My son is recently turned 3 years old, and the concept of Halloween is non-existant (no matter how emphatically I try to explain it to him), and he is also very particular about what he will and will not wear - so this presented a costume challenge. Toss in the fact that I make it my mission to be original and resourceful made it even more so!
Lately my son doesn't like to wear any type of hoodie, hat or other dome covering garment. So I knew that a costume based largely on a headpiece to distinguish exactly what "it" was would inevitably result in a 35" tall headless [dinosaur/elephant/fill in the blank/etc.] running around the block and that wouldn't make for the adorable photo-op I had in mind.
I wanted to try and base the costume on something he has an interest in as well, without going too crazy (ha!) as I am extremely crunched for time as of late.
While in the shower recently, the idea hit me (why is it that I am always coming up with my best ideas in the shower?) A recent favorite movie around here is Pixar's animated film "Up", which stars a grumpy, bow-tie touting old man who dreams of adventuring to Paradise Falls, and does exactly that by floating his house via thousands of helium filled balloons from his hometown (Somewhere, USA) to South America with the help of a badge seeking boy scout and a talking dog named Doug.
Got that?
The costume is perfect because it is essentially just normal clothes with a couple of accessories (black-rimmed glasses and a grape soda bottle cap "pin"). But since I am crazy (yes, crazy) and can't keep things simple, I decided to create a replica of the house itself for us to pull along behind us on Halloween night to really kick up the cuteness factor of this costume idea!
I used a large moving box and a smaller one to construct the house and then spray painted the whole thing white. Then used cheap acrylic paints that I've had for years, and some crayons designed it to look like a picture I had printed off the internet.
I found a tiny suit at Kohl's and purchased a child sized bow-tie to go with it. Then I ordered black-rimmed "nerd" glasses online and voila! All I was missing was some colorful balloons...my nearest grocery store fixed that - so of course, I had to do a photo shoot.
Here is my tiny Carl Fredrickson, dressed to impress and ready to float away on his many adventures!
I am so pleased with the way this turned out. And the best part is that I reused a box (yay for recycling) and my son can wear the suit again for the holidays or some other special occasion! Win, win.
So when you are considering what to dress your child up as for Halloween this year or next...think outside the box (no pun intended!)
Hope everyone has a fantastic Halloween :) Until next time....
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