{Phenomenal Tip}: How to DIY A Strawberry Costume... On A Budget!

As you may already very well know by now, we do not really observe Halloween; but when the kids get invited by their good friends to go trick or treating, then we make an easy DIY costume of their choice. Nothing scary, spooky or evil - but always just full of whimsy and creativity.

I am intentional that our Halloween costumes are DIY because I really want the kids to enjoy the process of creating something wonderful with their hands.  I love how I can show them that using a little creativity and effort, we can make something out of the materials that are already in our house.  Of course, it goes without saying that going the DIY route also means that I do not have to spend a large amount on their costumes.

So just a few days ago, my oldest daughter decided to go trick or treating with some of her best friends. She wanted to dress up as a strawberry! I thought it was hilarious, and so much in sync with her personality... funny, quirky, and just all-over happy!

It's so easy to do, and the both of us did it in about 30 minutes! If you are looking for an easy, no-sew costume which you can whip up with some paper and a red dress, then look no further!

Materials needed:
A red dress
poster board/cartolina in two shades of green
Art paper in black
toilet paper roll
double sided tape
stapler/staple wire
scissors

Directions:

1. Cut out several leaf shapes from the poster board/cartolina.  We made ours in two sizes to provide contrast in the patterns. We cut the board paper to about 8" and 6" and then folded it accordion style to be able to cut multiple shapes at once.
2. Overlap the leaf shapes on the neckline of the dress. You can choose to sew each shape if you have a delicate dress. But the dress we used was an old one, so we just stapled the shapes onto the dress. Easy-peasy!
3. For the seeds, we just cut out tear drop shapes from black art paper.  We folded the art paper accordion style and cut out multiple tear-shaped pieces in one go. Because it was jsut something to be worn once, I didn't want to invest too much time on it, so we just placed double -sided tape on each shape and stick them onto the dress.
4. For the stem, we just used a toilet paper roll, cut into half, and some more leaf patterns (about 10" long). We used a glue gun to secure the toilet paper roll to a headband.
5. Glue the leaves onto the toilet paper roll, and continue gluing the leaves, working your way around until the tissue paper roll is fully covered.

And that’s it! Time to take the costume out!

Here are some of the costumes we came up with in the recent years:

Last 2014, I shared with you how I made my son's Luke Skywalker costume for his school event, Jazz Up Your WORDrobe Literacy Parade," which coincided with Halloween. 

You can go to the link right here

 Just last year, OREO hosted an out-of-town Halloween Party for the SoMoms, and my oldest daughter came as Darth Vader.  You can read more about it here.

 In 2013, everyone in my daughter's swim team came to training donned up 

as athletes of any sport other than swimming. 

It was a good thing she kept her shin guards and cleats from her soccer varsity days.

Even the coaches were game about it.

My second daughter and her friends are more gung-ho about Halloween. This year, she and her friends are thinking about coordinated outfits.  I have no idea what they have planned, yet. In 2013, we made her to be an owl, and you can view her costume right here. 

How's your Halloween coming along?

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