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Home Decorating & DIY Tutorials

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How To Make A Jellyfish Costume With Lights

Happy Friday, guys! As is the annual tradition, we thought we’d share what Clara and Burger are going to be for Halloween this year, especially since I DIYed Clara’s costume for the second year in a row (without crying or cursing!) and I love how it came out. At first when we asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween she said “a lawyer!” True story. And we laughed and pictured her walking down the street with a little briefcase. Then a few days later she said “I want to be a jellyfish!” So asked her a few questions like “what color jellyfish do you want to be?” and that’s when she came out with her full request: “I want to be a pink jellyfish… and I don’t want to be a regular jellyfish, I want to be A FAIRY QUEEN OF THE JELLYFISH!” So here’s where we ended up.

Jellyfish Blowing

I just decked out a clear umbrella with some pink tissue paper, fabric ribbon, and that thinner plastic ribbon that you can curl with a scissors. And then John added some battery powered cold-to-the-touch LEDs to make it glow (tech nerd hubby FTW). Clara could not be more smitten (this is her attempting to hug her costume). Burger, by contrast, abhors his, but we’ll get there in a second.

Jellyfish Hugging

As for how I made it, first I hit up Sir Google to check out other jellyfish costumes (guys, there wasn’t a single Slutty Jellyfish costume, which was both comforting and surprising). As for the costumes that I did find, some were of the stuffed hat variety (like this) and others were made from umbrellas (like this), which I thought was a good choice for Clara because she could hold it and swing it around if she wanted, but not have to worry about balancing it on her head like a giant hat. So we grabbed a clear umbrella at Target.

The first step in my umbrella-to-jellyfish conversion was sticking some pink tissue paper into each of the umbrella’s panels (those metal arms held each triangle of it in place) so the entire thing wasn’t see-through. I did this because I wanted the bottom to be clear so Clara could walk and see, but thought the top would look more jellyfish-ish if it were more solid. Next I tied some long strands of thick fabric ribbon around each of the spines inside the umbrella that holds it open so those could hang down around Clara. I saw all sorts of fun tentacle ideas when I Googled (using bubble wrap, ribbon, fabric strips, etc) and loved them all, so I decided to just work with the things we already had around the house (like ribbon leftover from this tree) and see how things went.

Jellyfish 1 Umbrella N Ribbon

Lastly I just cut a whole bunch of long pink lengths of curl-able plastic ribbon (the one umbrella-decorating item that I ran out and bought for $1.50 at Michaels) and tied them to each of the metal spines (I did six lengths of them hanging down on each of the eight spines). Then I dragged the edge of a scissors down them after tying each one in place to make them curly.

Jellyfish 2 Curled Ribbon

When Clara came home from school and saw it, oh man, I wish I had it on video. There were lots of wows and even a coveted “it’s AMAZING!” Then John added his little battery powered LEDs (fairy lights he found on amazon for $6.99) and Clara really went wild. Since it gets dark so much earlier these days we actually think they’ll come in handy. Just look at them glow in the darkest spot we could find in our house: our closet.

Jellyfish In Darkness

It’s a bit ambitious to think that Clara will hold the umbrella the whole time, but she gets to wear a little costume of her own (just a fun tulle skirt that she got for her birthday and other general fairy-slash-queen-ness) so in the event that she’s over the umbrella she’ll still have her fairy costume to go door to door in – and heck, I might just tuck a wand and a crown in my purse for added bling. Yes, I still use that word.

Jellyfish Blowing

As for Burger, well, he’s never a fan of anything on him. Ever. This goes for all sweaters, boots, hats, and costumes. So he was not amused when he magically became a seal thanks to this costume that we found at Target. We just couldn’t resist – especially since it’s a tradition to dress him up with Clara every year (heck, we’ve been dressing him up since way before she was born). We joked that he just needed a crown and a scepter so he could be a King Seal to match Clara’s royal sea-creature status. Still kinda bummed Target didn’t carry the lobster or shark costumes they had in previous years, but he does make a pretty cute seal.

