It’s that time of year again! Time to plan the perfect costumes for you and your family. I
had every intention of sharing these at the end of September but with traveling every other weekend for the last 5 weeks and one more trip to go, I just haven’t had the opportunity until now.
Do you have a big family to coordinate? Are you attending a special Halloween function?
Or are you celebrating at Magic Kingdom with Mickey at his Not So Scary Halloween Party? We are! So I’ve been busy adding all of the finishing touches to our costumes. This is the first year Laney has grasped the concept of Halloween and understands what Trick-or-Treating is. She tells all of us what we will be for Halloween almost every day and every time we go shopping, she tells anyone that will listen too. Here is what she selected for our family this year:
MOANA
Moana has been on repeat in our house almost every day for the last several months. Laney loves it and it’s about the only thing Morgan will pay attention to on the TV. She also can recognize the music right away and dances her little heart out to the Moana soundtrack. Thus why we picked it to be her 1st birthday theme.
When it came time to think about Halloween costumes, I kept asking Laney to decide if she wanted be Anna from Frozen (her other favorite) or Moana. After only wavering slightly, she decided on Moana. I loved the idea of Brad being Maui, which of course Laney did too and thought Morgan would make the cutest little Pua (Moana’s pig). That left me. I figured I could just be Te Fiti … wear a green dress, wrap myself in a garland, thrown on a flower crown and call it good. But Laney had a different idea … she wanted me to be Hei Hei. Yep. The crazy chicken. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it because as a mom I can totally relate to Hei Hei in some of my motherhood moments. So here is how I pulled together our costumes:
Maui | For Brad, I began a Google search for Maui costumes. This was definitely a DIY I wasn’t up for. I found what seemed to be a great option but it turned out to be one of those “too good to be true” things. I found a similar tattooed shirt, tattooed jogger-style pants, a palm leaves grass skirt and necklace on Amazon and Ebay for around $15. What a steal! Well over the years, I’ve learned from Brad to read reviews on everything I order online, so I dove in. And I was so bummed to see that almost every review said the costume showed up looking nothing like the listing picture. The skintone color of the clothing was actually a pink/salmon color in person and the skirt was a far cry from the palm leaves skirt displayed in the listing. The general consensus was “you get what you pay for” and they were all Dads dressing up with their daughters, so they just went with it. Brad said the pink color was a no go so I went back to my first option I had found on Etsy, a shirt printed with the tattoos, tooth necklace and palm leaves skirt. My original hang up was the price tag of $50, but after the other option was a bust and I saw the positive reviews for this shirt I pulled the trigger when Brad gave it the thumbs up. (Regardless of which option you choose, all are coming from China, so be sure to allow plenty of time for shipping!) We recently got it in the mail and it’s great! The seller recommended sizing up since the shirt is more tapered so we did and the fit is great! The neck is a little larger than Brad would like but overall it looks great, the shirt is super soft and it’s great quality! The picture is linked for you.
Pua | I was so surprised to find that there isn’t a ready-to-buy Pua costume online for kids. I searched everywhere but found that this was going to be a DIY project. I ordered a white shorts onesie and then went to Hobby Lobby to buy white, black, gray and pink felt. With online pictures as my guide, I cut the pieces I needed and attached them to the onesie with fabric glue. I opted for fabric glue instead of regular craft glue because I figured it would have a more flexible hold that wouldn’t be as rough as dried craft glue. I also would have attached ears to a headband, but Morgan still isn’t a fan of things on her head so I attached the ears to the onesie as well. I forgot to snap a picture of the finished product so I will update as soon as I get one tomorrow!
Hei Hei | Also finding that Hei Hei was going to be a DIY project, I scoured Pinterest for ideas. I decided on a headband and a shirt with feathers. For the headband, I purchased a black headband, a styrofoam ball I cut in half, 2 different sizes of black buttons for the eyes, feather trim, a red feathery clip and some felt to cut out the beak and the purple under his eyes. Armed with my hot glue gun it came together very well, if I do say so myself!
For the rest of my outfit, I plan to wear black leggings with a black shirt attached with boas. I thought I would try to quickly stitch the boas to the shirt but when that proved to be too challenging, I busted out my trusty ol’ hot glue gun again. For my chicken feet, I bought yellow cleaning gloves that I filled with cotton balls and will tie them to the tops of my tennis shoes.
