The Doctor

Both my son and husband wanted to go as Doctor Who for Halloween. I was going to have one be the 11th and the other the 10th, but as I didn't have a pinstripe suit or tan trenchcoat for either of them, they both went has the 11th. He's easier to dress. :)

For my son, I made suspenders out of burgandy ribbon, and a bowtie and fez (fezzes are cool!) out of felt.  Then he just wore his sunday shirt, a pair of blue slacks, and carried his awesome LED sonic-screwdriver flashlight.

 

 

We went a similar route for my husband, donning a tweedy-looking blazer from Goodwill instead of suspenders, and a cowboy hat instead of a fez.  (I wear a stetson now.  Stetsons are cool.)  

Granted, nearly nobody knew who they were supposed to be, but my guys knew they had cool costumes even if nobody else did.  :)  I think it may be time to start encouraging all my friends to watch Doctor Who on Netflix.  :)

Mad-Eye Moody

I better hurry and get the rest of the Halloween costumes posted before Christmas, eh? :) Is it just me or are the last 3-4 months of the year like a train speeding towards a cliff sometimes? I swear it was just September, and now there's just a month left in the year. The time just seems to evaporate!

One of my twins wanted to go as Mad-Eye Moody this year.  He's a big Harry Potter fan.

And, his costume was pretty easy.  No sewing involved this time.  He wore a brown t-shirt, khakis, and an old "pleather" jacket of mine.  He carried a wand that was really the staff of one of those little American flags everyone waves on the 4th of July.  

 

The main construction part on his costume was the "mad" eye.  Years back, we bought a box of plastic animals from Michael's or somewhere.  Its lid was a spinning globe.  I held onto it, thinking it might come in handy sometime.  And it totally did!  I painted the globe to look like an eye.  I hot glued it to some black felt, and attached a ribbon.  Easy (and free, since I already had all the supplies!) mad-eye.  

A Treat from Treat!

I have a great offer today from Treat!  Treat is Shutterfly’s new greeting card brand and their cards are totally fun.  You can add pictures and personalize cards for any holiday, including birthdays.  And now you can send one for FREE.

They have cute cards for every holiday.  How cute is the two-little-turkeys one below?!  I think my favorite is the super hero one, though.  I think my little guy might be getting one of those for his birthday soon. :)

Use the code TREATBLOGR on Monday 11/19 & Tuesday 11/20 for a FREE card from Treat!

Disclosure: I was compensated for this promotion.. All opinions are my own.

Weeping Angel

Any Whovians out there?  If so, this Halloween costume will either thrill you, or totally freak you out.  :)  I went as a Weeping Angel this year!  I'm not sure why I went to such effort for a costume that like 2 people at the Halloween party actually got.  But, the rest of them either thought I was a statue or the Statue of Liberty (which, IS a weeping angel, if you've seen the latest Doctor Who episode!), which I guess is close enough.

If I were a really on-the-ball blogger, I would have had this costume done in September and blogged it the first week of October (and would now be posting Christmas tips).  But, I'm not.  I'm a busy mom of three who got all the costumes done just in the nick of time.  :)    I've got a few more in the pipeline for...when I get to it.  (Just keeping it real, people, just keeping it real.)  :)

I had a few Facebook friends tell me they couldn't look at my pictures (or look away, if you know what I mean), as it was too freaky.  Can't say I blame them.  Weeping Angels are, in my opinion, the scariest Doctor Who villains.  

I've never done full Halloween makeup before.  It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be (and I didn't break out after, either!).

I used this tutorial as a jumping off point.  I wasn't going to go quite as gung ho as she did, as this was just for a few hour church Halloween Trunk or Treat.  But, it gave me a few ideas as to how to execute the costume.  

I used foam poster board to do the wings.  I cut wing shapes out of the foam board, and used the extra left over to cut "feathers" out of.  I hot-glued the feathers to the wings.  

 

  I used duct tape to tape the wings together, looser on the outside and tighter on the inside (if that even makes sense...), so they'd stay in a partly closed position.  

I then spray-painted them well, duct tape and all. 

I then added some elastic to them so I could wear them (in the same manner as the costume/little kid fairy wings you can buy).  I should have used heavier elastic, but all I had on hand was skinny little stuff, and by that point, I was ready to just.be.done.already.  :)  By the end of the night, my wings were pretty droopy (see picture above--I had to keep remembering to pull them up) because the elastic over-stretched.  Eh.  It worked out fine for one night.  

I used gray tights as long gloves, just like the original tutorial did.  I probably could have just bought gray winter gloves, as it was rather cold the night of the (partly outdoor) party, and I wore a grey long-sleeved shirt over the long "gloves" for warmth.

For the dress, I drafted a yoke for the top, then draped about 2 yards (1.5 maybe? Bad blogger...no good records were kept!) of fabric, gathered well, and attached it to the yoke (both in front and in back). 

 

I sewed the sides together, leaving the arm holes very large (and sleeveless) because I was just too lazy to bother with a zipper or anything.  I wanted this quick and easy and able to slip over my head!  I then tied a grey ribbon around the waist and we had a dress!  I duct taped (yes, sewing blasphemy, I know) a hula hoop to the hem, to give me a statue look.  

The wig was one of my favorite parts.  I sewed grey yarn to a...ahem...pantyhose cap, then braided and twisted the yarn into an angel-esque hairstyle.  I added a ribbon headband and everything.  Bobby pins don't really work with a yarn wig, of course, so I secured the bun with a few stitches.  

It was a very fun costume to wear, even if only a select few knew what I was.  I knew what I was, and my Doctor Who fan family members knew who I was, and they had a great time with me as I pretended to be a Weeping Angel and tried to "get" them.  :)  I had a seriously fun time wearing this costume and fully embracing my nerdiness.