Burger Seal

And maybe we have it all wrong. Maybe Burger loves costumes. Because he certainly seems to take immense joy in shimmying around to wriggle out of them. Wish we caught that on video too.

Burger Suspicious

And this year John and I actually have a costume party to attend, so after a little “uh… what should we be?” pondering, we came up with a theme of our own. Some people say that I look like Kahleesi from Game of Thrones (and who am I to argue with the idea of dressing up like a chick who HAS DRAGONS?). So a cheap blonde wig from Target and a green dress that I already had (you might remember it from Clara’s party a few years back) became my somewhat completely ridiculous costume…

Khaleesi Full Shot1

Oh and I used a strategically placed ten cent placemat from a yard sale to make a gold belt and some little shoulder things. You know. For flair.

Khaleesi Placemat

I just snipped it in half and cut off the curved part at the bottom and used the green rope belt that came with my dress to hold that in place in the front like a big ol’ gold front plate or something. As for the shoulder things, I just cut the remaining part of the placemat in half to create little triangles that I could tuck under the straps of my dress and pin them to keep them there (forgot to get a detail shot of those for ya, but you can sort of see them peeking out from behind my wig in the full shot above). Overall, it was really easy and only ran me $9 for the wig and ten cents for the placemat.

Khaleesi Belt 2

But I might like John’s “costume” most of all (ok, it’s tied with The Fairy Queen Of All The Jellyfish) because it’s so him. Keeping with the Game of Thrones theme, I actually proposed that he be Khal Drogo (to which he responded “have you seen me?”) so then I suggested Littlefinger (hello, he’d get to sport a mustache). He went silent for a second and then said “I have a better idea.” Any guesses?

Snow Straight

Yup, that’s his pun-tastic interpretation of Jon Snow. Since he looks nothing like the character, he figured “well, I’m already John, so I’ll just wear a wooly hat and add a big ironic snowflake to my shirt or something and poof: I’m John Snow.” Not sure if it would pass muster at Comic Con, but it cracks me up. And if nothing else, at least the background of his photo brought of touch of Winterfell to it. Yes, that’s a deer just grazing about ten yards behind him.

Snow Deer

As for how he made his shirt, it’s just white duct tape on a blue t-shirt (so he can peel it off and still wear the shirt the rest of the year when he’s being John Petersik).

Snow Snowflake Detail

It was pretty funny watching him place each strip of tape in the mirror… whilst wearing the shirt. I think he’s nothing if not dedicated (my version of a snowflake would have a lot fewer line segments).

Snow Making In Mirror

We’re pretty low key about this stuff, so admittedly nothing that we made is super intricate, but we think it’ll do the trick nicely for the costume party. Now to figure out what dish we’ll bring. Ahh!

Khaleesi Snow Together1

Also, if you watch Game of Thrones, this ridiculously inappropriate dubbed video of other things that match up with their lips has us walking around saying “Are you a fan of the pikachu?” and “I’m working on a gravity belt.”

Oh and the buggy pumpkins! Here they are. No, they didn’t get infested or anything, I just love unusual pumpkins and Clara loves bugs, so she helped me turn one into a spider and the other one into a caterpillar. Here’s how they started out (we got them here because they looked so bug-like, which spawned this paint-job idea).

Pumpkins On Porch

I loved them as-is (yes, I truly adore oddly shaped pumpkins just as they are) but I couldn’t resist having some fun with Clara and some paint. So here they are after a laugh-filled little painting sesh with the bean:

Pumpkins Close Up

She painted the spider with some craft paint (I just told her to go to town on the top and we left the bottom orange since we thought that would make it look more leggy and creepy – just like Clara likes ’em). Meanwhile I added a little dot for an eye on the caterpillar and swiped my paint brush around it to quickly make some rough little wrinkles, like the sections of a caterpillar. When they dried, we added some little painted on eyes to Clara’s spider (she loved the idea of four of them since I showed her a picture online of a real spider with four eyes) and we called them good.

Pumpkins Far

We still have to grab some pumpkins to carve (there’s a field trip to a pumpkin patch with Clara early next week so we’ve been holding out for that) but one thing’s for sure. There will be some last minute pumpkin seeds baking at our house (mmm, my favorite). What are you guys doing with pumpkins and costumes? Let’s hear it.

