Duffman and Sushi (Costumes)

I was on a great blogging streak and then got sick (again) from the kiddos at work and it fell off my list of priorities. I'm better now and have a couple of extra days off for Thanksgiving so here is a big bonus post with photos on the Halloween costumes I created this year:

The weekend before Halloween a friend and I decided we were going to come up with original costumes and make them ourselves. She settled on a slot machine and I was to be a piece of sushi (it was this, a Lego piece or a box of wine). I also offered to make a Duffman costume for the boy, so I was pretty booked for the week.

I did the costumes piece by piece whenever I had free time and didn't take enough pictures for a play-by-play but here are the finished products and a description of how I made them:
Award-winning homemade Duffman costume in all its glory (this is a character from the Simpsons, if you're not up on your cartoon trivia)

From head to toe:
Hat: a $2 women's red baseball cap with a printout of the Duff logo glued on
Cheap-o sunglasses
Cape: a large rectangular piece of red fabric tied at the neck
Shirt: I painted the Duff logo on a plain light blue shirt from Michael's by making a stencil out of freezer paper (easy way to create any design on fabric - I'll do a tutorial on this sometime soon)
Belt: took a cheap canvass belt, emptied Diet Coke cans and covered them with red construction paper and computer printed Duff logos, used fabric glue to attach to belt
Underwear and sweatpants bought from Walmart in men's and women's sections, respectively (seriously)
Boots: old combat boots laying around the house + white spray paint


Here is a shot of sushi (awkward pose - I was told to "act like your costume" and was thinking "please don't eat me").

Seaweed: 2 pieces of black poster board, stapled together, trimmed a bit shorter, and glued to makeshift ribbon suspenders. It was sprayed with dark green glossy spray paint (the paint is optional but added a nice sheen and a slightly more realistic color)
Rice: cluster fiber stuffing (usually used to stuff toys and pillows)
Tuna/avocado pieces: tissue paper glued to cardboard
Roe (fish eggs): ping pong balls painted with fluorescent orange spray paint and glued to a hat using a combo of fabric glue and spray adhesive (it took several layers of spray while the hat was put on a baking bowl to keep its shape)
Wasabi: 2 pieces of lime green foam cut into the shape and sewed together (this acted as a purse as well
Ginger: light pink felt cut into rectangle with round corners, glue to wasabi in crinkled fashion


I don't like to support Walmart and usually avoid shopping there but I was working with a short deadline and didn't have time to shop around thrift stores or other places. Next year I will definitely focus on repurposing old/secondhand materials instead of buying new stuff.

P.S. Check out this site for ideas next time you're going to a costume party! It has tons of original and creative homemade costumes.