Peter Pan Family Halloween Costumes

Well we pulled off another year of family costumes together and I wasn't quite sure if it was going to happen with baby 6 due on Halloween. But it seems baby is staying put for a little longer so we headed out to a park this week to grab some pics of our family theme this year: Peter Pan and the Neverland gang. 

Shane as Captain Hook, Mama as Smee, Dash as Peter Pan, Jaelynn as Tinker Bell, Joci as Wendy, Raleigh and Sage as Mermaids. 

Earlier this summer I introduced the girls to this favorite childhood Disney movie of mine. It was when I was telling them stories about when I was little and pretended to be friends with Peter and the lost boys that one of them said we should dress up like the characters for Halloween! :) Since then, the ideas went swirling in my head of how we'd pull it off. I did a lot of DIY on this one, making the tinker bell skirt and mermaid outfits on my own (and teaching myself to sew with a machine for the first time ever). It was a challenge but actually kind of fun at the same time trying something new creatively. The girls were all really into helping me pick out all the pieces and putting it all together. 

We also added pieces that will be worn again in their regular wardrobe, which I always like to try and do so we get multiple uses out of it. 

I know I probably get myself way too into these things sometimes, but this year after looking back on all our previous dress ups it made me thankful that we have kept this tradition going. It felt like the girls were more involved in picking everything out and choosing what we'd do as a family together so that felt really fun to have them be a part of it more. 

And I can't go without mentioning again how thankful I am that Shane goes along with all of these ideas of mine. He's the best dad, husband, and trooper there is--especially trying out that wig without hesitation just to complete the "look" we were at least trying to go for! haha 

(favorite picture of the night right here--flying Peter Pan ^)

Pretty thankful for this crew of ours! And thankful they let me pull off these silly traditions with them each year. Not sure if I'll be in the hospital or not during trick or treating time, but we'll be wearing our costumes either way :) 

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween getting full on all the sugar you can handle! 

Simple DIY Fairy Crown

I had so many questions about these crowns I made for the twins birthday party that I decided to make it into a blog post tutorial for those that would like to create one for themselves. The fun thing about this is that it was simple AND cheap, making it a sweet way to bring a little personal touch into the theme of the party for them. So here it is...

What you will need:

-scissors

-ribbon (any size, color or texture depending on the look you are going for

-thin floral wire, mine is gold so it went well with the colors I was using (found at any craft store)

-brown twig floral wire (found mine at Walmart)

-fake flowers (again, found at any craft store. I grabbed mine from the dollar store! score!)

Directions:

-Take your "twig" wire or whatever your base wire is for the crown and size it around the head, leaving a little extra on the end to wrap and secure together

-form the wire in a circle shape and wrap the ends together "tying" them together to secure

-once secured together, take your ribbon and cut them into the length you want them to hang down once they are tied onto your crown. 

-simply tie as many ribbons as you want onto the back of your crown

for this I tied all the ribbon over the part of the wire I secured together so it would hide that part a bit more

-optional: you can also take another piece of ribbon and wrap it around your wire to add a little more color and texture to the wire if you want

-once all your ribbon is tied on, take your faux flowers and cut off as many pieces as you'd like to place on your crown. 

for this step I cut the stem a bit longer so I had enough of it to be secured on with the gold wire. 

-Next, take your gold or thinner floral wire and tightly wrap the base/stem part onto the crown where you want it placed. Once you have the wire wrapped all the way, you can maneuver your flower a bit to make it stay where you want on your crown. 

-repeat these steps until you are satisfied with the look of your crown! 

I can't wait to see how you make yours! Tag me on Instagram so I can see your creations. And with halloween right around the corner it makes for a perfect way to throw together a last minute costume idea!

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