Family Favorites
Frozen
The Incredibles
Toy Story 4
This is easily going to be a popular theme this year so I figured I would share a few ideas on this theme:
Perfect for Big Groups
Toy Story Aliens
It would be fun to designate someone as the ‘Claw’ and then have everyone else be aliens or everyone could just be an alien. Either way, super cute! I found this headband for a GREAT price! Cheaper than trying to even make it yourself. Then just simply pair with an inexpensive blue shirt or this fun graphic tee that looks like what the aliens wear in the movie.
Sorcerer Mickey & the Brooms
I know someone whose family did this one year and I LOVED it! One lucky person gets to be Sorcerer Mickey. You can splurge on the actual costume or piece it together yourself with a red robe and a sorcerer’s hat. The one linked is definitely cheaper than the ones sold at the parks but these ears look a little off so you could always grab one when you get there. Some stores on property offer 10% off your purchase when using your Disney Visa credit card. For the brooms, simply get a long brown shirt, cut some fringe around the bottom and tie a rope-like string around your waist. Voila!
Ratatouille
This is another fun group theme. Designate someone to be Ratatouille and then everyone else can be a chef. You could splurge for the chef jacket but otherwise could keep the cost down with a simple white apron and chef’s hat.
101 Dalmatians
Another classic! Can’t go wrong with these, especially Cruella de Vil, but the dalmatians would easily be a quick DIY with some black felt and white shirts.
How to Impress Disney Cast Members
If you are attending Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and still haven’t found the right theme for your costumes because you want to do something different, here is something that will impress the cast members and get you a lot of recognition. Either go with an old, classic Disney movie, recreate Walt & Lillian Disney or dress like the cast members at a particular ride. If you choose the last one, I can speak from experience that when you go on that ride, they will be so excited to see you!
Jungle Cruise Skippers
My parents and my brother decided on this theme during a trip to Disney several years ago and have recycled it a couple of times since then too. It’s a big hit every time! All you need is khaki shorts, a khaki canvas belt, a khaki fishing shirt and some foam board and markers to make a cast member name tag. You can then attach magnets of a safety pin to secure it to your shirt. My Dad was ‘Skip’, Mom ‘Skipper’ and my brother ‘Skippy’ as a play on words. When they rode Jungle Crusie, everyone had a fit over them and they got right through that line!
Haunted Mansion
I always said if I every worked at Disney, this is where I would want to work. I’m not sure why, but probably because it’s the only place in all of Disney World that they don’t smile. I’m a happy person but there’s just something fun about taking on a persona so different from the rest of the park. This ride offers so many options for costumes! Many replicas are very expensive, reaching close to $100 so you can either splurge or go with other options like these shirts for the maid and butler.
Other costume ideas from this ride include Madame Leota, the Hitchhiking Ghosts and the Ballroom Dancing Ghosts. Be sure to bring your Death Certificate!
Just for Fun
Here is me and my brother in October 2012 headed to MNSSHP at Magic Kingdom as Bert and Mary Poppins.
Brad got to attend his first MNSSHP with us in 2015. My parents dressed as skippers from Jungle Cruise (I can’t find my pictures, so I’ll have to get my mom to send me one to share), Brad was an Imagineer (security almost didn’t let him bring his hard hat in to the park) and I was Cruise Ship Director Minnie Mouse.
I hope you and your family have a fun and safe holiday this year! If you’ve got, haunt it! Happy Halloween!
[…] When I wasn’t cleaning the house, chauffeuring Laney to and from school as well as other activities, packing or unpacking, I was working on our Halloween costumes. Laney narrowed down our family theme to Frozen & Moana and ended up choosing Moana, so I got to work. Brad was to be Maui, Laney – Moana, Morgan – Pua and I thought I would be Te Fiti. However, Laney had a different idea and wanted to be Hei Hei. Yep. The crazy chicken. But the more it sunk in the more I loved him and our choice. He gives me many laughs during the movie and he honestly depicts how mom life feels some days. If you want to see how the costumes came together, you can see them in my Disney Themed Family Halloween Costumes blog post. […]