Many of you have asked about deals on costumes for Purim. I promise you, I’m on the lookout!
But in the meantime, I thought it might be fun to talk about making your own Purim costumes.
When my oldest was three, he was obsessed with snails (hilzonot). His gan was having a nature-themed Purim celebration, so he dressed up as – yes! – a snail.
The next year, we had a king and a monkey. For our king, I made a “fur”-lined cape and felt crown – his scepter was cut out of shiny gold poster board. For our monkey, my stepmom (sewing genius) made a costume from a pattern. Probably not less expensive than something you could buy – but definitely softer and cuter!
Three years ago we had a bit of a medieval thing going. The knight’s “armor” was homemade, but the maille was store bought. His sword and shield were made from foam board, painted black and silver.
The dragon’s head and spines (pinned on to his t-shirt in the back) were made from stiffened felt – inspired by a Disney Family Fun article.
This year, the kids have been talking about their costumes since the summer (your kids do this, too, right?!).
They want to do a Star Wars theme. This is the first year our daughter will officially be dressed up and according to her brothers, she should be Princess Leah. We’ll see if we can put together a Hans Solo and Luke Skywalker costume for the boys. And my husband? I think he should go as Darth Vader!
If you want some DIY costume ideas, check out this great article from Parents Magazine on Handmade Halloween Costumes. Or this series of links from About.com for Make Yourself Costume Ideas.
Let’s talk homemade costumes in the comments section: Have you made your own costumes for Purim? What were some of your best creations? Do you prefer sew or no-sew?
LOL! I can’t wait to see your kids!
I would love to say I could sew, but I can’t. 🙁 I usually get my kids costumes in early Nov when Target marks their Halloween stuff 70-90% off.
Mara you should be Leia and your daughter could be Padme or an Ewok- so cute. By us I thought of a theme. We are all dressing up as workers from my husband’s store. We all have the clothes at home and my husband told his boss and she is graciously providing us with the necessary name tags, etc. Shalach manos part of same theme. If it works we might do this every year.
Ha – I suggested that she be R2D2 (right size), but the boys are adamant that their sister be the princess (can you tell they adore her?!).
That’s a very clever idea with your Purim costumes. I’ve never tied in my mishloach manot to our costumes, but I might try that this year!
That’s so cute. Padme is a princess and then you’d also be part of theme. Unless you want to be Chewy (see that I love Star Wars). This is the first year I’ve tied everything together. We’re spending less on food and nothing on costumes!
We’ve done both homemade costumes and store bought over the years…no sewing though. Last year we went to a Bar Mitzvah on Purim as the Muppets – parts homemade and parts store bought. I would upload a picture if I knew how.. One year when my big boys were very little we were all bunnies. My husband and I wore store bought costumes, but my boys wore pink fuzzy sleepers with stuffed tights as ears. I’ve also made my 10 year old into Mickey Mouse and Mario.
Last year, we did Mario and Luigi (store bought), “Yoshi” (a dinosaur costume each of my kids has worn when they were 1), Princess Peach (that was me, 9 months pregnant), and Bowser–that was dh. He wore khakis, a yellow t-shirt, and then a beanie kind of felt hat with glue gunned spikes, horns, and eyes and a big shell “backpack”: a piece of presentation thick foam board cut into an oval, covered with felt and stuffed.
We did themed mm, too, with the coins that Mario is constantly searching for (clearance gelt), “mushrooms” fashioned from cupcakes frosted with spots, and a few other things in a bakery box that had we made to look like the question mark boxes from the games.
We have so much fun with Purim!
My middle daughter was Princess Leia last year – totally DIY. We borrowed one of my husband’s plain white T-shirts for the dress and made the belt out of posterboard, decorated with foil for the buckle. For the “space buns” hairdo, I hairbanded together a few pairs of my husband’s black dress socks, attached them to my daughter’s pigtails with another hairband and wound them around. It was one of our cutest and cheapest costumes yet!
Okay – so my kids want to be Pilgrims and give out little boats named “Mayflower” (Our last name is May). I have a somewhat boat-shaped container that I can use (Christmas clearance) and stick in a “mast” with a paper “sail” wishing all a happy Purim. Will have to come up with some poem that ties ships/Mayflower to Purim. How do I make my girls into Pilgrims?
Ayelet, look in the library for Molly’s Pilgrim. It should provide some good ideas. (Also, it’s a terrific story about Thanksgiving, Sukkot, immigration to America, etc.)
Caroline – We’re big fans of that book at Chez May!
Purim is my very favorite holiday and I LOVE making costumes. I don’t sew much, so I have to find ways to work around that.
Here’s my roundup of some costumes we’ve done: http://ourgoatrodeo.blogspot.com/2011/09/costume-roundup.html
Day and Night was my all time favorite. When people ask if my twins are exactly alike, we like to say, “They’re like night and day.” So I made them “Night and Day” costumes not once, but twice for Purim. The last time, they won the costume contest. I was actually in labor at the Purim party and I insisted on staying to wait for the contest winner announcement before we went home.
The following year, they all went as 3 blind mice and the Farmer’s wife. 3 of them wore hooded sweatshirts and I pinned on ears and gave them glasses. My oldest wore her “Little House” dress (We found it at a rummage sale for $1) and carried a plastic ax Halloween prop and 3 pieces of yarn for their tails.
Aw that is SUCH a cute idea. I love day and night!
Hi, I just made my own Dorothy costume for $3.50! I only purchased some ruby slippers at Once Upon A Child and I made the rest. It was really easy, you could probably do it without sewing if you got some fabric glue.
http://www.babybearhugs.com/2012/02/diy-dorothy-costume.html
How would you make a birthday cake costume?