Halloween 2008

When I asked Andersen what he wanted to be for Halloween, he did not hesitate to say "Clown." But why a clown? Why not his idol, Thomas the train, or something more familiar to him, like Diego or Elmo? I thought he might've said "clown" on a whim, so I continued to ask him for several weeks leading into October until 2 weeks before Halloween. But his answer never changed. To this day, I cannot figure why he had set his mind on being a Clown.

So a Clown he would be. Would you believe it if I told you, common stores did not carry any clown costumes for children?? Pirates were common, your typical selection of animals, and of course I could easily find Thomas or Elmo. But no clown!! So, I improvised. I think it was in an old issue of Parents magazine, I had seen a homemade clown costume made of a white 1-pc outfit and multicolor dish scrubbers. Inspired, this is what I came up with for Andersen:

The base for the outfit is a footed sleeper-style pajama (I bought at Once Upon a Child) that was already in 3 color blocks (lt. blue, red, and dark blue). It had a few appliques on it so I covered those by with large felt shapes (you can see the square on A's chest). And then I cut smaller felt circles that I stitched all over the rest of the pajama. The large yellow "buttons" are the dish scrubbers I got at the dollar store. The "lace" collar and wrist fringe is a white shower pouf that I took apart and stitched in place. Finally, I found a set of plastic cheerleader pom poms at the dollar store, took the handles off, and attached to Andersen's winter hat. I had considered all different headgear, but in the end decided this would stay put and keep him warm that night we went trick-or-treating.

I loosely stitched everything on the pajama so that after he was done with it for Halloween, he could actually use the pj to sleep in. But alas, I couldn't bring myself to dismantling the cute clown costume I was so proud of...

"I'm ready to go beggin'!" "Let's GO!"

Enjoying the spoils