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DIY Shark Attack & Lifeguard Costumes

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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:

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.DIY Shark Costume
  6. 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.
  7. 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!
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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).
  11. 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.
  12. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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!
  5. 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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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!

A Belated Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!

Holidays, Parenting4

Hi friends!  It’s been a little while since I’ve posted… something about being nine months pregnant and nesting and having a to-do list a mile long and it being the holiday season!  But I wanted to pop on here and wish you guys a (belated) Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

It’s been a tough year for most, and it’s pretty crazy thinking that at this time last year, we had no idea what was in store for us in 2020 and how our lives would be changed.  It’s not easy to see past the fear, loneliness, struggles, division, and loss that this world faced this year, but if you look closely, you’ll also see courage, adaptation, resourcefulness, unity, and love.  While we can all agree that we’re hoping for a better 2021, this year was one that we’ll never forget.  My mom got us matching shirts this year for Christmas that say, “2020, You’ll go down in history,” which couldn’t be more true!  I am filled with gratefulness that we’ve made it through this year safely and are almost to the other side.

I’m praying that things look a lot different on the COVID-19 front within the next six months (hopefully sooner!), but I have high hopes for 2021 either way.  We’re starting the year positive!  It certainly helps that we’re starting off 2021 with our little boy’s due date, but I hope that everyone finds something to look forward to this upcoming year.  Let’s make it good.  Wishing you all a blessed and safe New Year!

 

DIY “Bun in the Oven” & Chef Costumes

Holidays, Miscellaneous68

I know that Halloween is long gone by now, but I always like to share DIY costume tutorials and can never seem to get my act together to post them BEFORE Halloween.  I do enjoy looking back on them though, and in any case, the tutorials may come in handy for others before Halloweens to come, so I post them for that purpose.

This year, Jamie was a chef, and our baby boy and I were a bun in the oven!  I wanted to do a fun pregnancy costume, and this one was easy to put together.  You guys should know – I wouldn’t really call myself a crafty person.  I can be creative at times, and in social settings, I enjoy doing crafts for fun, but it’s honestly not my favorite thing to do on my own.  It’s just not generally how I prefer to spend my time, although the end results, if I love what I’m making, can certainly make it worthwhile to do every so often.  And for some reason, I always love planning out a fun DIY Halloween costume, but I admittedly end up procrastinating on it every year until the last second.  If you decide to make this costume, I would recommend starting it several days in advance, as the spray paint of the oven and the paint and glue on the shirt need time to dry.  However, this ended up being one of my favorite costumes to make, because it didn’t feel too tedious, we didn’t spend too much time on it (despite the number of steps below – it’s pretty easy), and I think it really turned out well.

There are 3 components to this costume – the chef outfit, which was not homemade because I already owned most of the components, having graduated from culinary school (but as most people may not have the items, I will discuss where to find them later on in the post); the oven, which Jamie helped me with (especially important to have someone to help with this when you’re pregnant – more on this later); and the shirt with the cinnamon bun, which I made.  Here are my step-by-step instructions if you’re interested in making this costume:

To make the oven, you’ll need:

  • A large cardboard box that you (or whoever is wearing the oven) can fit into.  We had a large square one, and it ended up being shorter on my torso once I cut out the head hole than I would have guessed by looking at it, but we ended up taping the flaps down and painting over the tape so it was taller.  You can also get a taller box to start, and then if you’d like to cut off the flaps instead of taping them down, it might be easier/sturdier.
  • Packing tape
  • Pencil
  • Ruler
  • Box cutter
  • Silver spray paint
  • Plastic condiment/portion cups (like these)
  • Wax paper
  • Scissors
  • Elmer’s glue
  • Aluminum foil
  • Black chunky knit velvet yarn (like this one)
  • Hot glue
  • Black sharpie (with a medium to finer point)
  • Black construction paper
  • Corner rounder (optional)
  • Silver sharpie, marker, or paint pen
  • Neon yellow or green chalk pen or paint pen

Directions:

  1. First, ensure box is taped up on the sides and bottom to be sturdy enough to stay in place (no need to go overboard – just add tape if there are any corners where the box has torn, etc.).
  2. Cut a round hole that your head will fit into in the center of the bottom panel of the box with a box cutter.  I used a sharpie to draw a circle first (I did it freehand, as it doesn’t have to be perfect, but you can also use a round object as a stencil if you’d prefer).  We started slightly too small, then ended up having to go a little larger so my head would fit through.
  3. Put the box over your head with your head through the cut-out circle to ensure that it fits comfortably and to determine if you’d like to leave the flaps on the top of the box (now the bottom of the oven) on or off.  As mentioned above, our box was a little short in the torso, so we opted to leave them on and tape the corners to make a longer box, but if your box completely covers your torso without the flaps, you can cut them off.
  4. Draw and cut out circular arm holes in the sides of the box – where you cut them is going to depend on your body and what’s comfortable, so the best thing to do is to try the box on and see where your shoulders and arms naturally fall.  Jamie helped me with this, and we measured down from the top on each side to ensure that they were somewhat even. Try the box on again to make sure it fits!
  5. Next, identify the part of your stomach that you would like to be showing when the oven door is open, and then try on the box in the front of the box where the oven door would be, draw a rectangle-shaped door with a pencil (or Sharpie – it will get painted over anyway) and ruler to make your oven door.  Again, this is going to vary with everyone’s body size, but on our box, which was about 2 feet tall (inclusive of the flaps taped down to make it taller), our rectangular oven door was about 9 inches down from the top of the oven, 2.5 inches from each side, and 5 inches from the bottom of the oven.  I made the bottom side of the door a dotted line, which represents where it would fold, and the rest of the lines were solid, indicating where Jamie would cut.  Cut out the top and sides of the oven door, then fold down.
  6. Draw and cut out a smaller rectangle to make a window within the oven door – we made ours an even 2 inches smaller than the oven door itself.  Since the oven door will stay open, if your cardboard door seems flimsy after you cut out the window, you can reinforce it with tape on the outside of the door where it won’t be seen when it’s open.
  7. Spray paint the oven with silver spray paint.  If you are pregnant, have someone else do this for you just to ensure that you avoid the paint fumes and keep your little growing baby safe!  You don’t really have to spray paint the inside, but ensure that you paint the inside of the oven door thoroughly.  Let dry for a day or two.
  8. While you are spray painting, go ahead and paint the outside of 4 condiment/portion cups silver too – these will be dials for the stove burners.  Let dry for a day or two.
  9. Take 4 large squares of foil, and for each square, fold in corners to the center, then fold edges around inside to make a circle shape.  If you turn over so the pieces are on the bottom, these will be the start of your stove burners.  Hot glue them onto the top of the oven around the head hole.
  10. Cut a nice long piece of the chunky knit velvet yarn and, starting in the center of each foil burner, begin hot gluing the yarn in a spiral shape on top of the foil.  It’s best to glue small sections at a time, adding the glue directly to the foil and then pressing the yarn onto the glue, and then repeating until you’ve reached the edge of the foil.  This helps you avoid having the glue dry before you have a chance to press the yarn onto the glue.
  11. Cut out a rectangle of wax paper just a little larger than the oven window and use Elmer’s glue to glue to the outside of the oven door, so that when the oven door is down, the glued edges are not seen.
  12. Hot glue the condiment/portion cups onto the oven in a row – we added them to the very top of the side with the oven door.
  13. For the panel with the buttons – this is probably the part that seems the most daunting but it’s really not so bad – use a ruler to cut out a rectangle out of black construction paper, and then use a pencil (and ruler, if desired) to draw out buttons and the digital clock/temperature panel.  You can model your panel after mine, or you can use your own oven’s panel as a model if it’s easier.  If you desire, you can round the corners of the panel with a corner rounder.
  14. For the digital clock panel, I colored in a rectangle with black sharpie (it barely showed up on the black construction paper but that was the look I was going for), and then I used neon yellow and green chalk markers to draw digital numbers – 375 for the degrees, and 1:23 pm for the time (1/23 is our baby boy’s due date, so that was just a fun little detail).
  15. For the buttons, I used a silver paint pen to color them in, then used a finer point sharpie to label the buttons.  I modeled mine after my oven.  When you look close, you can see that my buttons are NOT perfect, but I promise – you can’t tell from far away.
  16. Using the black sharpie, make a notch on the top of the condiment/portion cup dials to indicate what temperature the dial is on, then draw the temperature settings around the dials.  I put “OFF” in a box on the top, then “LO” and “HI” on either side of it.  I put number “5” on the bottom, and then filled in “1-4” and “6-9” around each dial.  With that, you’re all done with the oven!

