I can still feel how itchy the potato sack was, and no I’m not being dramatic.
We did not have a lot of money growing up and my parents were trying to figure out what we should wear for Halloween. Though they never attempted a family Halloween costume, they did their best to please us all and have fun with it while trying to save money. My dad had an idea to save money; he would make our costumes. If you know my dad, you know he is many things but creative? Well, creativity was typically left up to my mom. I still have no idea what we were supposed to be but I will never forget following them to the garage and dad pulling potato sacks out of the pile and saying “We can just have them wear these!”
My mom kept saying no and was fighting a losing battle as we stood there and he cut the arm holes out and put them over our heads. They itched worse than a wool sweater that had never been worn. I contemplated pretending to be sick to get out of wearing it. However, my love for candy made me suck it up.
This is where my love for Halloween almost died.
Totally kidding Dad! I love you.
I am convinced my kids will think this way of us one day when they see the amazing family Halloween costume we made them wear. I like to think we are the coolest parents ever, so they’re just going to have to deal…for a few more years anyway. Soon, I’m sure we will start fighting the battle of “no I’m not going to wear a family costume, that’s so dumb!” So, until that day we will embrace our weirdness, make some memories, and have a blast doing so.
Before kids, Eric and I loved planning our costumes for Halloween. We never went into Halloween thinking of a theme, but our costume always ended up turning into one, so now that has become a thing. A family Halloween costume is not easy to come up with, but it is too much fun to turn down that challenge!
I hope you enjoy the past few years of our costumes and the details of how to make each one below. Stay tuned for our 2018 Family Halloween costume. Speaking of…I need to get on that…
The Insurance Agents: Flo from Progressive & Mayhem from Allstate
The Insurance Agents was our first attempt at a family Halloween costume. We had no plan to go with a theme that year and it was all very last minute…weird…not like us at all. Did I mention I’m sarcastic? I decided on Flo from Progressive and Eric decided to throw together Mayhem from Allstate with some stuff we hand on hand.
I try very hard at planning because it does not come natural to me at all, so ahead of time I bought a cheap white apron and screen printed “PROGRESSIVE” on it at a local shop we have here in town. I then printed I love Insurance on a piece of paper and taped it to an old sports pin I had lying around from one of my young siblings. Aside from purchasing the apron and some sweet converse shoes, we didn’t purchase anything for these outfits. I threw on some red lip stick, teased my hair, added heavy eyeliner and a little bit of annoying sass and we were good to go.
Mayhem was hilarious all night, true to character. Sarcastic jokes, replaying commercial scenarios…”I’m a hot babe out jogging”…I still laugh thinking about it. He’s truly my entertainment.
Sundrop Kids from the Sundrop Commercial (Drop It Like It’s Hot)
If you have never heard of the Sundrop Kids from the Sundrop Commercial, we don’t blame you. Half of the trick-or-treaters who showed up at our door hadn’t either. However, that did not stop us from turning on “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and dancing down the hallway to give them candy. Our videographer friend Dan showed up and even filmed it for us. What a gem. We are two of the weirdest human beings you will find on this planet. Even better, we embrace it. The only thing in this outfit we purchased were screen printed shirts; just keeping the locals in business my friends! This was our last “couples costume” before we moved into the family Halloween costume category.
Baby Scuba Diver swimming with Sharks
If you are like me and struggled to find or come up with a unique baby addition to the family Halloween costume, the baby scuba diver was a lifesaver. True to babyhood, Nova was attached to her pacifier so we designed a costume around it to make the night go as smooth as it could with a 6 month old. She was a total rockstar and loved every second of it.
To design the baby scuba diver costume, I took an old soda bottle and created the tank by wrapping duct tape around it. I also covered a thick piece of rope in duct tape and connected it to her pacifier with black electrical tape, to make it look as real as possible. From there connecting it to her back was pretty easy because I took that same type of rope, covered it in electrical tape and connected it to her tank like backpack straps. I found the baby scuba diver gear here.
Eric and my part of the family Halloween costume was a bit more labor intense. We found matching sweatsuits, sexy I know, at Walmart. However, you can find even cheaper ones here. We bought an extra pant to cut apart in order to make fins on our backs. We took sturdy cardboard, put inside the fin cutout and stuffed it with pillow stuffing. We finished sewing them about an hour before we left to go knock on some doors…again with the planning.
