Wednesday, December 8, 2010

wonderland

So the theme of Halloween this year (and yes there is always a theme as of late) was "Alice in Wonderland."  Most people who look at this blog also see my sister's so perhaps this is all old news, but I still need to do my own post (I am just very behind right now).  I stole pictures from her, but you can see her post here.   My boys were The Caterpillar and The Cheshire Cat.  I would have liked to participate too, but I was lucky to get their costumes made this year.
The kids usually start discussing what they will all be for Halloween sometime in the summer.  The Burch and Speier kids decided on Alice, but Jimmy had gotten it stuck in his head to be Mickey Mouse when that was in discussion a while before.  I really wanted him to to something with everyone else, but I certainly wasn't going to force anything on him.  I knew it would be a hard sell since he hadn't seen the movie and had only read a book of it a few times.  Plus, I was sort of looking forward to being Minnie with him and making Zach be Goofy.  However, I brought up a few of the character choices such as the Mad Hatter, March Hare, Cheshire Cat, or the Caterpillar.  He immediately wanted to be the Caterpillar before I even showed him the pictures (this probably had something to do with a popular childhood book that we all know and love).  At first I was like, "Yeah, that would be great!"  because I was excited that he wanted to do it.  Then I looked at a picture of the caterpillar online and realized how complicated making a costume of it would be.  As we stared at the computer together, I said, "Uhhhh, Buddy.  That might be to hard for mom to make."  He seemed sad and kept asking "Why?"   I said maybe he should pick one of the easier ones. Then that night at dinner he told his dad in a sad little voice he was just going to be the cat because "The caterpillar was too hard for mom to make."  Of course, it broke my heart and I said, "You can be the caterpillar! It's okay.  I can do it!"  That kid sure knows how to play me.  Plus, I looked at it as a challenge.  And what pregnant lady in her 8th month doesn't want more than to hunch over a sewing machine?  And yet I did it and am quite proud of myself.  Thanks to the help of my friend Jessica's Sewing Blog I had a good place to start on the costume base (Thanks Suz for the idea).  I just made pajamas with one of her tutorials and added four extra arms to the top and four extra legs to the bottom.  Jimmy helped me stuff them (not with the kind of stuffing you put in the turkey at Thanksgiving he likes to remind me.)  I hand stitched the extra arms so I could reuse the pajamas later, but so far Jimmy refuses to let me dismantle the costume.  He did, however, insist on wearing it to bed one night.  I let him  do knowing all the extra limbs would drive him crazy and he would never want to do it again.  Sure enough he woke up in the middle of the night fussing and wanting to take it off.  Basically, Jimmy loved the costume so it was totally worth making it.  It may have put me into labor (I was working on it until about 2 1/2 hours before contractions started) and I was still sewing it together right before he put it on for the night, but all in all it was fun.  
Jimmy loved that the legs were all connected and would move when he raised his arms.  As for the hat, I realize he kind of looked like Carmen Miranda, but it was better than nothing.  I didn't have time to actually make one so I just tied fabric (I ran out of the same color) around his head and tied it with a rubber band. As for the Hookah it is made out of and "I Dream of Jeannie" toy, a rope, the end of a pipe, and some electrical tape.
Gus got to be the Cheshire Cat.
I didn't know if he was going to be a boy or a girl when I made this, but I was pretty sure he would at least be born and need a costume.  The striped jammies used to be pink, but I dyed it all purple.  I felt to guilty to put another of my boys in pink jammies like I did last year.
Cute little Kateri was Alice.
Finn was the White Rabbit.
Lucy and Audrey were Tweedle Goose and Tweedle Geege (spelling Em or Allie?)
... as opposed to Dum and Dee.
Lily and Jack as the Queen and King of Hearts.
Do you play croquet?
This should give you some indication of how difficult it was to put him in his carseat.
We were so glad Aunt Erin could be in town for it all...
And I had someone to hold Gus for me.
Emily made these fun cookies.
And added some cute extra touches.
And Allie made this awesome pumpkin and some other fun decorations.
Trick or Treating was fun this year.  
Jimmy got more into it this time and had his, "Trick or Treat. Thank You.  Happy Halloween!" down pretty well.
And the candy was really exciting this year, but he only ate one lollipop since it took forever.
Gus went with us and slept the whole time like a good little boy.
At the end of the night we went to pick Nana up at the airport.  Jimmy and I went inside to wait for her and everyone in the very quite airport was laughing at Jimmy's costume.  One of the airport workers even took a picture of him.  Then when Nana came down the escalator, Jimmy ran all the way to her with all his arms waving and everyone in the whole place watching him.  All the people on the flight were sort of miserable from having their flight delayed by many hours, but Jimmy was so happy (and loud) that he was making them all smile.  One lady said, "You are just making my day... and it has been a really bad day.  I have had three flights canceled."  Nana, sorry your flight was delayed, but I think it was meant to be so that we could meet you at the airport.

