If you are anything like me, you’re still not over the Halloween season quite yet. I know people have already moved onto Thanksgiving, and even more have broken out the Christmas decorations, but I’m not ready to let go. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. For a couple of weekends, my social media stops being filled with the negativity, politics, and drama and is instead filled with people of all ages, being creative. I’m a sucker for a good DIY costume. And there’s just something about a well executed group costume that just makes me want to high-five complete strangers. Dressing up as your childhood favorites or pulling off a great recognizable costume fills a person with a sense of accomplishment. And don’t get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving. I have big plans for this year. I know I’m not the only one. But for those of you who aren’t ready to start singing Christmas carols quite yet, here are some of my favorite DIY Halloween costumes from this year.
Since they are always the cutest, let’s start with babies.
I am at the glorious age where everyone I know has or is going to have a baby. So I got to see countless baby costumes this year. But two baby costumes stole the show, in my opinion.
The first was one I got to see in person:
Jordyn as a Cabbage Patch Kid.
You can not tell me that this isn’t the cutest thing you have ever seen. Jordyn’s mom, Skyler, made the box herself. She used a piece of card board and decorated it with green and pink wrapping paper and printed the Cabbage Patch Kids’ logo. She attached it to her umbrella stroller by cutting two holes in the box and sliding it onto the strollers handles. To keep it in the correct place she rigged up a prop using the wrapping paper tube. She cut holes in it the same way she did to the cardboard box but slid that on first. She also placed a pillow near the bottom to keep it off Jordyn’s feet. She also used iron-on paper to make her shirt. Her shirt says: ” #cabbagepatchkid #firsthalloween #trickortreat #Jordyn” And lastly, the precious finishing touch: the wig. Skyler bought the wig on Etsy. It totally brought the whole look together. I had the privilege of walking around with Jordyn while she trick-or-treated for the first time. She got compliments every where she went. And she even had a lot of strangers asking to take her picture.
The next baby to steal my heart:
Olivia as Hermione Granger
Her mom, Molly, started by designing a t-shirt tuxedo style Hogwart’s onesie in Illustrator. She had access to free onesie printing, so she used that, but she said it would have been easy to paint what she designed onto a onesie as well. She styled the onsie with black leggings and little black boots from Meijer’s. She made a black tu-tu by sewing a piece of elastic into a circle and attaching black tulle to it. She said her aunt made her the scarf and she sewed on the Gryffindor patch that she bought from Etsy. She also bought the Prefect pint from pin from Etsy. She 
made the hat out of felt and used brown and white paint to age it. She made the wand out of a stick that she decorated with hot glue and then painted brown. After she completed this amazing costume, she went on to get some amazing props for some adorable pictures. She used a snitch from a necklace she owned, that she purchased on Etsy. Then bought an owl from Hobby Lobby, a broom from the Dollar Tree, and painted a pumpkin. She used her church’s fall decorations to finish off the look. I’m still not over how cute it all turned out. That is the cutest little mudblood I’ve ever seen!
Everyone who even kind of knows me, knows that I adore all things Disney. So show me a good Disney costume and you’ve got my attention. But show me a good Disney GROUP costume and you have my heart. The next costume was done by a group of college students:
The Seven Dwarves
Hannah Marovich as Doc, Hana Barker as Happy, Rachel Spade as Dopey, Morgan Sideris as Sleepy, Kasey Dunn as Bashful, Mikayla Giordano as Grumpy, and Stephanie Kyle as Sneezy.
They pulled together this adorable Disney look for around $30 a person. They found all of the necessary pieces at the stores Hobby Lobby, Target and Cosmic.
The looks consists of shirts with each dwarf’s name, hats, jeans, and boots. And of course, Doc wore glasses. I love that they each posed as their character for their picture which helped pull everything together. I adore this group costume so much I wished I had thought of it. Simple and Classic. Not to mention, my favorite part about this costume is that it could be worn again on any given day, and still look totally adorable. Well done, ladies. Well done.
As much as I like group costumes, if someone can pull of a creative costume on their own, they will get my attention. The next costume was a creative twist to a very common costume:
Kristen as Kevin, The Evil Minion
Kristen loves minions so she found a way to be a minion for a second year. I loved it because you don’t see many Evil Minions running around, even though it is Halloween. She kept her costs under $10 by using a lot of things she already owned. She drew eyes on the bottoms of dixie cups, glued them into mason jar rings and attached them to one of her head bands. She cut a purple shirt, wore black shorts, black suspenders, and black boots. She duct taped a Gru symbol she printed out herself, to her shorts. She finished off her look by buying purple tights and purple hair spray. Although she was by herself, she found someone dressed as Gru and a regular minion! It doesn’t get any better than that!
