Semi-homemade Halloween 2015

Each year I do the semi-homemade Halloween look.  It suits me quite well.  I do it mostly, because I enjoy it.  I really do want to sew things, but I have no problem, buying things to speed up the process. 

It really wasn't until this year that I realized how much $$ I was saving.  I decided to take my kids into a Halloween store just to look around and it was there that I discovered that typically each costume costs about $30 each.  Really?  That's crazy.  I can't believe people spend that much each year.

I actually had a goal, and stuck to it, thank you very much, of spending $30 total for all four children.  It was perfect.  Here's a breakdown of what I made and what I bought.

My youngest wanted to be Princess Elsa.  Her Nana has just bought her a play Elsa dress, so that made this costume very simple.  I sewed her some long sleeves.  

Then, following my own cape pattern, made her this very simple cape.  The bottom piece of the cape is sparkly Elsa-ish fabric I got from JoAnns, I just serged around all the edges with a rolled hem.  After it's purchase, I immediately regretted it, when it started shedding sparkles everywhere!  And I decided to make it nice and long so it would flow and look regal.  That turned out to be a big pain, too.  Dragging on the ground, it gets quite dirty and can easily be stepped on by the older siblings. So I ended up needing to pin it up. 

Live and learn, but it did look cute!

This girl wanted to be a Spooky Skeleton!

She had a couple requests, a red beating heart, and bone weapons, so she could fight.  She also did not want to look too spooky, so no fake bone/teeth on her mouth.  She was quite opinionated.

I bought her black shirt and black pants, then added the bones with fabric paint and freezer paper.

Check out the full tutorial HERE!

I insisted on the bone on her head, to make her a little cute bone head.

She's fierce.

This boy has been promising me for years that he would be Batman, but ultimately always changes his mind. This year, he finally committed. I made his cape when he was three, and by age seven, it was started to get a little snug on his neck. 

I started with purchased black sweats and a black shirt.  Added a real simple bat logo with Heat 'n Bond.  It was a little hard to see on black, so I added a little bit of white fabric paint in the back, before sealing it so the bat would Pop.

 

I made his gauntlet gloves and made him a simple utility belt to hold everything together.

This boy wanted to be Harry Potter...again.  After having read all the boys through, twice, it was an easy choice for him.  We could even reuse his glasses, from when he was one.

His outfit was pretty easy to put together.  Church shirt, Dad's tie, church pants and shoes.  We made a wand together, out of a stick from out backyard.  All that was left was the cloak and scarf.

About two weeks before Halloween, I told him, "You don't really want a scarf, right?  It's going to be a Ton of work."  Ultimately, he decided, yes, he really did want a scarf.  So I went to my stash and started working at nights on his crocheted scarf.  The color is a little more purple than I would have chosen, but, hey, it's what I had on hand.  It worked out pretty well.  We won't even talk about the 7+ hours it took me to complete it...

For the Cloak I followed Delia's tutorial found here. I switched it up a bit, since I wanted to have the inside red, but other than that, I stayed pretty true to it.  Also I added my own Gryffindor Patch.

 

And that was it!  Happy Halloween, everyone!