An UN-costume: The Sugar Skull

The next get-up in our UN-costume series is the sugar skull.  If you're like me and don't do the gore and fright of the holiday, this cute option is for you!  I found the adorable dress and fell in love.  It was a boutique dress with an $80 retail price tag.  The original Goodwill price was $6.98 but, because I got it 50% off, I only paid $3.49!  The details of the pleated skirting, the sequence and the gold bow charm were beautiful!

We added skeleton gloves, a sugar skull-inspired mask, and sugar skull face stickers to the crease of her mouth.  Everything was purchased from the Goodwill Halloween section and it all cost $1.99/each.  Less than $10 and the kid LOVED her costume.

We piled on the gaudy jewelry - rings and necklaces.  It's probably the only way I'd get her excited to put on a dress this frilly these days. 

In the above photo, the kid was saying, "I feel *like* so amazing.  I wish I could wear my lips like this all the time.  Mom, I think I wanna wear THIS on Halloween."

She slipped into character and served!

For the lips, I used black lip liner to outline and white liner to draw the teeth.

The sass is great with this one, Islanders.

The funny is too.  Oh, and the DAB is too!

See you tomorrow with a bonus costume!

An UN-costume: The Spider Princess.

I love holiday decor at thrift stores.  It's unique and whimsy.  It's quirky and, my favorite part, it's cheap!  On a trip to Goodwill awhile back, I found a flimsy web with a cute spider on it.  I also found a cute striped dress on clearance for $1.49 (50% off of $2.98).  I thought the two would make for a cute party outfit/costume.

Our local Goodwill also has a Halloween section.  The section has costumes, party supplies and decor.  I was able to get a faux cob web (complete with two spiders) set for $1.99.

We cut a piece and wrapped it around her ponytail with the spiders.

I thought to make a necklace and I had cobwebs to spare but the efforts of the un-costume mean that you don't focus on details like that.

We created a custom lip color using a matte deep mauve and remnants of a pink color.  It gave a really nice mauve shade and the final goodwill accessory topped it off.

SPIDER WEB SHADES!

I thought to buy a ribbon but I remembered we had a sash from when she was a flower girl in my bro's wedding as a toddler



Can you see that gremlin smile in the lower right?  that little orange sash is the one we flipped (bow to the front).  The sash made the perfect addition to the party dress and OMG!

Munch looked chic and fun.

The above facial exudes how we really feel about spiders but it's also because I think she's so cute it's scary!

Munch said she wouldn't wear this to trick-or-treat but it would be great for a day at school, a person passing out candy or a party goer.  She then proceeded to ask if we could have a Halloween party.  I said no.  WHAT?! Don't look at me like that.  The year of the UN-costume means she doesn't have to get all dressed up and I don't have to go all out.  No party, no discussion... and I don't feel bad about it.  Anyhoo, she loved the dress and she especially loved the hair.

If the hair was paired with all black clothes and had white cobwebs to drape over her clothes with more spiders or insects that glowed in the dark, I think Munch would've wanted to wear it in a "cooler" setting.  Hmmm, cool.  Do the real cool moms say cool? I don't know but I'll check and I'll let you know.

I think she looks great.  I think the UN-costume in this case is a great way to take any little black dress, or any party dress for that matter, and, with the addition of cobwebs to the hair, a few plastic spiders and spider-inspired eye wear, make a fabulous costume!

An Un-Costume: The Lemon.

Do you recall the cute head piece we created for the pumpkin un-costume?

Do you recall the $2.98 dress we bought from Goodwill for the pineapple un-costume?

We combined the two to create a lemon costume.

Repeat the steps for the leaves that we shared yesterday.  Add a yellow dress and, if you want, you can carry a box of the lemon head candies as a purse or wallet.  I'd suggest painting your face yellow and going all in but -- well -- that would be too much effort for the UN-costume.  In our case, Munch got a lot of compliments while we were taking photos around town.

That little girl in the middle of that big mural had passersby stopping to compliment her costume.

We kept the cheeks and lip really pink and added the head piece.  If you've got time, you can glue a fake lemon to the leaves head piece.  Whatever you do,

Wear it.  

Own it.  

Be sweet...

...with a little bite!

An UN-costume: The Pumpkin.

