Halloween has never been my favorite holiday. I loved it as a kid, of course, but had no real attachment as an adult. Until I had children. While a bit of a busman's holiday, making costumes for my children for Halloween has always been a joy. I spend far too much to create costumes they will wear for a few hours, but they love it and so do I.
This year, my son wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow. Okay, but I was determined NOT to spend a bunch of money on this one. He had pants that would work, and I had a poet shirt from my grad school days (don't ask me why - I have no idea!), a vest was easy from the remnant of some random upholstery fabric, as was the sash and the head wrap. Bought new rain boots in brown, as he had outgrown his old ones, and just made felt cuffs for them. Easy Peasy. The tricky parts? Wig, mustache and tricorn hat. I had a hat from my college days that looks like something Zorro might wear (again - no idea why),
and I have not even had the thing on my head in 20 years, so a few quick pinches and I bent the brim into a tricorn. Problem 1 solved.
I started to ventilate a beard - far too late, as this takes a bit of time an patience and I am out of practice. I stared at so many photos of Johnny Depp my eyes were crossing before I thought of the obvious solution - chunky yarn. Captain Jack has awful hair - dirty, dreadlocks, tangles and braids. Yarn would do quite well. So a quick machine stitching of two tones of brown yarn, and some beads and braids and we had a wig, and a mustache. Problems solved. Trick or treating would happen before the Halloween parade, and before I got off of work, so it was up to my darling husband to apply the facial hair and makeup. Final results were good, and the child won Best Character costume in the band's costume competition. Another year, another costume. Next year? Who knows?
This year, my son wanted to be Captain Jack Sparrow. Okay, but I was determined NOT to spend a bunch of money on this one. He had pants that would work, and I had a poet shirt from my grad school days (don't ask me why - I have no idea!), a vest was easy from the remnant of some random upholstery fabric, as was the sash and the head wrap. Bought new rain boots in brown, as he had outgrown his old ones, and just made felt cuffs for them. Easy Peasy. The tricky parts? Wig, mustache and tricorn hat. I had a hat from my college days that looks like something Zorro might wear (again - no idea why),
I started to ventilate a beard - far too late, as this takes a bit of time an patience and I am out of practice. I stared at so many photos of Johnny Depp my eyes were crossing before I thought of the obvious solution - chunky yarn. Captain Jack has awful hair - dirty, dreadlocks, tangles and braids. Yarn would do quite well. So a quick machine stitching of two tones of brown yarn, and some beads and braids and we had a wig, and a mustache. Problems solved. Trick or treating would happen before the Halloween parade, and before I got off of work, so it was up to my darling husband to apply the facial hair and makeup. Final results were good, and the child won Best Character costume in the band's costume competition. Another year, another costume. Next year? Who knows?
