Here are some of the costumes I made for my son and what they cost me:

Phantom of the opera -€3 (black hairspray)
Special Branch - €1 (elastic bands)
Zombie with tyre track - Not a cent
Invisible man - Not a cent

He won 1st place in competitions in each of these costumes

HI my idea would be WALLEE.. the robot who tried to save earth... either a large cardboard box or a black bin bag and glue or attach all bits of recycled rubbish to it... cereal boxes, toilet rolls, juice bottles school milk bottles, crisp packets biscuit wrappers, im trying to think of what else wallee saved in the movie ... a plant...


hope this helps...



IRENEO>>>>. did the food dye work???? did it not stain his face ??? did it wash out easily??? reason i ask is that we are about to do a mad hair day ... and i need inspiration or wigs as i cant do hair except pony tails....



good luck

Summersun

Hi Summersun
Yes the food colouring washes straight out in one wash. I do his hair green every year for his schools St Patricks day party too. If you rub vaseline along your hairline and ears and back of your neck, then when the dye is in, it wipes off with the vaseline but it washes off easy anyway

Wow Ireneo, you really do have talent there. As I said we went for the Queen of Heart and it didnt cost a cent. I had an old white tablecloth which I cut to size. I didnt have any red material for the hearts so we use white paper and cut out large and small hearts. We had a great afternoon painting them all, took a couple of coats to make it a deep red but it was good fun.

The next day when they were dry we sewed the paper love hearts on, bit time consuming but still good fun as my little one did some and I did some.

All in all it was great fun making it and she looked great. But alas she didnt win, although personally I thought she should have, because a boy in her class won and it was just bits of all bought costumes put together to make a new one.

This really maddened me although I said nothing to my little one but I felt that they had stated over and over that it should be hand made.

This has put me off for next year and think I will just let her wear one from her "Dress Up" drawer.

Oh by the way, I have noticed that each year, the children of the parents who are on the parents committee always win........ do that say something about our school..... I think so......

Thats awful! And do they not realise that other parents are far from stupid and can see whats happening every year. Its very annoying! It happens a lot in other places too.
But Im glad your daughter was happy with her costume and enjoyed helping to make it. Myself and Jacob love doing them too and its great to work on them together.
He hasnt said what he wants to be this Halloween surprisingly. He usually says around now, what hes thinking of. Its great because it gives me a chance to get ideas together. Of all the costumes in the photos, The invisible man was the quickest and easiest to make. It took an hour and not a cent.
They always have a King and Queen of the ball
He won "King of the ball" It was so funny when the judge tried to put the crown on his head as you can imagine.

Irene call me stupid bu how did you do the invisible man....

I got my husbands shirt. I opened out two wire coat hangers. I tied one around under the collar and folded the collar back down over it and sewed collar down to the shirt to keep wire in place. I left the rest of the hanger standing up straight at the back of the collar. I then looped the top of the wire like a halo and placed a baseball cap onto the halo and sew them together too. I got a really fine piece of wire and wrapped it around the middle of the glasses and brought it up to wrap it around the front of the wire inside the cap and sewed the parts that go behind your ears to the sides of the cap
I used the other hanger to place inside the shirt, going across under the neck and out to each shoulder. I got some foam underlay, used for wooden floors and rolled it up like a sausage and it went all across the top from shoulder to shoulder. I taped it to the hanger already placed there. I cut out a hole up through the underlay so it would rest neatly and comfortably on his head and that kept the top part up over his head.
I then just cut two eyeholes in the chest of the shirt.
It was so comfortable, it sat on his head like a hat, it was as light as a feather and he didnt want to take it off that night, even at bedtime!!!!

Im not very good at giving instructions, I hope all that made sense.
ps. I almost forgot, I sewed black material inside the neck to make it look like a hole.

invisible man
 

Genius ireneo! well done

Thank you Mrsl.
I think homemade costumes are hard to beat and I really enjoy the challenge.

Our local Gaa had a fancydress party last summer and he wore a suit and I got a load of old different wheels and tied them all over him and he went as "The Gaa Spokesperson ". I have to start getting ideas for this summer now. Anybody reading this got any ideas?????????????
I might just put overalls on him and give him a hammer and a small stake and send him as "The minister of de`fence"