Fabulous, Frugal Flowerpot Costume (no sewing required!)

Halloween is quickly approaching!  If you're looking for a sweet, frugal homemade costume idea (that doesn't require sewing!), then consider turning your little one into this cheery pot of flowers:

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Gv's at an age where she's finally got her own opinion about things (her favorite color is red and she makes sure everyone knows it!), so I figured she'd be all over deciding what she wanted to be for Halloween this year.

The funny thing is, whenever someone asked her what she wanted to dress up as this year, it was coincidentally the exact same thing as whatever the other child had just stated he or she was dressing up as!

I was telling this to a friend of mine a couple of weeks ago, so she started this whole little conversation with Gv, just to see what would happen:



My friend:  "Gv, what do you want to be for Halloween this year?"

Gv:  (no answer)

My friend:  "Do you want to be a princess, or an animal, or a witch, or a Disney character?"  

Gv:  "Whatever my Mommy picks out for me."



Well, before I took that answer as my green light to just go ahead and come up with something I would totally choose for her, I decided to give her one more chance to come up with an idea herself...with a little help.

First, I showed her these photos from her first Halloween, when we had our own little Book Character Parade.

I asked her if there was a book that she'd like to dress up to match with, but nope, nothing jumped out at her as an idea yet.

Then I reminded her of her next two costumes - when she was popcorn and then a rainbow.  She liked both of those - which made me happy, since they were both incredibly cheap and easy to make.

But I could see she needed a little more inspiration.  Luckily, I'd recently come across the genius of Ashley, over at Make it & Love it.

She seriously has some of the cutest costume ideas I've ever seen, like this one for a little rain cloud that I could have easily added to Gv's costume last year.

So I did a search for costume ideas and scrolled through the photos to see if any of them hit a nerve with Gv.

"That one!  That one!  I want to be a flower pot!!" She exclaimed, when this idea made its way across the screen.

SO cute.  And completely in-line with the other costumes we've done so far - not to mention simple and inexpensive to make, too.

So my gal and I were happy to have that issue settled and I figured that in a week or two, we'd head to the local dollar store to see what supplies we could come up with. (I had the perfect basket here at home that we could use, but it was way too nice for me to want to cut it up - and I figured since Gv said "flower pot" instead of basket, I could get away with using some cheap container we'd find at the dollar store, otherwise we'd be making a trip to JoAnn's, 40% off coupon in hand!)

A week or two turned into one day, when we were out for an appointment and Gv begged to "Go get my flower pot costume!" right there and then.

Classic Gv expression

Well, since we happened to be just a block and a half from the dollar store, she got her wish.

Gv was overjoyed to not only find red flowers, but a red flower pot to use, as well!  I was a little skeptical about whether the diameter of the base would be large enough to work, but it was ju-u-st big enough to slide around her waist comfortably.

I told Gv she could pick out 3 bunches of flowers and then I grabbed a spool of brown ribbon that I was hoping would dress the whole shebang up a bit (plus, I really liked the ribbon, and since I knew there would be plenty left over, I got a bonus treat out of the whole purchase!)

We spent a whopping $5 for this costume, which was completely reasonable - even for our penny-pincher budget.  Besides, I realized if I saved the base of the container, I could hot-glue it back on after Halloween and Gv could continue to enjoy her "red flower pot" to hold books or something in her room.

To make this costume yourself, you just need some strong scissors or snips, an X-acto knife, and a hot glue gun in addition to the container, flowers, and ribbon.

Begin by cutting out the base of your container with the X-acto knife.

Next, snip all the flower stems off of the bunch.  Pull off one of the flowers completely to go on the hairpiece.

Lay all the flowers out along the inside of the front of the container, just to get an idea of how you want to space them out.  You'll want to vary the heights a bit and even the angles, although the stems are usually bendable, so you can always make adjustments.

Glue all of the flower stems in place with your hot glue gun.  Also, cut two sections of ribbon that you know will be long enough to work for your child and glue those in place in the front, amongst all the flower stems.  Do not glue these to the back yet.

Once everything has cooled completely, have your child step into the container and get the flower pot into its idea position.  Bring the straps over (criss-cross them to prevent shifting) and figure out where you'll need to glue them on the back.  (Use straight pins for this, or just stick a piece of tape over the spots where you'll want them to hit the container.)

Have your child step out of the container and glue the rest of the ribbon into place.

Additional tip: once the costume is in place, move the criss-cross part up in-between your child's shoulders in the back and stick a safety pin there to hold it in place!

Measure around your child's head and cut a piece of ribbon long enough to tie easily into a headband.  Try it on and make sure the knot is in the back, then figure out where you want to put the flower.

Take the headband off and glue the flower down in place.

Find something comfortable for your child to wear underneath this costume.  While I love the bare-legged look of the original idea, we have too many mosquitoes around here to go out at dusk without full-body protection.  I feel pretty good about the leggings Gv is wearing here (and of course the "fancy shoes" that she had to wear, to match the ones in the original photo), but the shirt she's wearing just will not work.  The problem is, every single one of Gv's long-sleeved shirts besides this one completely clash with her beloved red flowers, so I'm hoping a local friend might have a better option for us to borrow, when the big night rolls around.

So here we sit, completely ready for Halloween - and it's still over a month away!  I can tell that having the costume finished (it's sitting on top of a dresser in her room, so she stare at it all day long) will definitely help get Gv excited for all the trick-or-treat fun this year.

Don't forget to take time to stop and smell the roses!

Do your kids have their costumes yet?  Or at least know what they want to be?  I'd love to hear!  Either leave a comment below or email me at lisahealy (at) outlook (dot) com.

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