The year after my oldest was Ace Ventura was the final year that he selected our family themed Halloween costumes. The following year was when I chose a Hamilton the Musical family costume, and it’s up to the little guy from here on out. If you were around in the past, you know he’s chosen Life Cycles of a Butterfly and Glowing Sea Creatures for the past two years–two of my most popular posts this month!

My oldest decided he wanted to be a classic that year:

FRANKENSTEIN

It was simple to throw together Frankenstein- I thrifted an oversized brown blazer and stuffed the shoulder area with foam. I made him a green construction paper headband–the kind that are ubiquitous in preschool–so that I could give the illusion of having a Herman Munster-like square head, and topped it with a black wig.

WEREWOLF

This was another easy one: werewolf costume teeth, a wig, and some ripped hairs from a different wig to glue to his hands.

MAD SCIENTIST

Doctor dress up costume + older brother’s bow tie + fake glasses + messy hair = voila!

MUMMY

Though this method was simple, I wouldn’t recommend it. I thrifted a white sheet and put it in a bucket full of hot water and black tea to give it that aged color. I cut the sheet into strips and tied the ends of the strips together, then wrapped them all around myself while wearing a white outfit. I already had that crazy black wig, thrifted many years before.

I wouldn’t recommend doing the same thing because it was a lot of preparation directly before the event. I had to do the make up and teeth and stuff for my family members so it felt like too much last minute stuff. On top of that, the cotton strips stretched as I wore them and began to fall. When I talked about this with a friend, he relayed that the same thing happened to his fiancé when she went out as a mummy–but she didn’t have a white outfit on underneath! They had to call a cab and end a bar-hopping night early because she was finding herself nearly naked. Whoops!