This next costume is one that I have never seen before this year. Although I saw a couple people attempt this costume, this is the only one who got my approval. That being said, keep in mind that not all Disney costumes are created equal. And this one put the others to shame:
Heather as Darla
Heather had a unique advantage in creating this costume; She works for an orthodontist! She was able to use a lingual arch wire, which she describe to me as the longest wire they had, to make her mouth piece. She bent it so it went around her ears, kind of like glasses, and rested it about her braces. To complete Darla’s outfit, she found a purple sweater and plaid purple “school-girl” skirt. She wore a white button up she already had under the sweater. She also bought a pair of ruffled white children’s socks from Wal-mart. She pulled the whole costume together by borrowing a fake gold fish from a co-worker, putting it in a plastic bag, tying it with a hair tie and attaching it to her wrist so she didn’t have to carry it around all night. She said she spent around $10 on the whole look and it turned out “way more awesome than she thought” when she put it on. I absolutely loved it. She blew that costume out of the water…. or the fish bowl if you will. Five stars.
There aren’t many guys who put time and effort into creating awesome costumes. So when I find one who does, it makes it that much more impressive. This next costume was not only impressive, but down right perfect.
Ryan as Edward Scissorhands
Ryan started with an outfit that he already owned and borrowed some black suspenders. He made the iconic hands out of old snow gloves, foam board, and metallic paint. He spent about $5 on the foam board and $2 on the paint. Because he was extremely dedicated to the look, he used white face paint and purple and black eye shadow. He bought some face skin from the Halloween store to make the scars. And the finishing touch, lots and lots of hairspray. I have come to expect great costumes from Ryan. Last year he pulled off a flawless Billy the Puppet, aka the creepy guy on the bike from the Saw movies. With amazing back to back costumes, I am already looking forward to what he comes up with for next year. No pressure, Ryan! Good luck! I know you’ll deliver!
Coming up with a good couple’s costume can be hard at times. I’ve lived through the struggle of trying to both please your significant other while picking something you’ll want to wear. These next few couples picked the perfect duos and had some of the best couples costumes I have seen in a while.
Let’s start with the pair that got me to audibly laugh at my phone:
Rachel and Alex as Janet Snakehole and Burt Macklin
Let’s just say if I had been drinking anything, I would have spit it everywhere when I saw this costume. Janet Snakehole and Burtmaklin are the “alter egos” of April Ludgate and Andy Dwyer on the show Parks and Recreation. Being a huge fan of the show, this costume spoke to the happiest places of my soul. If you haven’t see the show, take this as my recommendation to do so. Rachel found her hat and cigarette holder on Amazon for about $25. She bought herself a cute dress on ModCloth for $60. She assured me it was super cute, so I am sure she plans to wear it again. She finished her look with pearls that she found at Meijer’s. Alex wore a pair of khakis, and paired it with a pale yellow shirt and blue jacket he found on Amazon. He used yellow duct tape to put the FBI logo on the jacket. He finished his look with a pair of sunglasses, that he also found on Amazon. He spent around $40 on the whole look. I’m not sure I will ever get over this costume. I may keep this one in my back pocket for a future Halloween.
Another great TV couple made the cut:
Chad and Jina as Sheldon and Amy
If you don’t know who Sheldon and Amy are, you may live under a rock. But these two do not and they pulled off the couple from the Big Bang Theory like a couple of geniuses. Chad already had everything he needed except for the shirt. He bought that for $7 at WalMart. Jina found her purse and shoes at Goodwill for $2.50 and a skirt at Sears for $2. She informed me that she found options for both the flannel and the sweater at Goodwill, but opted to spent a little more a Kohl’s so she could wear them again. She said she spent about $60 at Kohl’s. I love how even though both outfits were extremely simple, they were instantly recognizable. Even though I have never seen anyone attempt to be Sheldon and Amy, I don’t think this can be topped! Bazinga!
This last couples costume is one I see on Pinterest all the time, but I have never seen this one pulled off by someone I know. I was honestly surprised to find out this was a last minute DIY.
Ashley and Matt as Mary Poppins and Bert
When I asked Ashley to explain how she went about styling these costumes, she laughed and said they didn’t decide to do this until about two days before the party they were attending. The only thing she really spent money on was their hats. She said they spent somewhere around $30 for them both. They used clothes that they already owned. She borrowed one of his tuxedo ties and used a $3 red ribbon to add the iconic touches to her costume. She also made Matt’s chimney sweep broom for about $3. I think they pulled it together extremely well for not planning it out. At first glance, I thought they both bought their costumes. That’s a sign of a great DIY! Knowing that they did such a great job in such a short amount of time, reminds me that we all have great DIY costume possibilities in our own closets if we just take the time to think about it!
I saw so many other awesome costumes, but I will always be a sucker for the ones people make as opposed to the ones people buy. I love knowing that other people enjoy putting thought, time, and energy into things. This is why Halloween will forever be one of my favorites. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with next year. But until then, I’ll just be creeping on everyone’s social media, hunting down costume ideas until Thanksgiving! Happy November everyone!
And if you still can’t get enough, here are a few more pictures of these awesome costumes!
And if you still can’t get enough, here are a few more pictures of these awesome costumes!
Thank you to everyone who allowed me to write about their amazing costumes! And congratulations on having the best costumes of 2015!
Once Upon My Fairy Tale 