To make the cinnamon bun shirt, you’ll need:

  • A black t-shirt
  • Chalk
  • Ruler
  • Silver “puff” fabric paint
  • Beige or tan felt (I used some that I had leftover from last year’s Halloween costume) – you really only need one small sheet
  • Brown felt (I used some that I had leftover from a Halloween costume in years past) – all you need is scraps or one small sheet at most
  • Fabric scissors
  • Pencil
  • Fabric glue
  • White “puff” fabric paint (optional)

Directions:

  1. First, you’ll want to put on the black t-shirt and determine how big the inside of your oven needs to be.  The easiest way to do this is to put on the cardboard box oven and use chalk to draw marks on the shirt around the edges of the oven door.
  2. Using the chalk and the marks as a guide, draw a trapezoid to give the inside of the oven some “depth of field.”  Then draw a rack with a grid pattern with the chalk, using a ruler if needed.  I actually took a photo of the inside of my oven and used this for reference when I was drawing.
  3. Outline the inside of the oven and the grid with the silver puff paint.  Let dry fully, and once it’s dry, you can use a wet washcloth to carefully wipe off the remaining chalk marks.
  4. Using a pencil, draw a cinnamon roll shape on the beige/tan felt.  I tried to create mine from a partial side-top view like you’d see it in an oven, but if it’s easier to make one from a top view, that will work too – the important thing is just for it to be recognizable.  The best way to describe how I drew mine was that I drew a flattened circle/oval shape, and then made a rough/imperfect spiral that started wide at the bottom of the oval and got tighter/more flat as it got to the top, and ended about 3/4 of the way from the top of the oval.
  5. I used the fabric scissors to cut out the oval, and then cut around the spiral that I had drew.  One thing to note when I was cutting the spiral – I didn’t cut out any pieces at this point, but just cut the spiral and stopped to give it some “looseness.”
  6. Then, using the beige/tan felt cinnamon roll as a guide, I cut very thin curved strips of the brown felt and pieced them together to fill in the gaps around the spiral.  This is supposed to represent the cinnamon inside the roll.
  7. Using the fabric glue, glue the beige/tan cinnamon roll onto the puff paint oven rack, and then glue the brown cinnamon strips on top.
  8. Icing is typically added to cinnamon rolls AFTER they come out of the oven, but I opted to add the icing to my bun in the oven just for the cuteness factor.  If you’d like to add icing, use the puff paint to draw icing on the top of the cinnamon and dripping down the sides.  I googled “cinnamon roll” and used a photo as a guide, but I will say that it was more difficult than I thought to make the frosting look realistic.  Again, it doesn’t have to be perfect – just so it’s recognizable.  Let dry fully and you’re done with your cinnamon bun!

For the chef costume, you either need a chef coat (found at a costume store or a restaurant supply store – I already had one from culinary school that Jamie wore, as mentioned) OR you can use an apron of choice.  My biggest chef coat was a little too tight for Jamie to button, so he left it open!  I got a Jamie a chef’s hat and white bandana (you could also use a black one) from Hobby Lobby – here is a video on how to tie a cravat (neckerchief) if you’re interested.  We always left the “tails” tucked out in culinary school, so that’s how Jamie’s looks in the photos, but other than that, we utilized the same method.  I couldn’t find cheap chef pants for Jamie, so he just wore jeans.  I just wore jeans with my oven costume as well, and it was nice to be comfy and no-fuss, especially while pregnant!

And there are your costumes!  Here’s the finished product:

 

I hope these costumes might be good inspiration for future costumes.  I can’t wait to do family costumes with our little guy next Halloween!

P.S.  Our DIY Pizza & Pizza Delivery Guy Costumes from last year, plus lots of other DIY costume ideas!

