatever it is...it's cute.

Too Much Candy

What a weird concept...go to someone's door, knock and candy will appear! The trick with young kids is getting them to realize they can't always go up to people's doors and ask for candy...it's a once-a-year thing. :)

The fun began at our local zoo on Saturday night. The kids walked through the zoo gathering candy and looking at the animals. Apparently there was record attendance at the zoo's event this year. I can believe it because we tried to go on an earlier day and couldn't even find a parking spot. Craziness!

Our street isn't one for trick-or-treaters so on Sunday night we went to a friend's neighborhood. Since Halloween was actually on Monday this year, though, another friend's neighborhood had trick-or-treating that night. So...we went there too. That's THREE times this year! Whoa!

Elliott also had a party at preschool where he got to dress up and get candy. All combined...the candy fills a box and hasn't seemed to lessen this week even though every snack comes from the box.

Here are my cutie pies this year.
Elliott the Vikings player. He got a lot of extra candy with this outfit because any homes where a Vikings fan lived would give him extra candy!
Although, he also got lots of jeers from people that went right over his head. Several would say 'Go Pack' when he'd walk by or make a silly comment. One woman at the zoo asked if he was supposed to be Adrian Peterson to which he replied..."No, I'm Elliott." :)

Emma wanted to be Elmo this year. This is the same costume Elliott wore when he was 3 and I was really surprised she chose this over something pink and girly...but she looked adorable. Everywhere we went there were other kids pointing out "Elmo" and were excited to see her! She loved it! :)

Isa was a cute little pink poodle. She has a funny run and it was even more adorable with a pink wagging tale and ears! :)

I made an attempt to get all the kids together for a picture. Elliott was ok with Isa hanging on his arm but as soon as Emma touched him...he was done!

 Henry had two costumes. The night we went to the zoo it was pretty warm so he had this silly glow-in-the-dark shirt that said "this is my costume". The other nights were much colder so he was a spider.

 Candy overload.

 They're already dreaming about next year. Can't say I blame them...it's a pretty fun concept for kids.