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October 27, 2018

DIY Quail Family Costumes


I remember seeing a family of quails running across the desert a while back and thinking "thats exactly what we look like when others see our little family walking by"--a mama and dada leading the trail of little birdies hurrying closely following behind. I used that image as inspiration for our halloween costumes this year and the idea of it couldn't have fit more perfectly! 

I'll admit that it took a little convincing for a certain set of twins to get on board with the idea of being quails for our family costume. But when I showed them that we could put pretty jewels on our masks and spruce up the wings with some glitter they became more into the idea. 


It's getting more and more fun each year to think of how we're going to dress up as a family. Especially this year when the girls were excited to help make our costumes together. I'm not a into the scary and dark side of halloween, but I do love creating memories for my kids and making ways for us to be creative together, so thats the part of this holiday that I find fun. 

Running around in the desert for these photos was so fun to see my little idea come to life. The girls have embraced the whole quail ensemble and are giddy about dressing up as a quail family. They tell pretty much anyone they come into contact with now about they're outfits! And the best part of this day photoshoot was seeing a flock of quails scurry by us as we finished up. The girls couldn't have been more excited to see that. 


Each year when I come up with our costumes I'm always thinking of how I can make it as cheap and practical as possible, especially since there's so many of us! I like to find pieces that they can wear over again when the costumes are no longer needed. I made each of their outfits for under $12 and it was super easy to put together. So hopefully this can inspire you in some way to create your own costume without spending an arm and a leg to make it. I'm giving the full tutorial for this below. 


I can't end this post without acknowledging how sweet and amazing my husband is for joining in on the family fun and letting me make him dress up like a silly bird. He embraces it with us and joins right into it, which is what makes doing this whole thing even sweeter for me. He really is the best! I really really love this quail covey of mine! 





 QUAIL COSTUME TUTORIAL:


I used all the supplies listed in the illsutration above. I purchased all the items I needed at Walmart which made this a super cheap project over all. 

-Long sleeve shirt: $3.88
-Leggings for girls: $3.88
-Felt sheets: $0.39 each (I used 12 sheets for all of our outfits and masks)
-Elastic for head bands: $2 (I used less than half the roll for all of our masks)

Extras:
-Diamond jewels we used for the mask: $2 (for a pack of 300)
-Glitter spray adhesive: $3 for one can

Step 1:
-Outline a feather shape on your felt sheet. I made up 2 different sizes for the feathers and used the larger size on the bottom feathers on our shirts and smaller size on top. 

Step 2:
-Cut out feather shapes on felt and repeat until your have enough feathers to fill the back of the shirt

Step 3:
-Place your feathers in rows on the back of the shirt and layer them on top of each other. I started with the bottom row first and layered on top of each row going up towards the neck. I shifted them around on the shirt until I liked how they looked. Once I liked a row I used the hot glue gun to glue it in place onto the shirt. 

Step 4:
-Outline a bird face shape and cut out. 

Step 5:
- Cut out eye holes (if you're going to wear them on your face, we ended up wearing them as headbands mostly). Paint, decorate, stick on feathers to your liking. 

Step 6:
- Measure the elastic around your head to sew or hot glue onto the mask. Once your bird mask is finished attach the elastic to your mask. 



And there you go! Super easy, cheap, and simple halloween costume. Hope you all have a safe and sweet halloween with your little ones this year. Thanks for following along!

photos take by: Monica Mae Photography

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