DIY Pizza & Pizza Delivery Guy Costumes

Holidays, Miscellaneous37

 

 

I know it’s long past Halloween, but it’s a tradition for me to make my own Halloween costumes (always no-sew and fairly easy to put together) and then post a tutorial after the holiday has passed (check out this post for links to the previous costumes on my other blog).  I want to continue this tradition on Thursday’s Child because it’s fun and festive, but also because it’s so nice to be able to reference the costume archives later on!

This year, Jamie was a pizza delivery guy, and I was a pizza.  These were super simple to throw together.  I had looked on Pinterest and kind of came up with my own version of a pizza costume, and I think it turned out pretty cute.  The only downside is that it wasn’t as durable as some of my previous costumes, and over the course of the evening, gravity took its toll on the cheese!  It was “dripping” off the costume a bit.  But I know how to avoid it (more details on how in the tutorial below), and it was still fun to wear and very recognizable.  Here’s how to put both of our costumes together:

For the Pizza Costume, you’ll need:

  • Nude-colored dress (I ordered this chiffon A-Line version)
  • About 1 square yard of beige, tan, or light brown felt
  • Cardboard toilet paper rolls or paper towel rolls (I used 3 TP rolls and 1 paper towel roll cut in half)
  • About 1 square yard of reddish fabric (I used one that was orange-ish-reddish and had a pattern that made it look like it had a bit of texture – see photos below of “sauce”)
  • 1/2 lb (or a little less) of light ivory crinkle-cut paper (I used this kind from Amazon)
  • A tiny bit of yellow crinkle-cut paper, if desired (I used this, but would recommend a much smaller bag of it, since I hardly used any)
  • 1 sheet of red foam
  • 1 sheet of red paper (I used a shiny red paper that I got in the scrapbook section of Michael’s)
  • 1 sheet beige, tan, or light brown foam
  • Brown pipe cleaners (I only used 1)
  • 1 roll of 3/4-inch satin green ribbon
  • Black buttons (I got a bag of different sized ones)
  • Hot glue gun (dual-temperature, as low temps are best on fabric and foam) and glue (this project requires a lot of gluing, so I would recommend a whole package of glue and a larger glue gun if possible to make it easier/faster)
  • Safety pins (I pinned my pizza to my dress so I could use the dress for other projects later on, but you could also try hot-gluing the pizza to the dress)
  • Nude hose, if desired
  • Nude shoes

Directions:

  1. First, cut a triangle out of the beige, tan, or light brown felt to make the shape of a pizza.  Because I wanted the crust on the bottom of my dress, I put the dress on, held the felt up to it, and marked how wide I wanted the crust to be.  Then I added about 6 inches so that the crust would wrap around the toilet paper rolls.  I decided how long I wanted the pizza to be (imagining the crust rolled up), and then I folded the corners of the wide end in to the middle to make the triangle even and then cut it out (I didn’t try too hard to make it perfect… food is imperfect!)
  2. Cut the reddish-colored fabric about the same size as the felt triangle (or slightly smaller) to make the sauce, and lay it on top.
  3. Line up the toilet paper rolls along the wide edge of the triangle, and roll the crust around them to decide where to trim the sauce.  Cut it where you want it and hot-glue the sauce onto the felt triangle, and then roll the crust around the toilet paper rolls and glue in place.  (Tuck the felt in under the toilet paper rolls.)  Trim the felt on the ends if needed.
  4. To make pepperoni, cut circles out of red foam and shiny red paper.  I used a glass to draw the circles, but you might consider using something to make larger circles, because I thought mine could have been a tad bigger.  I tried not to make them too perfect so they looked more realistic.  Glue the shiny red paper on the red foam with hot glue, and trim if needed so the foam doesn’t really show.
  5. For the mushrooms, cut imperfect mushroom shapes on the beige, tan, or light brown foam.  Then cut tiny pieces of the brown pipe cleaner, curve them just a little (like little eyebrows), and glue onto the mushroom shapes to form the gills.
  6. Cut little imperfect squares of the green satin ribbon to make green pepper pieces, and then pick out some black buttons to use as black olives.  Arrange ivory crinkle-cut paper on the pizza and add some yellow strands if desired to get the “cheese” looking the way you want it, and add toppings.
  7. Then start hot-gluing!  I actually removed the toppings after I got an idea of how I wanted it to look and began with the cheese, starting with the end of the pizza and moving towards the crust.  This takes a little time, and be extremely careful because it’s easy to burn yourself in this step as you press down the crinkle paper.  You can use however much cheese you want, but I ended up adding much more than what’s show in the photo above to make it thick.  Then glue the toppings on, covering some up with a little cheese and arranging some on top.  TIP:  You will have to hot-glue WAY more than you think you will, as when you start lifting the pizza, the cheese will move and you will have to glue more pieces in place.  Be sure to test this to see what gravity moves when the pizza is hanging vertically, so that your costume doesn’t fall apart when you put it on.  I would even recommend hanging it if possible for a couple hours to see what starts falling off, and then use your hot glue to clean it up and get things back where you want them. (This photo above is grainy, but you can see how gravity brought the cheese down… this is why I would recommend hanging for a few hours and then fixing to ensure that it stays the way you want it.)
  8. You can then either hot-glue or safety pin the pizza to your dress.  I used 11 medium-sized safety pins to pin to the inside of my dress, since I wanted to have the option of using the dress again for other projects.  I couldn’t feel the pins at all, but it can be tough to get the pizza pinned without the dress being gathered in a few spots.  You can see in some of the pictures that it doesn’t look perfectly smooth.  If I hadn’t been in a hurry, I may have been able to get it looking better, but I felt like it looked decent enough to wear!  You will most likely have to try it on a couple times, then take it off and pin it, and then try it on again to get it right.
  9. Add nude-colored shoes and nude hose if desired, and you’re done!