15 comments:

  1. You guys are so impressive, I'm so amazed at your costumes....alas, my girls have yet to get a really stellar costume made by their mama.
    I love all the Alice pictures, I'm so glad Jimmy agreed. What an awesome crew. You and Emily are so talented!

    ReplyDelete
  2. NO WORDS!!!! It seriously turned out PERFECT! I'm totally blogging about your costumes, because I would've never been able to come up with something half has creative at like 20 months pregnant! Even Gus who barely made it in time had a perfect little costume!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ooooh, one more thing, Sound of Music party doesn't hold a candle to this coordination. Not a candle.

    ReplyDelete
  4. You made that!!!? Mary, you blow my mind. That is incredible.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AH-MAY-ZING!!! That's all I can say.

    ReplyDelete
  6. This is FANTASTIC!!! My 8 week old is going to be the Cheshire cat, I'm Alice, and my husband is the Mad Hatter. What did you make the Cheshire's tail out of? and the hat? And how difficult was it to dye it all?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The tail was just a strange piece of fur that I found at the fabric store and it was already in the right shape. I dyed it purple. It wasn't synthetic so the dye held. It wasn't too hard to dye it all because I could just do it in a pot on my stove. Fortunately, it was for a baby so the clothes were all really tiny. Hope that helps. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello! I'm sorry for posting this here, but I could not find an email contact. I would love to include this amazing array of homemade costumes in a feature I'm doing on my blog in October. The theme is diy dress up, and this fits perfectly--more than perfectly. If you, and the other moms involved in making these would be interested in a guest-blogging spot for the occasion, would you email me at lassothemoonshop@gmail.com. And I'll get you more information. My blog is lassothemoon.typepad.com
    Thanks! Anna

    ReplyDelete
  9. Please please tell me where you got the stuff for your sons Cheshire cat costume! I have been looking everywhere for something that cute. Please tell me... don't be shy... ashloveschocolate@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ashley, I would love to be helpful, but I think I just got lucky. The tail was just luck. I found it in a scrap bin at my local fabric store. It was already sewn into a perfect tail shape too. I don't know if it was real wool, but it felt like it. It was super soft and took the purple dye with no problem. I used a small piece of it on the hat, too. The hat was just a beanie from the hospital that I also dyed. Dye can be your best friend. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I would Love to know how you made the clock!! Great job on all the outfits :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually didn't make it. My dad is a graphic designer and I think he just made it in photoshop and then glued it onto foam core. You could always just get a clip art image and do the same thing. Print it as big as you can on an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

      Delete
  12. Do you do commission work on any of these costumes?

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hi! Is there any chance you still have that newborn Cheshire Cat costume and might be willing to sell it? It would be perfect for our family this year! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I only still have the onesie part so it isn't really a full costume anymore. For some reason I feel sort of attached to it even though I will probably never use it again. I also would feel bad charging you very much for it since it really isn't worth that much. My best advice is to find a light colored onesie with stripes on it and dye it purple or pink (in the movie he is actually more pink. Good luck and sorry I can't help more.

      Delete