Starbucks drink & barista costume for Amelie & Faith

This year, Amelie and her cousin, Faith, had a rather interesting idea for their Halloween costumes.

Amelie wanted to be a Starbucks drink.
Faith wanted to be a barista.

I was able to make a cup with white felt. 

To add some structure for the rim, I used 1/4" PVC tubing I bought from Home Depot.

Believe me, I wasn't the only one looking for costume ingredients that day.

I saw a lotta dads with their kids on the search for bits and pieces to make costumes.

I used iron on transfer paper to make the logos.

I even misspelled Amelie's name as many baristas tend to do!

For the hat, I used three yards of white tulle sewed onto a felt helmet type hat.

The straw is made with a cardboard tube from wrapping paper covered with green construction paper.

It is secured in place with a lot of hot glue.

Faith's barista costume was easy peasy!

I bought a green visor and apron on Amazon.com for under $10.

Again, I used iron on transfer paper to make the logos.

They look ready for their school's Halloween party, right?

I'll be spending this Halloween giving out candy to the kids in my building. 

I've never done it before! 

So I prepared and bought a big big bag of candy and proceeded to sort the poisonous from the nonpoisonous.

("Poisonous" = for Gina to consume) 

H A P P Y  H A L L O W E E N !

Sailor Moon Costume for Amelie

"Moooooooon prismmmmmm powerrrrrrr~!!!!!"

A few months ago, I asked my cousin, Amelie, what she wanted to be for Halloween this year.
"Girls Generation!" she answered.
"No," I said.
"Draculaura!"
"Try again."
I preferred if she wasn't something so mainstream when there's opportunity to be original and creative. Making costumes is much more inexpensive than buying one from the store. I convinced Amelie to dress up as Sailor Moon. After shopping for some inexpensive supplies, I got crackin' while Amelie did some research by watching episodes of Sailor Moon on her iTouch. I'm pretty proud of the results!

Helen's tree costume.

I helped my friend, Helen, shop for a Halloween costume one day after work. She was telling me how she got invited to a costume party and the girls attending would most likely be dressed in sexy costumes. Given the price, the quality of store bought costumes aren't great at all. The cuts are unflattering even if you have the body of a super model. I don't like how Halloween is an excuse for girls to dress as their sluttiest. Costume companies have even managed to sexify The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Ew.

After an unsatisfying session of trying on costumes, I told Helen I hardly ever buy costumes. I usually use what I have at home and make accessories. It ends up costing much less and the costume is guaranteed to fit. Plus, you get a costume that's 100% original and customized for you. We walked back to her car where she showed me a couple dresses she had. She pulled out a brown J.Crew halter dress with texture throughout.

"Do you think this could be anything?" she asked.
"I dunno... " I said, "A tree?"

I wasn't being serious but she thought it was a great idea! We went to the craft store the next day to gather supplies. Helen decided she'd like to be an autumn tree, much more colorful and interesting. This was great because all of the fall foliage items in the floral section of Michael's was on sale for 50% off.

The mask:

The head piece:

Hot glue, hot glue, hot glue! My favorite part of the head piece is the bird's nest with bird hanging out in it.

I make Helen look good.