For the Pizza Delivery Guy Costume, you need a red and white baseball tee like this one, a plain red baseball hat like this one, jeans, sneakers, and an old pizza box!  You can order pizza boxes on Amazon, but we couldn’t find anyone selling them by the each, so we literally ate pizza the night before and used that.  Easiest costume ever!

They turned out pretty fun!  Can’t wait to see all of YOUR Pizza and Pizza Delivery Guy costumes in 2020!

P.S.  Lots of other costume ideas, and cute outfits for the kiddos to celebrate Día de los Muertos.

 

 

 

A Roundup of DIY Halloween Costumes

Fashion, Holidays, Travel & Culture6

We’re closing in on Halloween, and to be honest, I’m only just beginning to start our costumes this year.  We’ll see how they turn out – sometimes those costumes that you throw together quickly are the most fun!  I love making my costumes every year, and in recent years, putting together couples costumes for Jamie and me.  I wanted to share a few to help spark some last-minute ideas.  All tutorials can be found on my old personal blog, which I don’t really update much anymore, but it’s sure nice to be able to sift through the costume archives!  (I included links to the posts.)  Have a look…

The Morton Salt Girl

 

Cookie Monster

 

“Toddlers & Tiaras”

 

“Chiquita Banana” Lady

 

Deer & Hunter

 

Old Married Couple

These were all so fun (and fairly easy), to put together.  I couldn’t help but share one more, which was from this past weekend with my parents.  These aren’t DIY costumes, but they work for Oktoberfest AND Halloween:

Funny, right?  And I wanted to share a few DIY baby/kids costumes too – I don’t have kids of my own, but who doesn’t love a cute baby in a Halloween costume?!  Below are some links to some cute ones:

  • These Bubble Bath and Loofah costumes are too precious.  (My brother and his wife were once a loofah and soap – also a great idea for a cute adult couples costume!)
  • Dying over this Gumball Machine costume!
  • A sweet little Bumblebee is really easy to make.  (Once again, a great idea for an adult costume, and especially funny if you pair with someone in a bird costume – “The Birds and The Bees.”  I won second place at a Halloween date party in college with this one!)
  • I would have loved this Pink Flamingo costume when I was little.
  • AND I was also obsessed with Madeline, so this costume would have been a big winner.
  • Baby Harry Potter is magic.
  • Who would have thought a Jane Goodall costume could be so dang cute?!
  • This Football Field costume is both cheap and clever.
  • Here’s an adorable little Dragon costume for a bitty one.
  • If you’re into funny costumes, this Kip costume from Napoleon Dynamite made me laugh so hard.

