Of course I fell about laughing at her, but perhaps when she is 14 I will exact my revenge by "making myself look pretty" before picking her up from school and insist on walking all the way home with her, or maybe I will leave it until the day that she brings her first boyfriend home to meet us.
So whilst I know what I am doing now, and F’s costume for this year very nearly finished, H keeps changing her mind her costume has been left to the last minute – which has brought me back to F’s costume from last year.
F was four months old, H was a witch she decided, of course, that she needed a cat, as how could she possibly be a witch without a cat? That would be like a Zoo with no animals! Not one to risk upsetting a 3 year old Witch, for fear of being turned in to a Tadpole (apparently that is what happens when a baby witch attempts a toad spell) two days before Halloween I embarked on my mission.
Not wanting to spend a much and remembering that I had some tacky devil horns in a box in the loft I took a trip to the local haberdashery shop. I found a scrap of felt about 30cm by 30cm in the bargain bucket for 50p and excitedly purchased it. Once I returned home I found one of my travel sewing kits that I have previously ‘collected’ from various hotels. I found a white t-shirt that was destined for the charity shop and cut out pieces for the insides of the ears. And then I have to admit; I called my Mum and asked her to sew it all together for me, she stuffed the ears with the scraps from the felt as I wanted them to be larger and a different shape to the horns that were originally on the headband.
The rest of her outfit was made from a beret that a friend bought for me during a visit to France (who says people never make use of souveniers) a pair of H’s age 3 years black leggings which ended up covering her feet (but i liked this look), and one of my short sleeved, high neck tops tucked in to the leggings. A little bit of my make-up used to paint on some whiskers and it was job done ☺
Total cost to me 50p.
The leggings that we already owned where about £2 from Matalan, and my top £4 in sale at New Look.
If you don't already own a headband, you could add another £1 to that. If your child has black or brunette hair then you wouldn't need the hat either.
If you have nothing at all at home that you can use then this costume could be made for around £7.50 if you shop smartly.
This year and it is H’s turn, and so
this evening we had a trial run, wearing the same headband, the same
beret, the same leggings, another one of my MANY plain black tops, we
have a slightly bigger cat ☺ who painted on her own whiskers.Making this years outfit completely FREE! Yay! Happy Cat, Happy Mum.
She looks like a bit like a burglar in this photo but I'm sure once I paint on the whiskers myself she will be distinctly more feline looking. I am planning to make her a tail by stuffing one of my black socks with another six socks and tying it with string and using string to fasten it around her waist. I'll be sure to let you know how that goes.
If you fancy giving it a go yourself then any headband that is around 1 cm wide would be perfect for the job.
The best thing about this costume is that the headband will fit anyone, and most people own, or know someone who owns, some black clothing.
I think it will be my turn to wear it next year, although I'll not be trying to squeeze in to the same leggings as them!
If you have made a fantastic homemade Halloween costume yourself then be sure to check out Money Supermarkets fab #homemadehalloween competition there are prizes for the best costumes in 3 categories adults, kids and group costumes.
