OK, since vowing to be better about posting, I've been even more negligent than before. I can't offer any excuse other than that I'm tired and busy and annoyed that I require sleep in exchange for functionality. Since I posted last we've been to Disney World for Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween party, I've met my cousins and assorted dorky friends for a Rush concert, and we've gone about our fall activities. Mostly this means football, baking and wishing life would slow down a bit so we could take in the beauty of the high country in autumn.
If you're a fan of Disney World and Halloween, I highly recommend you try to get to the Halloween party; it's by far the best time I've ever had at the Magic Kingdom. While we were there M got to cut a rug with Woody from Toy Story:
We also met Buzz Lightyear and several other characters including her very favorites, the little green aliens. Looking back, that evening was the genesis of Halloween 2010, because a week or so after coming home she came to me and asked if she could be the alien for trick-or-treating. Sure, I told her, glad she wasn't requesting to be Lightning McQueen (for those of you uninitiated into Pixardom, he's a car. Not an easy costume.)
She held me to it.
So I started looking around. I found this. $30 and complete shit. Not even cute, just rather weird-looking, which is ashame because those little aliens are damn adorable. So I started thinking about how to make one. For reference, they look like this.
Many people have asked for the breakdown of how this costume evolved, so here it is. :) For comparison, the alien costume, store-bought (with shipping), about $35. My costume: $15.
Toy Story Alien costume:
Head: green fleece fabric on a bicycle helmet (the helmet is in fact Lightning McQueen themed).
Antenna: length of dowel rod with a styrofoam ball stuck on the end, wrapped in poly-fill, shoved into PlayDoh in the top vent of the helmet.
Ears: Cut from fleece, sewn onto cardboard to hold shape, taped to helmet.
Eyeballs: Styrofoam balls, with about 1/3 cut off. Covered in white fabric, with black velvet pupils and green fleece eyelids, all hot-glued onto the helmet. {I am using hot glue like mad with these costumes, and have the raw red fingertips to prove it.}
Neck band: Length of 1/2 inch pipe insulation, painted purple, affixed with industrial-strength velcro.
Alien Hands: I made three-fingered gloves to fit over her hands, but they were too small so in a pinch before the festival last Saturday I cut them in half and hot glued them to the inside of the cuff over her hands. That way she could still hold the trick-or treat bag. {You do NOT want to impede the trick-or-treat bag} I plan to check the weather for Boone BOO! and see if I need to make a bigger pair for Friday she can wear over regular gloves. Gotta love that mountain weather!
Suit: Blue fleece sweatshirt (hood removed, used as pattern for head & DJ's cowl) and pants from K-Mart. {No crowds there, at K-Mart. you can shop for random-ass costume components all day, and no one questions you a bit.} Belt made from purple fabric from DJ's costume.
Pizza Planet Logo: made from yellow felt (left over from my costume) and assorted scraps of fabric from the rag bag.
And that's the whole costume. Only the head presented any challenge, but it worked out much smoother than it should have. (Because I sew, but not well. And I don't have any idea how to use a pattern. It should have been a disaster, but went perfectly.) I was particularly pleased at how the fabrics from each costume complimented each other and gave the whole thing some cohesiveness.
I don't have a lot of spare time, so the whole business had to be assembled after M was in bed and my work/homework/cookiemaking done for the evening. It required 3 evenings of work, so around 12 hours. I only saw 4am once! And it was worth it:
She won Best Overall Costume at the festival, and to a 3 year old there isn't much better than an evening filled with dressing up, inflatables, candy, and fun that ends in a prize bag full of PlayDoh.
Tomorrow: Jessie the Yodeling cowgirl. YEEHAW!
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