Welcome to 2014’s Picture heavy Halloween post! I’m extra excited about this year’s costume for two reasons, I had very little to do with it and it was a real make it work project from the shopping stage!
The story Emily told me about her Cinderella goes something like this: Cinderella was on her way to the ball when she clumsily feel in front of the carriage. It ran over her and she died. Once she died, so did the magic and her pumpkin carriage blew up. She was so mad that she missed her ball, she’s turned into a zombie intent on eating her prince.
Seriously? I lol’d and we went for it! The first trouble we ran into is finding the right fabrics. We couldn’t find powder blue in cheap for the sleeves and poofs anywhere in the store. She seemed to think the off white was a good substitute so we got off white. It doesn’t match the gloves perfectly, but that’s totally OK.
Our next big problem was staining the thing. You wouldn’t even believe how resistant to stains this fabric is. I tried one of my favorite tricks – coffee staining and it didn’t come close to working. Really – it soaked in a bucket of coffee over night. When I pulled it out it was just as blue and shiny as when it was new. Dang! I wasn’t ready to give in so acrylic paint it is! Big surprise, I ended up covered in as much paint as she is!
The blood is another last minute fix. There was no blood at the store. It is totally our fault for waiting until Wednesday to get some. I went into the kitchen and put together some corn starch, water, and food coloring. I think if I had not put enough water in the bowl for 100 costumes, the blood would have looked better, but hey, it is good enough.
The pumpkin is literally the guts of the pumpkins she carved with her dad. She said – I’m a zombie, I have to smell like one! OMG does she! I swear, you can smell her coming 20 paces down the road! We don’t do it half way around here, smell and all. The dress went right to the outside trash as soon as she finished ringing doorbells!
I’m really proud of her for this one. She came up with the concept which included a story, was patient with the make it work moments, and tolerated herself when she smelled like coffee pumpkin death!
Show me your kids and their costumes! I love costumes and will look at any links you drop in the comments. 
Your daughter is the coolest kid ever! Yeah, I think my own kids are pretty awesome, but this totally rocks! My daughter was Cinderella in the middle school musical, and she will absolutely love this!
Love it! Such a treasure trove of memories you made.
blessings, marlene
AWESOME! Looks like you may have a future costume designer in the making!
Love your zombie princess!
My daughter tried to stain a wedding dress a few years back for her own zombie costume. It’s SO much harder than it sounds!
Awesome! I love that the costume had a whole story behind it!
PS The photos are wonderful too!
Absolutely Brilliant!! The costume, the story and the enthusiasm to pulling it off so perfectly! I love the fact that even the sense of smell was included in the costume, but I’m kind’ve glad the smell feature on my computer doesn’t work.
Well done all round! Hope the collection was safe, not too sweet and enjoyable for ALL concerned! Trust the costumier got a share of the goodies too!
This is pretty great, I love her creativity and thoroughness! The last picture might be my favorite, haha how fun. I posted a picture of my kids in costume on my IG yesterday morning.
Fabulous fabulous fabulous!
OH my goodness – how awesome is she? I love the costume and the story. Happy Halloween!
I wish I had a picture of my son when we made him an Oompa Loompa. I still have the costume (it wasn’t a stinky affair, which is awesome). It took some creative sewing to make the costume, complete with the removal of collar and cuffs of a turtle neck for dyeing. And hand-painted socks because you can buy socks with horizontal stripes but in 2003 (I’m totally guessing on the year) vertical stripes were unheard of. He had a blast! I’m surprised my fingers still aren’t green from trying to make a blond wig green.
I’m glad she had fun and put the work into making it work. I love a good collaboration and this is one.
Great story and great costume. Love the next to last picture. Heard today to make blood…..use light corn syrup and add red food coloring. Thin with water a little at the time if needed. Good job by my two favorite girls in the world.
Pumpkin coffee death! LOL. She’s still a cutie.