I’m back! Sorry for the hiatus… I’ve been thinking about this blog often and wanting to get back to it, but time just hasn’t allowed lately. We’ve had a lot of family stuff going on, along with Jamie starting a new career, Carson trying 100 foods (can’t wait to share more on that soon!), traveling for the holidays, and Covid adventures, and I just haven’t had enough time in the day to dedicate any time to this space. I hope to change that soon and be able to make it more of a priority, because it really is such an outlet for me to share the things that I love with others.
As usual, I’m late on my Halloween costume post (I know, I know… it’s after Christmas!), but I always have to share our DIY costumes after each Halloween. You may remember our “Bun in the Oven” and Chef costumes from last year, or our Old Married Couple costumes that we wore the day that we returned from our honeymoon! I will admit that a little less time goes into these costumes each year, but that might be the good news, right? I quickly put these family costumes together, and although I had some learnings and there were some things I would have done differently, I am sharing those in this post to help out those who want to make these in the future. Overall, I think they turned out pretty cute!
My parents came over for Carson’s first Halloween, and because their dog Shiner already had a shark costume, we thought it would be cute to have my parents dress up with us as well. My mom and I were lifeguards, my dad and Jamie were swimmers who got bit by a shark, and Carson and Shiner were the little sharks! I loved that these costumes were no-fuss. Carson didn’t really know that he was in costume in his little shark outfit, and the men were happy that they didn’t have to wear something elaborate either. Even my mom and I had it pretty easy! The lifeguard and swimmer costumes might not be as ideal for colder-weather climates, but in Texas they were perfect, and the shark costume would be great for any weather since you could layer underneath it or use a jumpsuit with heavier material if needed.
To make the baby shark costume, you’ll need:
- A gray hooded jumpsuit
- Hot glue*
- Red fabric
- White felt (I used stiff felt, although I think the regular kind would probably work too)
- Pencil
- Ruler
- Black felt
- Gray stiff felt
- Gray felt
*I used craft glue and hot glue, but had a lot of trouble with the craft glue (this is explained further in the steps below). Based on my experience, I would recommend using hot glue for the whole project rather than craft glue.
Directions:
- Turn the hood of the hooded jumpsuit inside out, fold in half, and cut out a piece of red fabric that’s a little larger than the halved hood (maybe 1/2″ all the way around, although it doesn’t have to be exact).
- Next, turn the halved hood over, and repeat Step 1. You should now have two pieces of fabric that roughly fit inside the hood – one on each side – to make a red lining.
- Fold the edges of the red fabric in so you can’t see the cut edges, and glue down on the inside of the hood – one on each side. It’s easiest if the hood is still inside out while you glue. In the photos, you’ll see that I was using craft glue, but the glue actually stained the outside of the hood, so I would recommend trying hot glue (and don’t go overboard with it), to try to avoid getting glue stains soaking through the hoodie. The craft glue that I was using came out very goopy due to the tip on the glue bottle, so you could also try a craft glue that comes out in nice fine lines. The material of the jumpsuit was probably part of the problem – the one that I got for Carson was pretty thin (I got it on Shein), but if you try using a thicker one, you might not have any trouble with the glue soaking through.
- To make teeth, lay your sheet of white felt horizontally in front of you. Starting from the bottom edge, use a pencil and a ruler to make two marks – one at 2 inches from the bottom and one at 1 inch from the bottom. It’s best if you make these marks right along the left edge.
- Starting at the mark that’s 2 inches up from the bottom on the left edge of the felt, draw marks at every inch going across the white felt horizontally to the other edge. Then go to the mark that’s 1 inch up from the bottom on the left edge, measure 1/2″ going horizontally, and make a mark. Now make more marks at every inch starting from that point that was 1/2 inch in, going across the white felt horizontally to the other edge like you did the last time. The lower marks will be offset by 1/2 inch from the top ones. You can then use the ruler to connect the dots in a zig zag pattern like the photo shows.
- Cut out the zig zag pattern, going all the way across. The teeth will go around the edge of the hood, and depending on how big the hood is, you may need to repeat this and connect the two strips of teeth with glue. For Carson’s hood, the one strip was long enough.
