since Halloween is only a few short weeks away – I am hoping that I am not the only one scrambling to figure out Halloween costumes
In 2015, Cams first Halloween – I bought a shark costume trying to be clever. See, our yellow lab is named Tank after the show Shark Tank so I thought it would be somehow clever to have a Shark and a Tank. Then I could photograph it, post it on social media tagging all the sharks, not so secretly hoping for a retweet.
Cam hated the costume and SCREAMED every time he was in it, so I never did get a decent picture to use.
In 2016, Lilys first Halloween and Cams first as a toddler – Cam was (as all little boys are) into firetrucks. It was decided that he would be a firefighter and my immobile infant would be the firehouse Dalmatian. All of the fireman costumes I found in store were very cartoon like, had fake abs, and they were just not what I was looking for. I then decided I would be all DIY about it and make them. I didn’t have a tutorial to go by, I pretty much just decided on my own how I would accomplish this. Most of the costumes were DIY but I did have to purchase two items to complete the look.
For fireman supplies, I purchased the following:
solid grey long sleeve shirt
solid black pants
black iron on letters
bright yellow duct tape
silver duct tape
fireman boots
red suspenders
fire hat
For Dalmatian supplies, I purchased the following:
solid white knitted hat
solid white onesie (or long sleeve shirt)
solid white pants
red ribbon
sew on buttons
black, red, pink, white, and yellow felt
a red bow
Plus fabric glue, I also used some hot glue + a hot glue gun
For the fireman assembly, I used the following steps:
1. Cut the yellow duct tape circumference of the pant leg, gently place it on the pant leg – wrapping it all the way around, just below where the childs knee will hit
2. Cut the silver duct tape to the same circumference but this time, cutting it down the middle so it is thinner and can be placed on top of the yellow then gently place it on the yellow duct tape – wrapping it all the way around
3. I ironed on numbers on the front of the shirt, as if to represent a firehouse number, then used NEFD for the back to represent our local fire department
4. I purchased a fire hat at our local Walmart, then found fireman rain boots and red suspenders on Amazon to complete the look
For the Dalmatian assembly, I used the following steps:
1. Cut LOTS of black shapes out of the black felt, circles ovals and odd shapes both big and small to represent the polka dots on your puppy
2. Cut the red ribbon the same length of the neckline (you can go all the way around the back if you’d like) then glue it on just below the neckline of the shirt
3. Glue the yellow button in the center for the collar
4. Begin glueing your black felt polka dots all over the costume, in no particular pattern, as many or as few as you’d like
4. For the ears, I found a template and zoomed in before printing so it would print the accurate size then used it to cut out dog ears from the white felt
5. Cut the pink felt to be just smaller than the white felt dog ears and represent the inside of the ear
6. Use the white felt to cut a long skinny dog tail, I hand sewed it into the seam of the pants – just enough that it would stay intact
7. Begin glueing all of your black felt polka dots on the costume, anywhere you’d like, including the ears and tail
8. Attach the bow to the top of the hat – I also hand sewed this into the seam just enough to keep it there
* Lily was in immobile infant, so there was minimal moment from her – if your child is older, you may want to consider sewing it in a little tighter
It is a very basic DIY but the end product (and reactions from others) was really fulfilling for me knowing that my minimal effort was enough
If you decide to follow my DIY and make your littles into either of these costumes, I’d LOVE to see your photos! Please send them by way!
Happy (almost) Halloween
xoxo K
