Halloween costume madness

As mentioned in the Larsen Adventures blog, Halloween took me by surprise this year.  I do really enjoy the challenge and the creative process of making unusual costumes for the boys.  I should really start sooner than 24 hours before Halloween though!  So here is what I came up with on super short notice.  I wonder what kind of cool things I could do if I had more time?  Maybe next year... 

Tal started playing the game "Starscape" as a reward for doing a really nice job on his Mission Report. He is very into this game right now, so he chose to be the pilot from Starscape. Ok, cool, except that the pilot is pictured in only one spot: a 30 second animation at the beginning of the game. The only image I could get was a screen shot of the intro:

Hmmmm.... Fortunately, Jared suggested that Tal wear the clone trooper suit (from a couple of years ago) for the white flight suit and he agreed! Woohoo! Halfway done already. Just need a white helmet and we are done. Last year I transformed his bike helmet into a Samus (another obscure video game character!) helmet with craft foam. Same principal should work this year! 


Shaddy was waffling between Meta Knight, the nemesis of Kirby from Super Smash Brothers, and Squirtle, a turtle-like Pokemon. Eeek! In the end Meta Knight won out. Here he is:

Actually, not as bad as it looks costume wise.  Once we got over the purple shoe hang up it was pretty easy. Happily, he didn't request the wings, which are retractable, so I was going to play that card if I needed to!  So, dark clothes, cape from the dress up tub, and all we need are a sword and mask.  He decided to wear a ninja head covering to hide his hair and the one he chose had velcro on the sides for a visor, which worked very well for attaching the mask to as well. 

After a quick (hahahaha!) trip to Michael we were ready to get started.  I say hahahahah because the nearest Michael's store is about 35 minutes away.  Although, after not having a car for 2 weeks I need to make a massive Target trip anyway, so it all worked out.


This year craft foam, cardboard and metallic paint were all I needed.  Tal's was pretty easy, just duplicate the face mask from last years helmet and attach it to the bike helmet again.  Good thing I still had it and could actually find it!  That went quick, then I got stuck on trying to cover the whole helmet with white craft foam.  Last year I didn't cover the top, since he wanted a blue helmet and the bike helmet was already blue.  I finally settled on a piece of white felt to cover the top and used the white craft foam to make and edge around it, so it looked like an actual helmet not a bike helmet covered in felt.  Here is the final product: (nicely modeled by my flour canister)

Shaddy's also turned out to be pretty easy.  I only had to make a mask and a sword.  I cut the mask out of craft foam and painted it silver.  Last year's ninja hood had velcro for the visor, so I just used that to attach the mask to the hood.  I cut the sword out of some heavy duty cardboard and painted it gold.  Then I glued a red jewel, left over from sandbox treasure hunts in MN, on each size and we were good to go!

I just have to mention that metallic paint has gotten a whole lot cooler since I was a kid!  If they had paint like this back then, everything I owned would have been shiny.  There was an entire rainbow of metallic paint at Michaels, thought the silver and gold was a bit picked over. 

So, here are the final costumes:

Dressed up, ready to go!

Tal as the Starscape pilot

Shaddy as Meta Knight

Kieran was super easy, as he chose to wear our store bought Spiderman costume for the second year running.  He will have to choose something else next year, as it was almost too small this year.

Kieran as Spiderman

Alric was too young to care what he wore, so blue monster it was!  Who can pass up a little boy dressed as a monster?  I made this costume for Shaddy when he was 2, so nice to use it again!  I tried to convince Kieran to wear the green monster costume I made for Tal that same year, but he wanted no part of it. 

Alric the monster



The monster suits were actually pretty easy to make also. I just traced around a vest they had for the pattern and added a tail on the back, of course! I bought a hat pattern and added the horns to the top. I think the monster costumes are the best ones I have made, so far.   I was trying to dig up a picture of Tal and Shaddy in them, but that was back in the paleolithic age, before I had a digital camera.  I would have to find the print and (gasp) scan it!

Once again, the costumes came out well and they boys had a great time.  Maybe next year I will get organized (and not move 2 months before Halloween) and make something really cool.  Yeah....