Becoming "Wicked" - Homemade Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) Costume

The summer before lockdown I took Molly to see the play Wicked, presented by Mirvish as the main part of her birthday gift. Instantly she was in love with the other side of the story surrounding The Wizard of Oz.

This year when she told me she wanted to be Elphaba AKA the Wicked Witch of the West for Halloween, I knew we'd have fun with it.

Image Courtesy of Wicked Wiki

First we looked for a black dress. When we couldn't find one that would work, we spotted this pink one from Value Village for $4.99. Next we dyed it with some fabric dye which I bought for $3.99, by soaking it for two hours. We also have enough fabric dye left over to use for a future project. 

We opted for a larger sized dress so it would be longer on Molly

While the Wicked Witch of the West isn't known to wear the Ruby Slippers or the striped socks (they belong to her sister), Molly and I felt they were iconic enough to the story of The Wizard of Oz that we wanted to include them in her costume. We found the cosy socks from Dollarama for $1.50. We bought the red slip on shoes for $6.99 from Value Village and spent an additional $2.00 on sticky gems to affix to them to make them really sparkle.

These slippers will be great for Molly to wear post Halloween too.

After Molly and I attached the gems.

Look complete - Magic Ruby Slippers & Iconic Black and White Socks

Next we bought a witch hat from Dollarama for $1.50, as well as some green gloves for $1.50 and I painted on black nails with some black nail polish we had on hand. We were able to get a broom from Spirit Halloween for $5.99, and some green face make-up from Dollarama for $2.99. I added some of my own lipstick to make Molly's lips stand out once I applied the green makeup.

Molly was feeling "Wicked" once we put her look together.

The total cost of the costume was roughly $31.45 plus tax and included several items (shoes, dress, and socks) that will get reused aside from dress-up wear. Added bonus,

Molly & Jack together before their class Halloween party

What are you and your family dressing up as for Halloween this year?

Becoming Wallace & Gromit - Maker Parent Handmade Halloween Costumes

Last year, about a week before Halloween, Jack announced that he knew what he wanted to be for Halloween 2021. This isn't unusual for my kids, they both pick their costumes well in advance, but I make them wait until May before we begin talking about costumes for the following fall, particularly with growth spurts and changed interests in mind.

Jack is really into claymation, and as such he's a big fan of the British cartoon Wallace and Gromit he decided this is who he wanted to be. We talked a great deal about whether he'd want this to be a group costume (as in would one person dress up as Wallace and the other as Gromit), but he was insistant that he alone wanted to be both.

Image Courtesy of Pinterest

This is how we made his Wallace and Gromit costume and how much it cost.

This summer I began scouring thrift stores, closets, and our dress up box for an outfit to transform Jack into Wallace. We decided that Gromit would likely be a stuffed animal that he carried.

From our supplies we found a dress shirt, black pants, and a bright red tie. The shirt and pants were hand me downs from a cousin, and the red tie came from something Chris used to wear with a black suit about 15 years ago, so that cost us nothing! The major problem was finding a green vest. After searching thrift shops since July I decied in early October that the green vest wasn't going to happen. Instead I purchased a sized small women's V-neck green shirt for $4.99 from Value Village and cut the sleeves off.

Outfit Complete

Once that was settled we needed to find our Gromit. Since it is a British series that was most popular 25 years ago our pickings were slim. We managed to find a Gromit Puppet perfect for the job on Ebay for $20 Canadian plus shipping from a seller who specialized in vintage toys. 

Next we picked up a wig net from Dollarama for $1.50, a plain white mask from Spirit Halloween for $2.49, and a bald cap from Spirit Halloween for $8.99.

The big problem we had with our mask was that it wasn't  even close to matching the shape of Wallace's face

Since I am better at costume construction than I am at mask painting, I outsourced Jack's mask to my niece A (the same person who painted Jack's amazing Pennywise masks from last year). She used light weight clay from the Dollarama to glue on a prosthetic nose and teeth to create a profile that matches Wallaces. She mixed paints she already had on hand to match his skin tone to the bald cap.