*******************************

Psst- For anyone who wants to walk down memory lane and check out C & B’s costumes for the last few years, here’s the post about Jesse & Slinky Dog (my first attempt at homemade costumes).

Halloween 1 Greeting

And here’s the dynamic duo as a monkey & banana.

Costumes Petting Burger

And here’s their very first Halloween together as a hot dog & hamburger.

Halloween Costumes

Comments

  4. marielaz says

    Possibly my favorite post to date haha. Sherry you look amazing in that costume! And Burger killed me, as well as Clara in her jellyfish costume.
    My dog Lulu is going to be a cheerleader with a blonde bob wig with bangs and everything lol!

    Reply

  6. Lakitia A. says

    You guys are hilarious. You do remind me of Kelisi (hope I spelled that right) and John’s costume is right up my alley. The baby bump is also adorable too! You look great.

    Reply

  7. Wendy @ New Moms Talk says

    This post made my morning, especially since we had some crazy crying going on at our house from 3-5 am.

    One of those making crying sounds will be a scare crow this year. Super easy, super cheap, super simple to put layers under.

    I had wanted to make her into a Crazy Blue Beetle, a la Caspar Babypants and for my hub and I to be Cricket the King and Lady the Bug. Not this year… maybe next year (before she can tell us what she wants to be)!

    Reply

  8. Kristen says

    I was gonna guess mermaid at first for you Sherry (the color of the dress masked me think of that). But I can see you as Daenerys. In a non creepy way to say this, I think you both have similar mouths which makes for the resemblance

    Reply

  11. Alissa says

    Love all the costumes! I like Halloween just for the fact that it’s the only socially acceptable time of year for adults to dress in costume. (Well, except Comicon or Ren Fest – but those kinda have to be themed costumes.)

    This year I was going to be Jessie from Toy Story – but, alas, no adult-size red cowboy hats! At this point I’m thinking of going super-creative with face paint to look like a Picasso painting.

    Reply

  13. Aubrey says

    Love it! I also have a party to go to this year and almost considered being an adult sized jelly fish but ended up going for something else insteead. Also, I LOVE your necklace, I’d love to know where it’s from!

    Reply

  14. Lisa @ Double Door Ranch says

    You guys blow my mind with these costumes every year! I can’t wait to see Claras’s glowy jellyfish in action. And I’m so glad you two got in on the action this year! Sherry, its sick how gorgeous you are. Is there anything you can’t pull off?! #jealous #dragongoddess

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      Aw thanks Lisa! To put things into perspective, we were taking these photos on our side yard and a big van drove down our street and turned around SUPER SLOOOOWLY in our cul-de-sac. It was clear they were laughing hysterically at us. Oh yeah, I was feeling mighty sexy.

      xo
      s

    • Jess says

      I am not sure if someone else asked already, BUT can you please take a picture of the glowy-ness (thats a word, right?) of the costume on Halloween night? I love the addition of the lights. Super creative kid you have! Probably my favourite costume yet! Though I do like burger as a banana.
      I am being the Paper Bag Princess (I know it’s been done… but it will be fun and I thought of the best costume but need time to prepare it, so I already have my ideas for next year)!

      Awesome post guys!

    • Margaret says

      I was going to say the funniest thing (that I love most about these pics) is that you’re in the backyard, in the woods. I was secretly hoping that a neighbor or the FedEx guy would see you posing (as this would inevitably happen to me if I did the same!) That is hilarious!

  16. Tina says

    The question is, How do you feel about guys who say haidukan? (My twin and I also can’t stop repeating these lines to each other.)

    Reply

  17. Julie says

    Yes! You totally look like Kahleesi!

    Although to be fair, when I first saw her on Games of Thrones, I told my hubs that SHE looks like YOU, since I “knew” you first.

    Reply

  19. Amanda says

    The lights on the umbrella – NAILED it! I liked it before, but I loved it after seeing that. You two are too creative. I hope you all have fun!

