Nash Family Circus - Halloween 2014

 

 

This year's Halloween costumes were based on feedback from both Paul and Clara from last Halloween.  Last year Paul mentioned that his wool sailor uniform was awfully warm and he would like a Halloween costume where he could wear shorts and be a little bit cooler.  And Clara was clearly feeling a little envious of the other little girls wearing fancy dresses while she wore a denim jumpsuit (as the cutest Rosie the Riveter ever), so I knew that she had to have something that would make her feel fancy for this Halloween.  And the thought just popped in my head that a circus troupe would be the perfect family theme for us because Clara could be a trapeze artist (I originally was thinking about a fancy leotard-type costume but ended up just doing a dress because I knew she would love it more and use it for dress-up afterwards) and Paul would get a super comfortable, lightweight costume in the form of a striped singlet (with a padded muscle shirt just to take it over the top - not that he needed it).  And my costume (ringmaster/lion tamer) and Rose's costume (lion) were straightforward circus costumes to round out our group look.

I made all of our costumes again this year and boy, oh boy, it is a LOT harder getting four costumes put together with two kids!  I was super intimidated to make Rose's lion costume and it ended up being a little bit long on her, but her headpiece turned out better than I expected.  Paul said his costume is so comfortable that after Halloween is over he wants me to turn them into shorts for him to wear for lounging, lol.  And while Clara likes her dress, what she REALLY loves is her yellow pettiskirt that I made to go under the dress.  It was sort of an afterthought when I felt like her dress was missing something and I saw a similar dress online with a pettiskirt.  It took 90 yards (not a typo - it was really 90 yards) of chiffon and quite a bit of time with the ruffling foot on the sewing machine, but it has been totally worth it seeing her twirl and twirl and twirl in it and beg to wear it everyday, with every outfit.  Paul put together the barbell for his strongman costume using two rubber balls and pvc pipe with plumbers tape and black garbage bags. 

We took our photos in the hills just a few minutes behind our house and if the background was clear, you could actually see San Francisco behind us.  It was late in the day (almost 6 o'clock) and Rose was not exactly thrilled to be out taking photos when she knew it was time for her to be getting ready for bed.  But with the help of Grandpa and Grandma Nash, who were out visiting with us we were able to get these shots.  Oh, and our other props are from Ikea and we have had the circus tent for a couple of years.

And here are a few individual shots of each of us.  I forgot to make Paul put on the stick-on mustache that I had for him.  Oh well.  He seriously is the best husband ever to not only put up with my Halloween craziness and ridiculous costumes but to have fun with it and contribute with good ideas like the wrist cuffs and belt, which really finished the look off.

Clara is the cutest little "circus girl" ever.  I thought she would love the feather headpiece I found for her on Etsy, and she wears it when I ask her too but as soon as we were done with photos (or with trunk-or-treating tonight) she wants to take it off. 

And oh my goodness I cannot get enough of Rose's adorableness in her lion costume.  She is a really good sport about wearing it and doesn't act like it bothers her at all.  I just used 4 different colors of 1/4" ribbon to make the loops for the mane and felt for the ears.

I was the least satisfied with how my costume turned out because made some mistakes when I was measuring for the jacket (soooo hard to accurately measure yourself) but oh well. 

So that's it for our Halloween costumes for this year!  We have had so much fun putting them together and are ready to start brainstorming for 2015!