Progress!
Tuesday, October 7, 2008 at 09:46AM I had a brainstorm yesterday after complaining about the Halloween costume thing. The solution? Junkyard Wars. Junkyard Wars is a television show that the boys LOVE, which unfortunately isn't being produced any more. It is, though, still aired on the Science channel I think. It features two teams that are given an assignment (something to build) and then have 10 hours to create that using what they can find in the junkyard. At the end of the build time, the teams use their contraptions (usually a vehicle of some sort) to compete. As I said, the boys LOVE it...and learn heaps of science through watching.
So. What does this have to do with Halloween costumes, you ask? Well, I realized I just wasn't presenting the whole let's-make-your-costumes-this-year idea correctly. Rather than ask if we could make costumes instead of buying the outrageously priced cheap fabric, I needed to present it as a challenge. So, after picking Noah and Asher up from Options yesterday (which is still fabulous, by the way), I asked them how they'd feel about a Junkyard Wars Halloween. We would gather a bunch of materials (with a price limit for stuff we actually buy but trying to find stuff around the house, too) and then set ourselves a time limit to create costumes. Apparently, simply having a time limit and making it into an activity/challenge was what they needed, because now both are totally on board for making robot costumes...already brainstorming the features they want and how to create that. Yay!
So...we picked up some shower liner at Home Depot (thick grey vinyl stuff) for the main body...will cut big rectangles with a hole for their head and then lace up the sides...may use some to wrap around shins and whatnot, too. (I'd thought about thick foam but that's harder to find than I thought and this will probably be more comfortable for them anyhow.) Also snagged some duct vent stuff for arms (and plenty of duct tape). Stuff like that. The guy at Home Depot thought we were a little odd but was happy to help us and loved watching the boys suction cup practically everything flat in the store. Oh, yeah, we found some cute little suction cup things that they want to use as jet packs...they're really small plungers for sinks. :)
Happy sigh. I'll probably end up spending as much as we would have for that Bumblebee costume, but this will be for two boys (Micah, btw, still insists on wearing the towel...which is fine) and we get to spend time together as a family creating the costumes. I'm thinking/hoping that this will become a tradition...gathering materials beforehand and then just setting aside one day each October to create costumes as a family. How cool! I'm feeling much better about Halloween today. :) Oh, and here's a layout I found that I don't think I've shared...finished it last spring. It's from two Halloweens ago, but aren't they cuties? ;)
Guess I really should get on those pictures from last Halloween, eh? So tell me...what are your kids going to be for Halloween this year? Are you dressing up also?
Reader Comments (2)
It's so great that they're so excited and involved in creating it...it's a learning adventure for them! How can I get the suction cup to stick to the cardboard...scotch tape? glue? duct tape? use string somehow? I can't wait to see what they come up with...
This layout is so cute and love the pictures Amanda@@@