Angry Bird Costume

My neighbor wanted to be an Angry Bird for Halloween this year so I made him a costume.

 

I found this tutorial using a pumpkin pattern and copied what she did for the most part.

Like her, I used our Angry Birds stuffed animal as a guide.

I used the pumpkin Simplicity 2788 Toddler Costume pattern.  The pattern went up to 4T and I was making it for a five and a half (that half is important to him) year old so I added four inches to the length and two inches on each piece around.  I started with red fleece, tan fleece for the panel, yellow fleece for the beak and felt for the facial features.  I eyeballed the shapes and cut them out.

I lined it with a silky polyester of some sort so it would slip on and off easily.  I glued on the face shapes with Fabri-Tac.  That stuff never comes loose.  Then I stuffed and hand stitched on the nose and the tail.  I didn't use the hat pattern.  Instead I made a fleece beanie with the feathers on top.  I stuffed it more full than the pumpkin pattern called for so he was nice and round. 

I finished off the look with a green pig trick-or-treat bag.  I eyeballed this one as well.  I sewed a strap out of green felt then stitched the two faces together.  The eyes, brows and nose are glued on with Fabri-Tac.

Now that he's done with the costume, we'll be putting it on eBay next fall.  If you're interested in it, let me know!  It would easily fit a child from 3 - 6 or 7.

Halloween Party

I threw another kids Halloween party this year but I simplified it from last year.  No stress is my new motto (we'll see how long that lasts;) 

My neighbors came over one afternoon and helped us make up invitations.  I printed up the invites then had them tear out paper for hair and eye brows.  Then the kids ran around and passed them out by hand.  My son loved that he got to make the invitations.

I kept the food and decor super simple.  After all of the fun/fancy food last year, the kids didn't eat much so I didn't put much out.  I was going to have a sugar cookie station and let them decorate cookies but when I walked into Sam's Club the day before the party and saw Halloween cupcakes already decorated, with rings on top for $12 I was sold.  Again, it was all about simple this year.  I did make up some fun green foamy punch though.  Big hit.

I put out some toilet paper tubes, google eyes, markers, glue, pipe cleaners and other small things and let the kids create something while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We played a few new games and I recycled some from last year.  We played "witch, witch, ghost" instead of "duck, duck, goose."  Then we played hot potato with a spider.

I made a witch's hat ring toss.  I used a colored foam board for the base.  Then I cut out circles and the tops of the hats from black poster board (you could easily use black party hats for the tops).  I traced a party hat I had to get the pattern.  Then I glued on colored "buckles" and hot glued the hats onto the black circles.  My neighbor had the rings from a game but you could also use pool diving rings to toss.

I bought some ingredients to toss into my cauldron for "witch's brew."

We did the pin the nose on the witch that I made last year.

I filled some recycled jars with candy and had them guess how many there were.

And did a little mummy bowling with our recycled bowling pins.  I taped gauze and google eyes onto them and used a black foam pumpkin for the bowling ball.

I tried to get a group shot.  It was like hearding cats.

I had prizes for the games and sent everyone home with a Halloween ring pop.  I didn't even do goodie bags this time.  And no one cared.  They just like to get together, play games and have a good time.  I need to remember tha more often and not be so worried about creating things "just right" so I have good pictures to blog about!  Lesson learned this year: people just want to have fun.  They don't need you to stress yourself out for that to happen.

  

Hanging Ghosts

I saw some hanging ghosts in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog and figured I'd just make my own.  I bought some cheesecloth and went to buy styrofoam spheres and changed my idea just a little.  Did you know those spheres are $15-20 EACH???  I wanted 8 and 10 inch ones so I just bought the disc size instead for a more reasonable $5-8 each.  I started out with the foam discs, white cotton, cheesecloth, hot glue, fishing line and black foam.

