We are attending a wedding this weekend in beautiful Cambria, Califonia. And the rehearsal dinner. The catch? The rehearsal dinner must be in costume. We are also flying to this wedding, so the costumes must be easy to pack. After much deliberation, we settled on a Harry Potter theme. Mike is Harry, I'm going as Hermione, and the little man is Harry's owl. I bought Gryffindor ties, and we're just wearing white shirts, gray sweaters, ties and black pant (skirt for me). And yes - we will wear these outfits to the opening of the next Harry Potter movie!! Too bad the little man is too young to be embarrassed by his parents.
Crafty I am not, so I searched for a store-bought owl costume. The only one I could find is pictured above. I apologize in advance if you have purchased this costume for your child....but seriously. It is quite possibly the stupidest costume I've seen. It's as though an owl is perching on your child's head. An owl with huge eyes and no body. As if toddlers aren't top heavy enough.
So needless to say, I ended up making the owl costume. Which actually turned out really well (see pic at 
right). I followed these instructions from bhg.com and basically glue-gunned a white boa and various brown feathers to a hooded sweatshirt. It was easy and cute. However. By the time I bought all of the supplies, I was out at least $35. I am certainly not sold on making costumes. Only in dire circumstances will I attempt it again. (NOTE: I do believe that the owl costume pictured above does constitute dire circumstances).
So I was about to round up a list of my very favorite store bought kid's costumes, but then I found Parent's article on the Best Store Bought Costumes for Babies and Toddlers and realized that they have already listed most of my favorites (the lion costume from OneStepAhead, the cupcake from Pottery Barn Kids, anything by Tom Arma like the flamingo pictured at left). Thanks, Parents!
NOTE - You can find a bunch of Tom Arma costumes on Ebay for a fraction of the cost. Remember our Ebay buying tips!
Also, if you are still in need of a costume yourself, I like this article called Halloween Costume Ideas for Moms and Women over 25, or you can always check out our suggestions from last year: Cool Mom Halloween Costumes or Halloween Costumes for the True Procrastinating Mom.
Now I just have to go find myself a wand.
xo,
S
