Trick or Treat: Our DIY Family Halloween Costumes (Hint: It Involves Ms. Frizzle and a School Bus!)

This is such a late post. Face palm.

I know, I know we're in November and probably over hearing about Halloween costumes but bear with me! I am still super excited about this year's DIY costumes and life has been nothing short of crazy. CRAZY, I tell you! We can talk about the crazy later but, for now, let's talk about costumes (said with jazz hands -  lots of jazz hands)!

Last year we were super awful and waited until the last minute to create Hugo's Halloween costume but this year, I was ready! We started talking about our costumes almost immediately after last Halloween and decided to do The Magic School Bus. Talk about being prepared! At the time, Hugo wasn't into the show, and didn't even know what The Magic School Bus was, but I thought it would make for a great family costume theme because there are so many characters to choose from. Over the summer Netflix released a Magic School Bus reboot and now Hugo rather enjoys the lo busss (toddler for, 'yellow bus'). The timing, let me tell you, was on point. New show? Hugo loves the yellow bus? Somehow, I managed to spot a trend - in advance! Whoop, whoop! Any how, we chose to dress up as Ms. Frizzle, Arnold, and Liz the Lizard. Plus, I made a Magic School Bus treat bag for Hugo to carry. SO. CUTE. 

Hold onto your goggles, Ms. Frizzle: 

For the Ms. Frizzle costume, I used McCalls M7314 because I had a specific dress in mind and wanted a pattern that was reusable in the future. Seriously, hooked on versatility. I think is my new mission statement in life and the response to everything is, but is it versatile? In this case, the M7314 is a major score. I love the customized options and the fact that there are different cup size bodices. I'm a petite pear so it's difficult finding a great fit from the shoulders to waist and I was really happy to have found it with the M7314. There are so many different spring and summer dresses rolling around in my brain for this pattern already. Love, love, loooove! Here's what it looked like in progress:

The fabric for this dress is just your good ole cotton in a galaxy novelty print from Joann's splashed with a healthy dose of glitter. If you know me, in real life, you know that my fascination with glitter has stuck with me since preschool and I show no signs of maturing or outgrowing glitter or sparkles any time soon. If it weren't so weird or socially inappropriate to wear this dress just because - I would be wearing it right now. As I type. On November 4th. Or out buying a Turkey. For Thanksgiving. As Ms. Frizzle. Gaaahh, social constructs! Oh yeah, and before I forget, the wig is from Amazon! I'm already trying to figure out what costume I should make next so I can pull it out of my "hair-stuff" drawer. T-swizzle from Bad Blood? Peach from Mario Bros? Ariel from the Little Mermaid? The choices, ya'all.

Oh, Arnold:

Next up is Arnold! Truthfully, our costumes were meant to be a little more old school Magic School Bus but quickly morphed into the Bus Rides Again. I planned to make Scott's Arnold costume with a white sweatshirt and yellow striped fabric paint. Since this was the least time intensive, I put it off to be complete a few days before Halloween and then potty training made itself into our lives. The time to make his sweatshirt literally vanished before my eyes. Since Arnold kind of had a fashion makeover in the new series, I have to thank Target's Gentleman & CO. for saving my booty and having a fancy-dancy (as my husband says) yellow striped shirt available, in store!

Liz, the Lizard:

Now it's time to talk about my sweet little lizard! Hugo's lizard costume is a pattern hack of Simplicity 1351 View A & D with self drafted spikes and horns. Let me just say that I loved making Hugo's costume. It was so quick and easy that I was able to finish it in 2 days. My M7314 dress took a bit longer than I anticipated and I really appreciated the ease and quick turn around on this costume. All of Simplicity's patterns (for babies/toddlers) run large so it's really helpful to read reviews before cutting out your pattern. I also chose to purchase Simplicity 1351 instead of self drafting a costume because I can see myself getting a lot more use out of it. If friends or family need help with making a costume or if I want to make Hugo something for play, or whatever, then I already have something on hand to reference. The fleece I purchased is also from Joanns and was 50-60% off a yd so it was a steal of a deal. Oh, and my husband made and hot glued the horns because he loves to participate in making the costumes as much as I do! Here's another in progress look from Hugo's last fitting:

Swinging Through the Stars, it's the Magic School Bus:

Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was going to do a treat bag this year because life became so busy but on the day of, I decided that not only was I going to make one - I was going to create a tutorial too! Ambitious, much? Eventually, the day became so busy that I had to rush through it and any hope of a tutorial was scrapped. In terms of coming up with something on the fly, it's not bad. I love the little rocket boosters and Hugo loved his bus - so much so that he didn't want keep any treats in it!

Those rocket boosters are just too much fun! Anyhow, that's a wrap for this post! Sorry for the less than stellar images this go around (life, yo). Hopefully it'll be back to the original programming sometime soon. In the meantime, I really hope that you enjoyed the break down of our costumes, what it looked like in progress, and family photos from our night out on Halloween!