Side note: all sharks wear Air Jordan’s right?
Hillary Clinton & her Secret Service
I’m not sure if any of you remember the Presidential race of 2016 but it was epic. On a positive note, Hillary Clinton was the first ever woman to win the Presidential Nomination and that makes any woman proud. We decided to put our own spin on the oh so dramatic and brutal race by again not investing much money in our family Halloween costume and daring to subject ourselves to some political criticism. Nova had a stunning pea coat from Target. I blew out and teased her hair then loaded it with hairspray. Oh, don’t forget the gorgeous pearl necklace, also from Target.
In true business man and business woman style Eric and I came home and went straight from our jobs to trick-or-treating. Throw on some sunglasses and your bluetooth earbuds and your costume is complete. God Bless America.
This brings me to our most recent and oh so favorite…
Disney Pixar’s Up Family Halloween Costume
If you haven’t ever seen this movie, go get it right now. It is one of the sweetest movies they have ever made. I still cry ever time I watch it. Nova has been obsessed with Kevin the Bird since she first saw the movie. I knew I was in for it when we decided we were going to go for it and create this crazy family Halloween costume.
Eric was Mr. Carl Fredricksen and some like to say he’s crazy. I say, if the shoe fits. Ha! Once again he pulled some fancy business clothes out of his closet and threw them on. The blazer was his Grandpa Glenn’s and the glasses he picked up at Walmart for a couple dollars. He carried our floating house (which is actually a birdhouse) that we bought at Fleet Farm for our backyard in 2012.
I was Ellie Fredricksen who was the adventurer and a tad bit crazy as well. Once again, if the shoe fits! I borrowed a black dress, jacket and glasses from my mom. Hey, don’t laugh, she was happy to help and wasn’t offended one bit because she’s super stylish. No, I’m not lying. The wig, I bought at Party City. My scarf was from the back of my closet and it completed the outfit! Simple and better yet, it was free.
Nova was Kevin the Bird and she still talks about it. I picked her up some black bird foot slippers from Target which were in the clearance bin. She had black leggings and a black shirt that she wore under the costume and that kept her warm and made her look uniform.
The main event and by far the most time consuming, was the body of Kevin the Bird. My mother in law had purchased a couple costumes from a garage sale a few years ago. We never used either of them so I decided to use the black cat to allow me to make Kevin’s body. I purchased feather boa’s from Party City and hot glued them on the belly of the black cat.
I then took an old pair of leggings I had and cut it into the shape of Kevin’s neck. I rolled up a piece of sturdy cardboard to place inside the legging cutout and stuffed it full of pillow stuffing and then sewed it closed. I sewed it to the hood of the cat costume so it fit on Nova’s head perfectly. Unfortunately, the neck wasn’t sturdy enough, so I would have to do it differently if I attempted it again. Let’s be real, I’m never attempting that again but I will sell you this costume if you want to attempt it haha!
Finally, I took the rest of that sturdy cardboard and made Kevin’s beak. I painted his beak, face and eyes with my acrylic canvas paints and glued some Party City eyes on. I had also picked up some peacock feathers at Hobby Lobby a while back and cut those into his head feathers.
Knox’s costume was a bit easier as he was Russell, the little boy that Carl was annoyed with yet whom he loved dearly. His boots, sweater and pants were easy, we had those. His orange scarf was a handkerchief I found at Party City and I tied it around his neck to make it look like a scarf.
His hat was a foam safari hat from Party City as well. Making his merit badge strap was a little more tricky. I did not want pins on a 3 month old baby, I mean, obviously. I found stickers that looked exactly like badges and stuck them to an old knit headband I had and luckily it fit his little body perfectly!
Choosing a Family Halloween costume is as fun as you make them! We tend to go a little crazy because we all enjoy it so much and it is so fun to see that Nova remembers these silly things. I hope this creates lifelong memories for them, even if they are embarrassing ones!
Does your family dress up for Halloween? What is your most memorable family Halloween costume? I would love to hear about it!
