Happy Hooty Halloween to you!!
This year we decided owls were the thing to be and I love how they turned out. Even greater than that, the children love them. It was so much fun putting them together and I am so thankful for my mom’s help. We were ‘hootingly’ inspired by darling costumes here and here. This is our version. :)
Like last year, many parts are made with fleece. It is a simple and forgiving fabric to work with and I always feel extra awesome after working with it. It’s also a warm fabric which is a bonus during evening trick-or-treating.
Note to self: While food does make happy children, it does not make for nice smiles in photos. The mouth is too engaged in chewing to look pleasant. I thought I was on easy street because I remembered snacks for our after-preschool photo session. The children were happy but I am pretty bummed so few of the photos include Bug smiling. Oh well, c’est la vie. The top photo was the best of the bunch. Check out the honorable mentions below. :)
Oh well. Sweet J is sure jolly.
There’s more details below!
Love Bug is our Owly Princess Girl Owl. (For some reason, ‘princess’ is not okay.) She LOVES the costume. She is even hooting in the left picture above. She has worn parts of the costume each day since the pieces were ready to wear.
The costume is made up of a fleece hat with owl features, a fleece tunic with ‘feather’ triangles around the neckline, an a-line skirt with two rows of tulle ruffles and a cape covered in more feathers. The cape is tied down around her back because around her neck was bothersome. Underneath, she is wearing her own long sleeve white tee and brown pants.
The cape was fun to make, though time consuming. I found coordinating fabrics in the red tag area in JoAnn’s and we used Wonder Under to iron the loose weave fabrics down so we could avoid hemming and finishing off every little bit. The cape stays on her wrist because of two elastic cuffs. For her hat, I added little eyelashes, again with Wonder Under, to make it a little more girly.
Here we got the smile.
Then there is the fluffy Baby Owl. I just love it.
This is his cheese face. (Again with the snack food…)
His costume includes a fleece hat with eyes and a beak and a long tunic with elastic at the bottom to give it a puffy, rounded shape. On each shoulder is a wing with fluffy fabric on the outside and orange fleece on the inside. I tacked the two sides together near his elbow so it’s essentially a sleeve though the bottom is allowed to flap. My mom taught me a new sewing skill on the sleeve. Notice how the inner fabric is only on the inside? I feel pretty cool now. :) And isn’t the downy fabric great? It’s absolutely perfect for our baby owl. MJ, of all people, pointed it out in JoAnn’s. He’s such a good fabric shopper. :)
He might not be chewing the food in the photos but it’s in his hand. Darn it! :)
Under the costume, he’s wearing his own brown long sleeve and brown striped pants. His costume keeps him very warm and I’m looking forward to seeing him in action tomorrow night. He’s a little shy but should do well with Love Bug by his side.
I tried again to get both of them to smile and look at me but it didn’t happen. Love Bug was done chewing but J wouldn’t look up because he had lost his footing in these leaves.
I am going to try once more today to see if I can get a smiling picture of the two of them. I am not ready to give up.
Are your little one’s ready for trick-or-treating? What are they going as?
Take care.
So cute. Homemade costumes are the best! ;-)
What a great idea, working with fleece! The extra added bonus being how nice and warm it is! It’s one of the reasons I just can’t get into buying those packaged costumes… they aren’t made for trick-or-treating in the New England Fall weather!
The kids look absolutely adorable! What a fantastic design!
Thank you so much Cheryl! Fleece really is fun to work with. I have a list of items I want to make for winter too!
I have made an owl costume for my 5 year old and the only thing left is the hat and I am having a bit of trouble with it can you tell me how exactly you made yours it would be much appreciated
Hi Amy,
I am trying to diy your „little owl“ costume for my son. I am just not sure how to make the „sleeves“ … and unfortunately the links to your inspiration do not work anymore😢 is there a way you can help me?!? Thanks a bunch!!
Nicky
Cute costumes! Almost as cute as the kids, great job :)
Thanks!
Oh I could eat them up!!
Me too!!
OOOOOOOOOH – these are seriously the most amazing and adorable costumes ever!!! I love them so much and I’m SO glad that the kiddos love them too. Brilliant job!!!
Thank you Cherie!! You are so sweet!!
these are absolutely adorable!! hope they had fun tonight :)
Thank you! They did have a lot of fun. :)
adorable Amy Christie!
I love that Chasing Fireflies costume and I think you did it even better :).
really cool
Thanks Dana!! Oh my. Thanks so much.
I LOVE these, and plan on making one similar for my son. Did you sew the fleece hat, also, or did you find it somewhere? I am having a hard time visualizing how to make it!
Thanks!
Have fun! Yes, I did make the hats. Let’s see, I used other hats of theirs to make them the right size (though the top-side design was drawn by me) and then made an inner layer and an outer layer. The eyes and beak were then attached at the end. Hope that helps!!
How adorable- they look just wonderful! We are not celebrating halloween, but we dress up at “purim”.
Thanks Rahel!!
Thanks so much for sharing! My little man wants to be an owl! Any chance you would sell the small costume??? ;)
Thanks Morgan! My little guy has mostly out-grown the suit however, I still love it. :)
Hi! Love these costumes. Are the wings sewed together at the top? Can’t tell by your picture. If not, how are they kept together? Thanks!
Do you have a step-by-step tutorial on how to make the large owl costume? I’m a decent sewer but pics would really help. My daughter loves owls and I want to try to make this for Halloween. Thanks!!
I am shocked you call your little girl, Bug! So do I! She is a Liliana, but I have called her Lilibug (Ladybug), so she has been Bug since day one. And to top it off your name is Amy also! Cracking me up! Love the owl, this is the cutest I’ve seen yet! My Bug has been insisting on an owl for a while now. Thanks for the great idea!
So glad we ‘met’, Amy! Good luck!
Hi! Amazing costumes! I would also like to know how the wings are kept together at the top.. Happy Holidays!
These costumes are AMAZING!!!! I was curious what shape you cut out to make the baby owls wings? Thanks so much