I came up with the idea for the pumpkin un-costume and I almost forgot Munch was a pumpkin for her second Halloween.  She was super cute... that is, when she wasn't snatching the hat off of her head.

For the pumpkin un-costume, we used 2 pieces of green felt and a few pipe cleaners to create the head piece and the shirt clip.  The shirt was a $1 find at Goodwill.  She paired it with a pair of jeans and sandals she already had on hand.  

Oh, I almost forgot the sandals were purchased from Goodwill earlier in the summer because she fell in love with them (they were brand new with tags and they were priced at only $3!).

To make your leaves:

1.  Cut 3 large leaves.

2.  Glue them in layers atop an alligator hair clip.

3.  Create spirals using the pipe cleaners by wrapping them around your fingers.

4.  Glue the pipe cleaners to the leaves wherever you see fit.

4.  Use the remaining felt to make smaller leaves.  Repeat the steps for the smaller clothing clip. Adhere to the top of your outfit as an accent.

For the face makeup, you'll need black eyeliner, black paint and *optional* black lipstick.

1.  Use the eyeliner to draw triangles around the eyes and to elongate the smile lines on the sides of the mouth.

2.  Use the paint to fill the eye triangles. 

3.  Use the paint (as we did) or the lipstick to fill the jack-o-lantern smile.

VOILA!  You've turned into a pumpkin!

Munch liked this costume so much!  She said she may consider wearing it to the school fall festival.  Hol' up.  Y'all gon' act like that's not major... a middle schooler would actually wear it to a school function *like* with friends.

I knew she liked it when she was dancing.  Heck, she even created a pumpkin pose.

HAHAHA!!! That face!  Her hands are supposed to be the ground as her pumpkin head rests on it - HAHA!!!  Anyhoo, I love how simple and easy this costume is to create.  Pair it with anything orange, make a quick and cheap headpiece, and rock it with a dramatic eye and black lip.  How cute for an adult costume too, right?!  I also love that we only paid $1 for the shirt on sale at Goodwill.  

If you don't have anything orange, don't be shy to visit your local thrift store!

Wait until you see how we re-used the greenery head piece to create another cute and easy costume tomorrow!

An UN-costume: The Pineapple.

On a trip to Goodwill, Munch and I stumbled upon a yellow Ralph Lauren ruffle dress.  It cost $2.98!  Guess what!  The same dress costs $45 retail on the website:

How was I to pass up such a steal?!  I wasn't.  I didn't.  We bought it.  Munch has worn dresses like this her entire life.  It looks great with sneakers or flats or sandals... dressed up or dressed down; it's a classic.  We decided to use it in our un-costume series and we found three different ways to make it a costume.

First up?  The pineapple.

This costume is all about the topper.  Pair it with any yellow shirt or dress and you're guaranteed to look amazing with minimal effort.

To make the head piece, I used cardstock I had on hand and some green construction paper from Dollar Tree.  It took 4 pieces of paper.

1.  Cut the paper in strips (4"x 2.5"). 

2.  Cut the tops of the strips to curve like leaves.  

3.  Glue the body of the leaves around the paper roll (either toilet paper or paper towel rolls will do). 

*Tip:  If you run your nail down the center of the leaves, they'll curl to look more authentic*

For the base, glue the roll to a square piece of paper about the same size.  

Then, glue the base to a hair clip and place another piece on the underside of the hair clip.  All done!

The kid was all smiles and, as we discussed, that's a major accomplishment at this stage of life.

We captured some great pictures in front of a mural painted on the side of a smokehouse restaurant.

She insisted on rocking her flamingo purse with the costume.  Doesn't she look like she's off to a costume day party with friends... without her mom chaperone?

Good thing she wasn't.  I might've needed medical attention.  I'm not ready for that whole 'mom, just drop me off and leave me' life.  Anyhoo, Munchface loved the costume.  The bold color and headpiece is the perfect balance of fun and cute. One could replace the dress with a shirt and leggings.  OMG!  Check out this awesome idea for the pumpkin too:

Source

It would even be cute with a work-appropriate dress for the office party... or a yellow onesie or dress for a baby!

Whatever the case, I was happy with the $5 price tag and the [pine]APPLE of my eye loved the costume for its simplicity and boldness.

Stay tuned for another easy costume tomorrow!