We had the best time celebrating at our friends’ annual Halloween party this past weekend. Always so fun getting together and seeing all the creative costume themes. This year our family theme was Ghostbusters. The 1980s version(s) that is.
It’s a theme we discussed last year (before we even realized a new movie was coming out) but then changed Scooby Doo. This year I was determined to make our Ghostbusters idea happen while I could still get E to dress up like a cute little ghost. I’m thinking the days of princesses might not be too far off.
Ghostbusters Costumes
We purchased my husband’s coveralls on Amazon. They were supposed to be ‘khaki’ but arrived labeled ‘taupe’ which, interestingly, isn’t even a color option on the website. We found our son’s costume on eBay. It was used but in good condition. The only catch? When we finally saw the two side by side it was very obvious they were two completely different colors which bugged me so I decided to try to darken our son’s with fabric dye.
Only, I’m clearly not a dye expert. My only experience was from dying white shirts yellow for our Minion costumes 2 years ago. Trying darken a yellowish shade to a brown ended up not being quite so straightforward. Two attempts later and my son’s became a dark orange. Not a tan color like I had envisioned. And the process ended up damaging the logos on it. Oops.
Then the patches I ordered for my husband’s costume arrived … and I ordered the wrong size. They were much too small. Oops again. (TIP: If buying patches, order the 4″ size.)
Thankfully I still had some faith in my crafting abilities because it was far too late in the game to order replacements. Instead, I busted out some fabric scraps, iron-on adhesive, and my ultra fine tipped Sharpie to create my own. Truthfully, I’m pretty proud of how they turned out.
Our son’s costume came with an inflatable proton pack and we borrowed a second one from neighbors who’s son had dressed up in the same costume 2 years ago. This way both had easy, matching packs.
Janine Melnitz Costume
For my own costume, I decided on a new black dress I recently purchased from Kohls paired with knee high black boots (an $8 thrift store score several years ago – I’m not sure if they were ever worn!). Added a fun leopard print infinity scarf from Hobby Lobby, my own glasses, and a red costume wig. (What is it with wigs? This is the 2nd year I’ve ordered one and second time it’s looked NOTHING like the photo. This one should have been a chin length bob.) Simple, easy, done.
Ghost Costume
Hands down the cutest of our 4 costumes however, was the ghost one. I had planned to fully DIY this one, but when I came across an adorable tutu at Target for only $5, decided to skip the handmade on that portion. I did have to take in the elastic waist a tiny bit since it is sized for ages 3+ and was slipping down on her ever so slightly.
The bodysuit came in a Carter’s Just One Year 3-pack also from Target. I drew the face by hand onto freezer paper. Then painted onto the shirt using black fabric paint.
She’s been running around the house yelling out “boo!” for weeks. Needless to say she had a blast in this costume and that tutu will be headed straight to the playroom dress-up box for future fun after trick or treating next week.
Does your family dress up for Halloween?
Linking up with Mommy & Me Monday at Really, Are You Serious?
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