Because Costumes Parties are the Best (But, Mostly, Because I Am A Quiche)

So, the day before Hallowe'en we were invited to a Woodland Party set for six days after Hallowe'en. I'd known it was a possibility, but since I hadn't even finished everyone's Hallowe'en capes yet, I told the girls that we might just go as Snow White and the seven dwarves.  That was before The Crazy kicked in.  Actually, I should type it like so:

THE  CRAZY.

I told John later that I think there is seriously a glitch in my brain when it comes to costumes.  It was a hectic week with no time for making costumes.  The weather was gorgeous, so we finished clearing the gardens and split wood and planted 300+ garlic hopes in the ground, and the children played, and I worked on just about everything except costume-making.  While h'learning with the children on Friday, I made Cadence a toadstool hat, and then on Saturday, I got out fabric and notions and made Millie an owl mask.  We had a party to attend that evening, so I spent the rest of the day making food for that and the woodland party, thinking that I'd make the rest of the costumes...oh, I dunno.  On Sunday before and after church?  You know, the day of the woodland party.

I crashed into bed after we got home Saturday night, woke up early Sunday morning* to make Annika's and Aidan's wolf masks and then made everything else when we got home from church.  Ugh.  Stupid, stupid brain glitch!!!  My children scrounged for lunch like orphans after I discovered the soup we were planning to eat was bubbling with botulism from not cooling properly before I'd shoved it in the fridge right before we left for Saturday's party, the entire house was in shambles, I utterly ignored Cadence for several hours, I didn't limit myself to the speed limit (i.e. that means I was speeding), AND we were late for the woodland party, of course, all for the sake of trying to slap together more than I should have attempted.  Stupid, stupid Abigail!  Someone needs to turn me into a quiche.

*Early = 3:30 a.m., because I deserve to become a quiche.


Anyway, I wanted to address the brain glitch before anyone wrongly assumes I'm an amazing, wonderful person, who whipped up amazing, wonderful costumes after feeding my precious children a filling, nutritious lunch, and sang sweet songs to them while sewing at my leisure in my sparkling, peaceful home, and that the entire house wasn't tainted by

THE CRAZY.


Ah.  Thanks for that.  On to the costumes!  (Which--I blame this on the brain glitch, too-- I am pleased I made, in spite of it all.  QUICHE!)  The woodland party was perfect down to every detail, and filled a day with the best kind of play, conversation, and companionship, none of which, by the way, was dependent on these costumes. 

And here I am, too, right next to the toadstool.

 I planned to sew Cadence green, grassy elf slippers, but...no time.  I scribbled marker on her
stockings right before leaving, instead, though they're hidden here.

Aidan pretends he's a howlng wolf cub even without a costume, so his animal choice was easy.

Oh, my little Wolf Boy.

Millie even made him a tail!

 I ran out of...ahem...time before sewing Zeke a bear mask, though I made a pattern for one on the way back from church.  He made do with a painted nose and Annika's old costume, instead.

His birthday slippers made up for any lack, though.

Birdie wanted to be a bird elf, all in blue.

The only expense for this costume was the feathers, which we stuck on everything: her pin, 

her headband,

her face.

 and even on John's racoon-killing staff.  (Oops, I also bought that blue bird at the dollar store to put in her hair).

Annika wanted to be a wolf from the very beginning, which is why I wanted to get up so early on Sunday morning.  She was very excited about a wolf mask, and she picked  her favorite of several styles I thought I might be able to figure out.

That time-consuming tail, though, was all her doing, and she worked on it for several hours. Doesn't it look great?  I was so impressed that someone figured out how to turn cheap yarn into something so cool.

The loveliest wolf.

She howled a lot, too. 

She wore this cape to the party instead of the coat, so she wanted me to take pictures of her in both.

 Well, wolves are the apex predator here...

Ah, sweet Lucinda the leaf fairy.  I wrapped fabric around her for a makeshift cape and hot-glued a crown, but the costume was leftover from Millie's days as a seven-year old. (Sigh.)

Her Most Very Favorite Part of the Whole Thing was getting to have black swirls on her face. 

 Piper wanted to be a flower gnome, and she was able to use her dwarf cape.  Hurrah!  I used an old, flexible plastic cutting board for the base of the hat, sewed a flower onto felt, and hot-glued felt onto the base.  Easy-peasy costume, and she wears the hat around the house now, too, which makes me grin.

 Do you see Stinker?  She purposefully posed him so he could be in the picture, too.

 



They posed themselves, too, the sillies.

 Millie decided to be a snowy owl, and she was a good sport about me safety-pinning makeshift wings to her back instead of making proper wing-forms, but we both thought the gauze worked nicely, especially when the wind lent a hand.

Ah, my dear snowy owl, don't fly too soon.

 And then there's me.  We made the ears in four minutes flat and rushed out the door.

 Good thing Millie had already made me a cool tail the day before, huh? 

 We took these pictures weeks after the woodland party, and I couldn't remember how I'd done my makeup for the party itself.  (I was applying it while driving, after all.)  Looking at Rebecca's woodland party post, it turns out it wasn't nearly the ten pounds of black I put on for these pictures, and not nearly as painful to scrub off, either.

I will only employ eyeliner for costume purposes, with good reason.

FYI:

-  I did spend money on these costumes. Gasp!  The total came to under fifteen dollars, though, so that's not too bad.  I bought clearance fall flowers, feathers, dollar store stuff, a foam poster-board, and clearance glitter spray for Millie and Susie's hair (tho' I didn't spray it on again for these pictures).

-  Millie and Annika used this tutorial to make the animal tails (we don't have a pet brush, so they used a doll brush).  So brilliant!  Whoever created this idea must be very pleased with her(him)self.  The tails are time-consuming, though, so plan ahead.

- I was too cheap to buy the pattern and instead figured it out on my own (with lots of trial and error at four in the morning), but this Etsy seller deserves the credit for designing Annika's wolf mask.  I copied it as closely as I could and am glad once again for creative people and the internet, both.

- I used a coupon to buy Millie a mask form and feathers at A.C. Moore and then hot-glued them together in a poor imitation of this gorgeous mask. (To be fair, though, our mask cost under three dollars, and theirs is $80.00)

Over and out,
CrazyQuicheHead