    Reply

  20. Geertrude says

    Love the jellyfish! Such a great idea! And love your costumes too. Every year when I see Halloween posts on American blogs I wish our little country would hurry up and fully accept Halloween (it’s growing, but mostly for children). I want an excuse to dress up and to decorate the house with creepy stuff too!

    Reply

    • Geertrude says

      They probably would! Typical dutch saying: just act normal, that’s crazy enough.
      But I might start decorating the house. Maybe that will start a trend (I know my neighbor would be in for it).

    • Leanne says

      I feel the same way Gertrude! We are Americans living in Australia and it is slowly developing here, but not fast enough for me! I do my bit each year by decorating my classroom top to bottom and having a Halloween themed week. My kids have fun, I love it win/win!

  21. Dizee says

    HA! Cute! I love ingenious ideas like that. Last year my then two year old was the alphabet. I just cut a bunch of felt letters and stuck them to him with Velcro circles.

    Then that witch Sandy hit and Halloween was canceled. BOOOO!

    This year he is Iron Man & his older brother is Jango Fett – which we bought on clearance last year. Should I say the Force was with us? No, that is probably too lame…. :)

    Reply

  24. Lisa says

    That jellyfish costume is awesome! So cute! And you guys look great, so creative.

    We’re kinda going with an ocean theme this year too, our little 9 month old is going to be an octopus. My husband has a love/hate/admiration relationship with squids/octopi, lol. :)

    Reply

  26. Laurel G. says

    I snort laughed at John Snow at work. So clever!

    The Khaleesi cosume is awesome but I think you need a dragon to carry around… or tape to your shouler or something :)

    Reply

  27. Renee says

    But where are you’re dragons?!?! You should use a couple mini ones to purch on your shoulders – like the ones you used at Clara’s party. And I had no idea what John was at first but it is puntastic. love it.

    Reply

  28. Jessica says

    Oh, my word, that jellyfish costume is so adorable. She is indeed the fairy princess of jellyfish! I love how Burger was transformed into a seal, too. He is mighty handsome.

    Be watchful for candles in pumpkins with Clara’s jellyfish!

    Reply

  29. Nancy says

    I thought you were a mermaid to go with the jellyfish….probably because I don’t know that character. But I just googled her and holy cow…what a resemblance! Great job!

    Reply

  30. Steph says

    OMG. Clara’s costume is adorable. That is just so cute.

    And you totally look like Kahleesi in that picture. Although, if you really wanted to drive the point home, you could just carry stuffed animal dragons around. lol

    Reply

  31. Abbey says

    “We shouldn’t have eaten Kitten meat..” Hilarious! I can’t stop laughing. And I’m pretty sure the word for your costume and stance is “Majestic” lol. Happy Halloween!

    Reply

  32. Cori says

    I LOVE THE JELLYFISH COSTUME! It’s so cute and so easy to make!
    As I am sporting a pretty big bump myself this year (8 months preggers), I think I am just going to use some white duct tape (or maybe paint) and a black shirt to turn myself into a pregnant skeleton, ala this: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/37928821834921667/

    I also love the bad lip reading of Game of Thrones.

    Reply

  33. Nancy says

    Not just a jellyfish, but FAIRY QUEEN OF THE JELLYFISH — OF COURSE!! love it!!

    Chattanooga’s aquarium has a GREAT permanent jellyfish display, btw. And super family-friendly town ;-)

    Go jellies!

    Reply

  34. Mariecel says

    SOO CUTE! Love love LOVE the Jelly Fish! How clever to make use of the umbrella that way! I hope could be that creative when I have kids and make their costumes. It just seems more meaningful with DIY than storebought!

    And i’m a Game of Thrones geek so I love the Dany and Jon costumes, as I guessed your costumes skimming your pics before I even read the post! (And, embarrassingly i should admit that I have Jon Snow wallpaper on my work computer). I laughed at John’s snowflake T-shirt. We’re not doing anything for Halloween, but if i were to dress up i’d go as Fat Amy (Pitch Perfect) or a Walking Dead zombie (and make my husband go as Rick Grimes or Darrell Dixon).