My mom and I sat down one afternoon and created four ghosts to hang on our front porch.  I covered the discs in white cotton, then a layer or two of cheesecloth.  My mom strung them on fishing line then we cut strips into the fabrics to have them sway in the breeze.  I cut shapes out for eyes and mouths and glued them on.  The kids were ever so helpful in cutting the black foam scraps into little tiny pieces.  They love to practice cutting!  The ghosts were quick, easy and much cheaper than the $59 Pottery Barn version.  Okay, so theirs lit up.  Big deal!  Still not worth the price in my book.

Here they are hanging on the porch.  They sway great but twist quite a bit so I need to add faces to the other sides as well.  Now that they've been outside a week, the hanging strips are weathered and they look great!

 

Eye see you!

I saw this on Martha and knew it would be perfect for our Monster's Inc themed costumes (assuming we actually wore them this year). It's just google eyes glued on a bracelet. I bought the plastic bracelet at Wal-Mart for $4 then raided the kid's craft cupboard for their dollar store google eyes. Easy, quick, cute and cheap. I wore it all Halloween weekend and even to church on Sunday with black and white. I got more compliments on that than most jewelry I wear on a regular basis!

Halloween Party

I hosted a Halloween party for the kiddos in my neighborhood this year and loved it. We ended up with fifteen kids and it was crazy but fun. I ended up burning my fingers right before the party so I didn't get pictures of everything I wanted (I was somewhat distracted) but here are a few pics.

Every good party starts with a good invitation. Since we only invited our neighbors we made three dimensional invitations and hand delivered them. I printed them on purple card stock then attached little popping figures with ribbon.


I decorated the mantle with my painting, a few Sandra Magsamen witches, some great glittered bats I found at Pier 1, and some cobwebs.



I painted this cobweb on a foam pumpkin with black fabric paint. I usually do one on a real pumpkin but figured since I do this every year, I should just do a foam one I can keep.


I drew a witch profile and put it in one of my frames on a bookshelf and I drew bats for another frame. I found the little Frankenstein and witch busts at Michael's on clearance for $1.00 each.



I hung glittered bats all over the house, from light fixtures, chandeliers, doorways, etc... I think this is the only picture we got of them.


I filled four plastic jars (old peanut butter jars) with candy and had them guess how many were in them.


We played lots of games and I ordered all sorts of prizes from Oriental Trading Company so I wrote their names on blank bags to grab before the games began. Everyone got a prize for each game and the winner got a bigger prize.
I drew this witch on a poster board for a "Pin the Nose on the Witch" game.
I blew up black and purple balloons with prizes and confetti inside and taped them to the wall for another game.
We played "mummy wrap" with toilet paper. The little ones didn't quite get the concept.
We played "hot pumpkin" instead of "hot potato." Then we played "musical ghosts" instead of "musical chairs."
I cut up little Halloween shapes and they had to get them all into a bowl with a straw. Saw this in Family Fun last year.
We also played a Halloween bingo game I bought from Oriental Trading then we turned on the fog machine and strobe light in the basement and the kids danced. We didn't get a good picture of it but they had a blast.
The table was centered with a Halloween gingerbread house we made with my in-laws in September. I made mini-caramel apples (the caramel was REALLY hot, I know from experience), purple and green jello jigglers, and my dear neighbor ended up making some melted ham & cheese sliders for me after I burned my fingers. I also had my three year old put pumpkin and ghost shaped Peeps on lolli-sticks and we put those out. I served green punch and everyone else brought other appetizers and desserts.
My awesome neighbor who finished off the food and dishes.
My other neighbors were awesome as well and headed up the games and controlled the chaos. I just snagged her pic because I loved her apron!

This little guy showed up as the solar system. Totally his idea. How creative is that?
And how cute are my neighbor and her son as The Incredibles. Everyone in the family went as a character.
It was a fun kick-off to Halloween weekend and if my son had actually worn his costume (and I didn't burn my fingers) it would have been darn near perfect! Since we moved this year and his Sulley costume from last year still fit, we just did Monster's Inc again. So, I wasn't too disappointed that he boycotted the costume all weekend. I got cute pictures last year. On Halloween night, I did put the costume on my one year old for a few minutes. It was too big but she sure looked cute!