- Use hot glue to glue the edge of the teeth onto the inside edge of the hood. Once again, be careful with using too much glue so you can avoid having it soak through like I did. The glue stains weren’t too terrible from a distance or in photos, but it would have looked better up close if they weren’t there!
- Cut out two circles in the white felt to make eyes – mine were about quarter-sized, but you an go bigger or smaller, depending on how big your hood is and how big you want the shark’s eyes to be.
- Cut out two smaller circles in the black felt to make the eye balls, then glue them on the white circles and glue the white circles to the top of the hood.
- For the fin, cut out a general fin shape out of the stiff gray felt (you can google the shape if you need a visual representation. I just did one freestyle since it will be pretty obvious what it’s supposed to be – see pictures of finished fin below).
- Next, using the stiff gray fin as a guide, cut out a fin shape from the soft gray felt that’s just slightly larger than the stiff gray fin (especially on the bottom where it will attach to the jumpsuit – you should have about an inch of excess felt on the bottom). Use the soft gray fin that you cut out to cut out another soft gray fin that’s identical in size to the first one.
- Glue the soft gray fin pieces on each side of the stiff gray fin, leaving about an inch of edge on the bottom of each soft gray fin pieces that you will be able to attach to the jumpsuit. Glue these flaps onto the jumpsuit (high enough that the baby can sit comfortably without the fin being underneath their bum!) and let dry. Your little shark costume should be ready to wear!
To make the “shark attacked surfer” shirt, you’ll need:
- A plain white t-shirt, or whatever shirt/outfit you’d like the shark bite to be on
- An old towel
- Red acrylic paint*
- Brown acrylic paint*
- Paintbrushes
- A paper or plastic plate
- Red hairspray*
*If you’re looking at making a more permanent “bloody” shirt, I would recommend looking at some other options besides red hair spray and acrylic paint. You’d probably be better off going with some fabric paint that can be washed. I made these costumes with the intention of one-time use. I would also be careful with the hairspray “blood stain” rubbing off on clothes, furniture, etc. when you’re wearing it. We didn’t find that it did this, but just in case, it’s better to be safe!
Directions:
- I went outside for this one just to avoid the fumes and spraying my home on accident! Lay out the t-shirt on an old towel.
- First, spray the shirt with the red hairspray, making a medium to large imperfect spot. For one of the tees, I put the “injury” on the side of the body, and on the other, I put it on the shoulder area.
- Next, put the red and brown acrylic paint on the paper plate and mix some together using a paintbrush. I liked the red-brown color for blood, but I also used some dots of brighter red too which I mixed with the red brown on the shirt itself. The more imperfect it is, the better! I tried to focus the acrylic paint on an area in the middle of the hairspray spot to represent a “heavier soaked” level of blood.
- Finally, let the shirt dry, ideally for 24 hours or more. As mentioned above, just be careful that the hairspray doesn’t rub off onto clothes or furniture!
- Pair the t-shirt with swim trunks or board shorts and some flip-flops or water shoes for the full effect!
To make the lifeguard sweatshirt, you’ll need:
- A red sweatshirt (a red t-shirt would work as well)
- A white iron-on lifeguard decal (I purchased mine from Amazon)
Directions:
- Wash and dry the sweatshirt. I didn’t do this, and I regretted it later! I think if I would have, the white decal wouldn’t have the red bleeding that it did.
- Follow the instructions on the decal to iron it onto the sweatshirt. Again, mine bled a little bit, but I think the best way to avoid this is to wash and dry the sweatshirt first.
- Pair with some cut-off jean shorts or board shorts. Add a fanny pack and whistle set, like this one on Amazon. I had ordered these for my mom and me, but they didn’t come in on time. They would have made for some cute accessories, but luckily the outfit is very recognizable without them!
We think they turned out pretty well, especially since they were basically thrown together the weekend of Halloween! Finding the time to make the costumes was a bit more difficult than last year, but making family costumes for Jamie, me, and our little babes was something I had dreamed about for years. It’s nice that there are homemade family costume ideas out there that can be put together in 24-48 hours. I’d love to hear your DIY costume ideas!
P.S. DIY “Bun in the Oven” & Chef Costumes and DIY Pizza & Pizza Delivery Guy Costumes!
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