    Sherry’s Twilight Buddy from DC,
    Mariecel

    Reply

  35. ashley jensen says

    Clara’s costume is super cute and yours is awesome! John’s was definitely a mystery to me! My girl wanted to be a black cat this year which is super easy to throw together! I am thinking about being a gray mouse to go with her costume. And that bad lip reading of Game of Thrones is hilarious! Eager for it to start back up! We are watching The Walking Dead right now!

    Reply

  36. Maddie says

    Love!! Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome – all four of you! You look so Kahleesi-tastic Sherry!

    My niece went as a jelly fish last year and I thought it was so creative – Clara’s version is so cool too!! Happy Halloween :)

    Reply

  37. Jessica says

    Totally diggin’ the Jellyfish (!!!) – however, as a mother of three little girls who constantly gets “the fever” (especially just coming home from Target) and having to resist the urge because prom and weddings and clothing in general x3 – your bump is adorable and I’m jealous. That is all.

    Reply

  39. Maria says

    After reading your blog for quite some time this is my first comment. I had to tell you I LOVED this post. So funny, ‘real’ and original. It made me smile and got me feeling “creative”, two main reasons why I read blogs. Thanks for sharing and have a great Halloween!

    Reply

  40. Christa says

    What a cute jellyfish. Love all the tentacles. You and John look pretty cute too. We had a Trunk or Treat at our church earlier in the week and we did a really easy trunk with a Pet Shop theme. You can check it out here: http://controllingcraziness.blogspot.com/2013/10/trunk-or-treat-pet-shop-edition.html
    Oh, and we still have yet to carve our pumpkins that have been sitting on our porch for almost 2 weeks. But we did paint 3 little ones (one per kid) and put them in the window.

    Reply

  41. Tara says

    Such awesome costumes! My group of friends takes Halloween very seriously (one girl had her husband, a tech-y guy, create a working game of Operation as her costume. It was awesome) so I will be going as a rain storm. It’s kind of complicated, but I’m using paper mache on balloons, covering them with pillow stuffing, and putting glittery rain drops on string at the bottom. I am also thinking of making a seriously crazy rainbow fascinator/hat. Gotta win the costume trophy (not kidding, we really have a trophy) this year!

    Reply

  42. Melissa says

    Love the jellyfish!! Makes me wish I had a girl :)
    My boy put in his request sufficiently early and it got the friendly-happy-costume stamp of approval from me, so we whipped up a bald eagle. Pictures/full reveal coming on the blog this weekend!

    Reply

  43. Dana@chocolateandsunshine says

    I have not seen the hotdog/hamburger costume set before. How adorable! I may have to share with family for a new nephew. But, I really, really love the jellyfish. Maybe because it’s colorful and whimsical and your sweet little daughter’s parents listened to her and made her exactly what she wanted.

    My daughter wants to be a magician this year. Other than the standard hat, cape, bunny rabbit, let me know if you have any creative thoughts?

    Love that your love of home renovation is also evident in your costumes!

    Reply

  45. Reenie says

    Cute costumes…. love Clara’s umbrella. Loved seeing their past costumes also.

    My parents bar that I work at ~ this year the theme is Cartoon Characters ~ I’m going as Cindy Lou Who, my sis is The Grinch, and my Mom is Olive Oyl. HA!!!

    Reply

  47. Jess says

    I love how creative Clara is! I’m looking forward to the costume ideas my son comes up with when he’s older. Since he’s only 15 months right now mommy is still picking his costumes – this year he’s going to be an ewok!

    Great job on your homemade costumes! You all look great!

    Reply

  48. Erika says

    Clara’s jellyfish costume is ADORABLE!!! And kudos to John for the LED lights….what an awesome idea.
    Sherry, I think you look awesome too!

    Reply

  49. Kimberly says

    Khaleesi and Jon Snow! Love it! And of course, Clara and Burger are as adorable as always. Harper is going to be Cinderella but she had originally suggested either a rainbow unicorn with wings or a flower. The dog does not participate in the Halloweening…although she does enjoy a dog sweater. :-)

    Reply

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