I know we've all moved on to talk of turkey and handmade holiday gifts but I HAD to share the boy's Halloween costumes and this is the first chance I've had!
First a funny story. Did you ever have a movie you watched when you were little that you were both obsessed with and terrified of? For me it was The Never Ending Story. Well, I accidentally introduced Jude to his version, Spiderwick. We had enjoyed a Spiderwick book at the library and while I usually watch the movies before I share with him, I thought it would be okay. Holy smokes, that's an intense film! Anyway, fingers crossed he's not scarred for life, but he really enjoyed the movie even though I kept asking if he'd like to turn it off. All this to say Jude knows I'm kinda anti-Spiderwick, but there is a huge cool gryphon in the film. You need this back story for our costume conversation to make sense.
"Jude do you still want to be a polar bear for Halloween?"
"Yes!"
"Okay cool, maybe brother could be a snowy owl."
"I want to be an owl."
"Okay."
"Or how about an eagle?"
"Totally."
"I don't know why you won't let me be a gryphon!"
Challenge accepted.
After seeing how cute Ronan looked in the Viking hat I had made years ago his costume concept was a no brainer. And so this year we had a gryphon (griffin?) and a Viking. Want all the DIY details? Keep reading for the how-to's and lots more pictures!
DIY Gryphon Costume
A gryphon is a mythical creature that is half lion and half eagle. For the lion half I sewed a pair of fur pants using an oversized legging pattern (read less seams). I added a tail with felt "fur" end and flaps to cover his shoes with felt claws. The top base was a self drafted raglan shirt made of fleece. I attached felt and fleece "feathers" to the breast of the shirt. The wings are three layers of fleece/felt cut in an eagle wing shape. To make them look more eaglish and less batish the wings are longer towards the ends and more narrow towards the shoulders. I drew the wing pattern on paper and used it to cut the layers (making each one narrower than the last). First I sewed the wing layers together, then I attached them to the shirt from the center of the neckline to the end of the shoulders. I added loops to the end of the wings so that he could fly or let the wings hand behind. The coolest part of the costume is the mask that Jason made. He used this awesome cardboard creation as a guide. I painted it with tan and copper paint and with that, the griffin landed.
DIY Viking Costume
This costume was crazy easy to put together. The "vest" and fur boots are simply rectangles of fur tied on with suede cord. Add a Viking helmet and you're dialed. I couldn't resist making a beard, unfortunately Ronan did not enjoy said beard so I'm not sure I can recommend going to the trouble. That said, it was really easy to make. I was inspired by this tutorial. I simply cut a little beard shape out of felt and added an elastic strap. Then I just hot glued yarn braids and folded pieces of yarn to the felt. Lastly, I trimmed the bottom in a rounded shape.
We had a really fun Halloween enjoying the parade at school and trick or treating in our neighborhood. I hope you had a Happy Halloween. I LOVE seeing kids in their costumes, please share yours in the comments!!