I could go on forever… Basically, the moral of the story is:  1.)  Halloween costumes aren’t hard to make, and 2.)  Babies and kids look cute in everything.

What will you and your family be wearing for Halloween?  I’d love to hear.  I’ll look forward to posting our costumes after we wear them!

A Swedish Midsummer Party!

Food, Holidays, Travel & Culture8

I love an excuse for a good party (especially one with a theme!), even if it’s just a small group.  This weekend, I put together a little Swedish-style Midsummer dinner, and it turned out to be such a fun theme for a summer party.  You can learn more about Midsummer in Sweden in this post.

Here’s what I served at our dinner:

  • Beer as per tradition, but also rosé, because it seemed wrong to have a summer party without it!
  • A charcuterie board with meats, cheeses, smoked salmon, pickled herring, berries, and pickles
  • Our favorite meatballs in the crockpot
  • Dill potato salad
  • Roasted asparagus
  • And of course, a strawberry cake!  (Our cake had lemon too – you can find the recipe here.  It turned out wonderfully.)

It honestly took me 24 hours to throw together, just because charcuterie and roasted asparagus take hardly any prep work, the meatballs are super simple to just throw in the crockpot, and the potato salad was not complicated or time-consuming.  Even the cake was simple – I love how straightforward the recipe was, and how it makes a statement with a spread like this.  I baked the layers the night before and made the frosting and assembled it on the day off the party.  Can I use this same menu for every dinner party?!

I planned on having the dinner out by the fire table, but it ended up raining.  Luckily we were still able to enjoy nature under the covered porch.  I had decorated with some greenery and candles, and we watched the rain, sipped on our wine, and grazed on food all evening.  Completely lovely!  Our dinner was adults only, but for kiddos, you could set up a flower crown-making station and a maypole and you’d be set.  And don’t forget to teach them the frog dance – it’s quite hilarious to watch!

Have you ever hosted or been to a Midsummer celebration?  We’d love to hear your experiences or ideas in the comments!

P.S.  Cute kids outfits for Midsummer, plus a video on how the Swedish celebrate it!  And last but not least, some tools and resources for summer cooking that might come in handy.

A Video on Swedish Midsummer!

Holidays, Travel & Culture3

Apart from Christmas, Midsummer is the most important holiday on the calendar for the Swedish.  In the northern part of Sweden, the sun never sets at this time of the year.  As mentioned in this post, the Swedish will celebrate Midsummer starting next Friday, June 21 and throughout that weekend.  Everyone leaves the city to enjoy nature, drink beer, dance around the maypole, and eat pickled herring, new potatoes with fresh dill, sour cream, and chives, and strawberries with cream.  It is a magical time of love; after all, it’s the season of fertility that people were historically celebrating.  It is tradition to decorate homes and farm tools with greenery, light bonfires, and dance the night away.

It was said that Midsummer was the best time for telling people’s futures, and girls ate salted porridge so that their future husbands might come to them in their dreams and quench their thirsts.  According to tradition, they are supposed to pick seven different kinds of flowers and lay them under their pillow, and their future husband will appear in a dream.  The ancient stories also say that you could discover treasures by observing how moonbeams fell, and that water turned into wine and ferns into flowers on this night.  They believed that many plants acquired healing powers on Midsummer night.  These days, the Swedish gather to enjoy friends, family, and nature.

Want to learn more about Swedish Midsummer?  This fun little 4-minute video will make you chuckle and will also make you want to head to the Swedish countryside to celebrate!

All information above, plus the video, came from this website and this one.  Check them out for more details on Swedish culture and the Midsummer celebration.

P.S.  Midsummer inspiration for the kiddos!

A Chinese New Year Dinner

Food, Holidays, Travel & Culture1

As mentioned in this post, I love the idea of pairing children’s books with real-life activities or places that relate to the books.  In the case of Chinese New Year, you don’t have to go to China to have your child experience it.  Jamie and I brought Chinese New Year to our home this year.  It was simple – I didn’t even cook!  I got everything from a local Chinese restaurant and the grocery store for the sake of time.  But it was fun, and we learned more about the holiday and the foods that are traditionally eaten.

