Winners of the 2004 Coolest Child Costume Contest

(Our first-ever child costume contest turned into a full blown Web site for you to enjoy – Take a look at Coolest Homemade Costumes…)

GRAND PRIZE WINNER – $150 Gift Certificate

“Peas in a Pod”
Child Costume submitted by Lori D.
Caledon Village, Ontario Canada

This “Peas in a Pod” child costume was made for my son’s first halloween. Since he was an infant and not mobile yet, I needed something that would look cute with him just laying there.

This child costume was quite simple to make. I first bought a white sleeper that fit my son, 1 metre of white polar fleece, 1 metre of white flannel, and 1 metre square of 2″ thick foam rubber, a small strip of velcro, a package of green Rit dye, and a package of fibre fill.

I tossed all the material except the foam and the filling into a bucket of green “Rit” dye. I cut out 6 seven inch circles. Then sewed them together in pairs and stuffed them to make 3 ‘Peas’. I tacked the peas together in a row. To attach the peas to the body, I used 3 little pieces of velcro, and sewed one to each pea and the matching peices to the body of the sleeper.

For the ‘Pod’ I drew the pod shape on the foam and made sure it was as long as my son, and then I shortened it by about 2″ on top and 2″ on the bottom. I a lso made sure it fit around his body and up both of his sides. I placed the pod shape between 2 pieces of the polar fleece and sewed it together all the way around the pod shape. The top and the bottom of the Pod was then sewed together to make a canoe shape.

Holes were cut where the arms and legs would come out and the fleece was sewn to finish the edges. I made a curly stem from flannel and stuffed it, for the top of the pod.

The whole child costume took me about 6 hours to complete.

SECOND PRIZE WINNER – $75 Gift Certificate

“Soccer Ball”
Child Costume Submitted by Lori H.
Fuquay-Varina, NC

This child costume idea came to me late at night, as great ideas often do. My daughter was really into soccer and wanted to wear her soccer uniform for Halloween. Well, I knew I could do better than that… instead of a soccer player, she would be the soccer ball.

After a long search for a 3′ diameter balloon, I used an air pump to blow it up. I then proceeded to do a very messy job putting on two layers of papier-mâché. Worried that the costume would not hold up, I then put a layer of masking tape on top of the papier-mâché. Then I put on 2 more layers of papier-mâché.

After the child costume was completely dry, I spray painted it with 2 coats of primer. Next came 2 coats of white semi-gloss paint. The hardest part was painting on the black shapes to make the costume be a soccer ball. After the black paint dried, I cut the end of the balloon to pop it and let the air out. Well, as the air came whooshing out, the costume started collapsing on itself. Mind you that this was the day before Halloween and I started having a heart attack!!! Fortunately, I was able to pull the balloon out and push the costume back into place.

Next, I cut out the arm and head holes. I made the hole where I cut the balloon bigger so it could fit on my daughter’s body. Here again, I became worried that the costume would not hold up. I put masking tape around all the openings and went back and painted over the tape so it would blend in with the rest of the costume.

On the day of Halloween, I sprayed on 2 layers of shellac. This made the soccer ball shiny and helped it to last through the night. Of course, the shellac smelled up the van, so we were all in a pretty good mood when we got to our trick-or-treating spot ;-)

It took several weeks to make the soccer ball costume. It had to dry between each layer of papier-mâché and each coat of paint. I had fun making it and my daughter LOVED it!!

THIRD PRIZE WINNER – $50 Gift Certificate

“Chicken”
Child Costume Submitted by Melissa K.
Sherwood, OH

I got this child costume idea from a Martha Stewart magazine a few years ago. It was adorable and very easy to make.

First you need to find a white onesie in your child’s size. Next purchase two white feather boas from a craft store. The directions said to hot glue the feathers onto the onesie, however I found that they hold better by stitching on. You can also stitch two onsies together and add padding to the belly area. My daughter was already filled out in the tummy area, so we skipped this part. It depends how full you want it.

For the hat find a white pilots cap. Cut out a pattern to make a comb. Cut out two sides on red fabric. Stitch the top together and stuff it before stitching it onto the hat. You can also add yellow tights and make chicken feet out of yellow rubber gloves. My daughter didn’t like tights at this time…but it would have been so cute.

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