Halloween, Beta-test edition

Last weekend our town had a Halloween party in the park.  Snow cones, bouncing things, costume contests, trick-or-treating.  It was fun.  And it gave us a chance to test-drive this year’s Halloween costume.  Which is good, because we definitely want to do some small tweaks and one big revision.  I love love love Halloween!

Sonar X4: An Entling

Sonar X4 impersonating a treeCan you tell that we’ve been reading Tolkien for several months?  The brown clothes (made from a big t-shirt) worked great.  But the many-colored felt leaves looked more like sleeve-ruffles.  The floppy hat was a last-minute improvisation because I had nothing else ready.  I’m going to add some purchased leaf-garland to the sleeves and make a crown of leaves.  He does not want me to remove the felt leaves though.  He likes those.  

Sonar X6: Artemis Fowl

Sonar X6 as Artemis FowlOn our edition of Artemis Fowl, Artemis is wearing a suit and sunglasses and holding a small, glowing book.  From the back cover: “Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius, and, above all, a criminal mastermind.”  I found the shirt and jacket for a few dollars at a thrift store, and made the tie.  I bought the pants new, figuring that we could get some good wear out of a nice pair of black pants.  Yes, I’m going to hem them.  For the fairy book, we covered some tiny notebooks with paper from a glittery, golden gift bag.  He’ll have a fresh haircut on Saturday, I think, so his slick look will be even sharper.  

Sonar X9: The Mad Hatter (Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version)

Sonar X9 as Tim Burton’s Mad HatterThis costume was fun to put together.  He’s wearing another thrift-store jacket.  This one a ladies jacket with flared sleeves.  The striped pants are pajama pants that belong to Sonar X6.  He has orange-striped fingerless gloves and a Burger Kitchen tea cup.  I made the hat and neck bow out of stuff I found around the house (fabric, foam, plastic cardboard, a wire hanger, and a lot of glue).  I used the Threadbanger How-to for that one.  Threadbanger does a wig, but he preferred to paint his own hair orange (he thought that part was really really cool).  We may swap the Burger Time cup for a slightly more Mad cup, and I’m going to add some embellishments like a hat pin and size tag.  We’re going to skip the spool-bandolero.