I decorated the table with small Chinese takeout boxes filled with red and white carnations, red and gold paper pinwheels that I already had, clementines, and chocolate gold coins.  Red, which is associated with fire, symbolizes good fortune and joy, so it’s important to have a lot of red on the table!  The Lunar New Year is a popular time to purchase gold, so that’s why the chocolate gold coins make a cute table topper, and oranges/tangerines are a traditional symbol of abundance and good fortune.

Red envelopes are an important part of the Chinese New Year tradition.  They are stuffed with money and are exchanged for good luck.  Children receive the red envelopes from their parents and grandparents, and once they’re married, they’re expected to start giving red envelopes themselves.  If you’re giving red envelopes, it’s important to use crisp bills and avoid coins.  It’s lucky to give even amounts of money and start or end the amount with lucky number eight, but avoid amounts that start with four because that’s an unlucky number in Chinese culture.

Whole chicken is a popular dish to serve on the Lunar New Year because it’s a sign of family togetherness and unity.  Traditionally, you would serve it completely whole – head, talons and all!  But Jamie and I figured that a rotisserie chicken was whole enough for us!  Whole fish with head and tail attached is also a very common and symbolic food to serve on Chinese New Year.  The head and tail represent a good beginning and end to the year, and the word “fish” in Chinese, “yú,” sounds like the words for both wish and abundance.  We didn’t have the time to cook a whole fish (and didn’t want to spend the money to do so for just the two of us), but I think if I ever have a Chinese New Year party, I will definitely have to do that.

The Chinese word for shrimp, “xiā,” sounds like the word for laughter, so shrimp is another symbolic food eaten on the new year.  We had a stir-fried shrimp dish with rice.

Long noodles represent longevity, but we couldn’t find any uncut noodles so we got a simple lo mein dish.  Egg rolls symbolize good fortune because their shape looks like gold bars.

The Cantonese word for lettuce sounds like rising fortune, so it is common to serve lettuce at a Lunar New Year dinner.  Lettuce wraps are a great option, but I decided on a simple romaine salad with pistachios and a dijon vinaigrette.

And of course you have to have dumplings!  They are my favorite.  Dumplings are often made to look like Chinese silver ingots, which are oval and turned up on the edges, so they represent wealth.  Legend says that the more dumplings you eat during the Chinese New Year celebrations, the more money you will make in the new year.

We finished the meal with fortune cookies (of course).  It turns out that they’re more of an American tradition than a Chinese one – they started in California with the Chinese ’49’ers who worked on building the railroads.  But they are a fun treat for both kids and adults!  I wouldn’t serve a Chinese New Year meal without them.

We had our Chinese New Year dinner a little early this year since I will be out of town and because I wanted to share some fun ideas here in case you’d like to have your own special Lunar New Year dinner!  It was easy and fun.  I can’t wait to do this with kids someday to teach them more about the Chinese culture.

P.S.  Dress your little ones for Chinese New Year, and read some Chinese New Year children’s books.

3 Children’s Books for Chinese New Year

Holidays, Parenting, Travel & Culture5

One of the reasons I started this blog is to collect ideas for teaching my (future) children about the world.  There are so many amazing places and cultures to explore and so many customs and practices to learn about.  A great way to expose kids to different cultures at a young age is through children’s books, which can really bring places and customs to life for a child.  I like the idea of pairing the books with real-life activities or places that relate to the books.

For Chinese New Year, also known as Lunar New Year (coming up on February 5th this year), I picked out three fun children’s books that teach a little bit about the holiday’s traditions.  It’s never too early to start building our little family library!

The first book is a board book for the littles, Bringing In the New Year by Grace Lin.  It’s a fun little snapshot of a Chinese American family as they prepare for the Lunar New Year with all the festivities – dumplings, fireworks, lanterns, and a colorful dragon parade.  This is a fun book to introduce young children to teach them about the traditions of Chinese New Year.

Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn is great story about giving.  Sam receives the traditional gift of lucky money in red envelopes called leisees (pronounced “lay-sees”) from his grandparents, but when he goes shopping with his mom in Chinatown, he’s disappointed when he finds out that he doesn’t have enough money to buy what he wants.  An encounter with a stranger helps him realize that the best gifts come from the heart.  It’s a sweet message with beautiful, colorful illustrations.

Ruby’s Wish by Shirin Yim Bridges is based on the inspirational story of the author’s grandmother, a bright young girl living in China who aspires to attend university when she grows up – something unusual for women during that time.  The book recognizes the struggle of balancing Chinese tradition with big dreams of doing more, and it’s wonderful to see Ruby’s hard work and courage get rewarded by her family.  This book inspires kids and adults alike to follow their dreams.

Do you know any great books for Chinese New Year?  I’d love to hear your favorites.

P.S.  The cutest kids clothes and accessories for Chinese New Year, and making holidays special.

Happy Saturday!

On Making Holidays Special

Food, Holidays, Parenting4

Growing up with a dad as a pilot, we weren’t always able to celebrate holidays on the actual day if we wanted to celebrate as a family.  Often, my dad would have to fly on Thanksgiving or Christmas or on our birthdays, so we would have our family celebration on another day that we were all together. I’ve had several women who were dating pilots or married to men who were in pilot school ask me in recent years what it was like to have a dad as a pilot.  I told them the truth – that my dad was often gone on holidays, which can be hard, but that it taught us to be flexible and to make the day(s) that we did celebrate as special as we could.  While it might seem sad to others that we didn’t always get to be with our dad on Christmas day or that we didn’t always have a celebration with family on our birthdays, we were used to it, and it really didn’t bother us.  The great thing about it was that we learned early on that what matters is that we celebrate together, not the actual day itself.

My parents always made sure that whatever holiday we were celebrating was special and fun, so we barely even noticed that it wasn’t on the actual day that everyone else celebrated on.  My mom would make dinners fancy and festive, and she ensured that our birthdays were exceptional even if we opened gifts on a different day.  And Santa always seemed to know to come early or late to our house (depending on what my dad’s schedule was that year)!  On whatever day we would actually celebrate, we would stick by our family traditions – an elaborate Thanksgiving meal; fancy hors d’oeuvres for dinner as we opened family Christmas gifts in the evening; Santa gifts, stockings, and waffles with whipped cream, fruit, and chocolate chips on whatever day we considered to be “Christmas morning”; and our favorite meal and a cake of our choice made by my sweet mom for our birthdays.

It’s easy to stress about the holidays and how to divide out time between families, and I know plenty of people who go to great lengths to celebrate with both families ON Christmas day, because they can’t imagine doing it any differently.  If that works for you and your family, then more power to you!  I respect that.  However, given my dad’s job and the fact that my grandparents lived in two different states, we didn’t have that option growing up, and I don’t know that our holidays could have felt any more special.  I have such fond memories of holidays with both sides of my family as well as our little family of four, and truth be told, I don’t remember when we celebrated.  I just remember spending time together and all of the festive fun!  And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Thankfully, I married into a family who feels the same – Jamie’s family actually celebrates Christmas on New Years weekend every year because that’s when they can all get together.  Everyone meets at the family cabin and we celebrate Christmas and have a relaxing time.  It’s wonderful.

This year, Jamie and I weren’t with any family on Christmas, which was a first.  We didn’t have any vacation days because we took them all for our wedding + honeymoon, and with Christmas falling on a Tuesday this year, it was difficult to travel to another state to visit family.  Luckily, we were able to celebrate Christmas with my family several weeks before and Jamie’s family the weekend before New Years.  They were short and sweet little trips, but so much fun.  On Christmas Eve, we had a quiet, low-key evening with just the two of us, and we exchanged gifts while sipping on champagne and eating hors d’oeuvres at the coffee table.  The following morning, we opened our stockings and made waffles with whipped cream and fruit.  Everything about it was festive and momentous for both of us as our first Christmas as a married couple.

It’s all about the traditions and putting a little effort in to make the holidays special, no matter when you celebrate.  We can’t wait to start new traditions with our own little family and also carry on some of our own from our families growing up.  What traditions do you and your family hold dear to the holidays?  What things do you do to make them special, and how do you feel about celebrating holidays on a different day?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.