Wallace Face

This afternoon we put it all together for a dry run to see how it would look.  Below is the grand reveal....Enjoy!

Wallae and Gromit can't wait to go Trick or Treating this year!

The total cost of the costume, costume supplies, and shipping was roughly $45, plus Jack has a Gromit puppet he adores as a Halloween keepsake for years to come.What are your kids going as for Halloween this year? Happy Crafting! Happy Halloweening!

Paperback Writer - Sharing My Writing On Other Sites

It's been nearly two months since I shared some of my recent non-parenting writing here, so I thought I'd give it a go. I am so thankful that I get to write and learn new things every day in my work whether I'm ghostwriting or otherwise.  Please click on and share any of the links that interest you, and as always, if you have any article ideas for me for the blog or anything else shoot me an email or a comment! Enjoy!

Seasonal - Just In Time For Halloween

via Future Female

10 Cheap, Creative & Fast Halloween Costumes

Fan Theories

via The Things

20 Unusual Fan Theories About Popular Films (That Actually Make Sense)

Shrek: 20 Sketchy Things We Never Noticed (Until Now)

20 Hidden Adult Jokes Everyone Missed In Toy Story (Until Now)

Humour

via The Things

20 Pics Of What A-Listers Would Look Like If They Weren't Famous

Entertainment

via The Things

12 Celebs Who Made A Huge Comeback (8 Who Struggle To Make Ends Meet)

20 Uncomfortable Scenes In TV Shows That Made Actors Want To Quit

20 Hollywood It Girls Who Fell Off The Radar (And Where They Are Now)

Behind The Scenes Hollywood

via The Things

20 Actors Who Transformed Completely For A Role

20 Green Screen Pics That'll Change The Way We Look At Films & TV Forever

10 Actors Who Refuse To Do Their Own Stunts (And 10 Who Are Game)

20 Celebs Who Turned Down Roles That Could've Made Them Iconic

Reality TV

via The Things

20 Secrets Producers Of Survivor Want To Keep On The DL

Popular Shows

via The Things

Big Bang Theory: 20 Questions Still Left Unanswered

20 Questions We're Left With At The End Of Stranger Things Season 3

20 Rules Ellen DeGeneres Forces Her Guests To Follow On Her Show

Season of the Witch - My Homemade Ursula the Sea Witch Costume

Being a princess is fun, but being a villain is better.  This year I decided to go out as The Little Mermaid Villain, Ursula the Sea Witch.  You know, this fabulous white haired lady, octopus, bad guy, you get the picture:

Image Courtesy of Enchanted America

Making Tentacles:

Took two pairs of old pantyhose, drew on tentacles using fabric paint ($8.49, and I have plenty left over for other winter crafts), let it dry, stuffed them with cotton stuffing that my mom generously donated, and used some craft wire from Dollarama ($1.49) to curl them up at the end.  I then secured them to a thin belt I already owned with safety pins.

Tentacles in progress

 For my hair I teased it up on top of my head secured it in a bun, and used a bunch of white Halloween hair spray ($5.99 Value Village).  I then topped it off with a crown ($5.99 Value Village), and the legendary necklace Ursula wears when she steals Ariel's voice ($1.99 for the necklace, glue gunned to another old necklace I had, and painted yellow with basic craft paint)

Ready for my evil close up

Here's where I failed, the make-up department.  I purchased cheap ($1.99 white Halloween face make-up, and purple $1.99) to mix together and wear on my face, chest and arms.  Since it was $1.99 product, I got what I paid for and it went on really splotchy, so I had to take it off and start all over again.  See my epic fail below.  Bought the blue eyeshadow from Shoppers Drug Mart for $4.99 and used Mac red lipstick, eyeliner for my brows and trademark mole, and baby powder to lighten my sea witch skin.

I've been told a primed would have helped with this, but it wasn't worth the time for me so I just started again.

Here is the final product, and I'm pretty proud of it $29 without make-up fail, $33 with (plus applicable taxes).  Add in a trident, or some potions, or her sidekick pet eels if you want to get some extra accessories with your costume.

Happy Halloween!