Happy Halloween!!!
PUMPED to stuff my face with candy tonight while also encouraging kids that come to our door to do the same. I don’t know what I love more — the shy little babies that want to pick out one piece of chocolate or the bolder, older kids with some seriously funny and creative costumes. Of course, it could just be my appreciation talking — after all, I despise the kids (or sometimes adults) that show up sans costume and then don’t even say thank you. Like you open the door and they just stick out their bag and give you a nod and walk away, all the while you’re standing there, head cocked to the side, thinking ‘track star?’ ‘gym attendee?’ ‘couch surfer?’ ‘i don’t get it’ ‘ohh wait, they didn’t try at all. Got me again.’
Alas, I tend to favor the cute Halloween over the scary Halloween. I see scary crap all the time. I’m an ICU nurse. I literally see blood, guts, gory wounds, and living skeletons on a regular basis. Real life is scary enough. I don’t need an exaggerated day of it. So each year we try to come up with a decent, creative costume. Usually 24-48 hours before celebrating. Because we work really well under pressure.
Scarecrow costume is BASIC, but even though it’s a staple costume that shows up every year, I feel like most people half-*ss it. The good costumes are itchy and you shed hay all night. We succeeded at all of this so our costumes were awesome.
What you will need:
– old or ripped jeans or overalls
– flannel shirt (Goodwill $5)
– suspenders if you aren’t wearing overalls
– old hat – straw is the best
– 1/4 to 1/2 yard of burlap and twine
– straw and duct tape
Don jeans, shirt and suspenders (or overalls). Wrap burlap around neck and tie with twine – keep it loose and pop the collar of your flannel shirt because the burlap is NOT NICE – it can get pretty itchy. We thought of wearing buffs underneath and if it was colder or if this was a kid’s costume I would definitely recommend that.
Make hay cuffs for ankles and wrists: lay 8″ to 10″ of duct tape down with sticky side up. spread out hay on duct tape so that the ends of the hay are about 1/2 – 1″ onto the tape. Sandwich with another equal length piece of tape. Wrap around wrist and tape ends together to connect.
If you want to go about and beyond, you can do what my husband did and cut holes in your jeans and duct tape plastic bags full of hay to the inside of the hole. You can also add hay to pockets.
FACE: Using black eyeliner, extend edges of mouth and add stitches. Add triangle to nose and also add hashings or “stitches”. For me, I added big lower lashes for a girl scarecrow look, as well as a little extra blush. Any lipstick will do.
Some of this will smudge eventually, but even at the end of the night, most of it was still intact (pic above).
Crafty Bridge 