I came to the realization recently that although the costumes the kids wore last year weren't as involved, for me, I still hadn't curated the photos to share. The last couple years I've posted our previous years costume and I didn't want miss this years. And so without further ado I present to you our Elsa and Rainbow Unicorn!

Elsa

So although I said the costumes were simpler than previous years... that was for me. Last year when Ada chose to wear her already owned Elsa dress for Halloween and asked for a crown Matt decided to go all out and work with her to 3D print a crown and deck out her costume. This combined with Zoey's Costco-chosen costume made last year weird as I either didn't have to do anything or it was all on another person's timeline and out of my hands. That said, here is what we did to finalize our costumes and make them special for Halloween!

Crown

It all started with a crown request and the knowledge that it could be custom made on a 3D printer with gold filament. This went through a couple of iterations but both of the versions basically consisted of a flat base crazy glued to the crown part.

The first base was a half circle with an extrusion that could sit under an Elsa (French) braid. After I tried it out on Ada's head I found that it didn't curve with the head shape, felt uncomfortable, and didn't seem secure. Afterwards I talked it over with Matt and he altered the base to become just a half circle to go in front of Ada's forehead with holes on the side so I could thread her hair through to keep it on. I actually pulled out photos showing the floral wire I used to keep a toy dinosaur on her head for Crazy Hair Day in kindergarten as an example. With a quick test to see how it was we deemed it finished.

And it worked great! Other than the test time she also wore it to both a Halloween party and Halloween night and it lasted beautifully.

If I recall correctly the crown itself was found online and Matt designed the base. I'm not quite sure if Matt still has the STL files hanging around but if there's interest I can ask him to check and update here. Let me know if you want me to ask in the comments below.

Outfit

The costume was started with an already owned gown that Ada has had for years. Once the crown was decided Matt and Ada got to talking and decided to deck it out with light using conductive thread. That said, through valient effort the end result was a bit buggy and although it worked leading up to the events it quickly stopped and/or looked dim during.

It was a super cool idea though and if I had more time I could see electronic sewing being my gateway to more electonic-based work. If you want to learn more here's a link to LilyPad Basics: E-Sewing through SparkFun.com.

Hair

For Elsa we needed to do a French braid for her hair which was awesome because I am infrequently allowed to do their hair. That said, with the crown I also needed to find a way to easily thread her hair through the crown, making the crown secure, making it as comfortable as possible, and still making it Elsa-alike. This is how I did it.

I started by putting the crown on her head which in this case meant the front went over her forehead and I checked where the holes on the crown edges lined up. After putting the crown back down I started French braiding her hair until I got to where the holes lined up. To stop the braid from unraveling I continued to braid it making it more secure while doing the next step. I then draped the hair I didn't need out of the way and kept the hair I would need to use for the crown accessible.

I'm not sure how I planned to thread the hair through the holes in the crown but I got it working by using a length of thread which I wrapped around a section of hair and then threaded both ends of the thread through the hole. With the thread through I gently pulled it the rest of the way forcing the hair through as well. Once the thread was out I un-looped the hair by pulling the end through all the way and with that the first piece was done. I then repeated this process, while Ada held the crown in place, until all the holes on either side of the crown had hair coming from below and going up.

With the hair threaded through the crown it was time to undo the braid part and continue the French braid. As I passed over that section I combined the hair that had gone through the crown with the main sections thus holding the crown in place for Ada without the need of bobby pins or other placement tools.

And with that the braid was done and the crown was secure. This lasted through the trial run and two Halloween events and was perfect. I loved how it turned out!

Face Paint

In the past I've used my watercolor pencil crayons as face paint. You simply dip them in water and draw directly on their face. Although I was leery about going close to the eye I don't have bright eyeshadow and Ada had a vision so I looked up pictures of snowflakes (consulted with Ada on which one) and Elsa eyes and gave her eye shadow (different for each party) and a snowflake on her cheek.

Rainbow Unicorn

Zoey made up her mind quickly about her costume when she spotted the unicorn costume at Costco. This may be the second time we bought a unicorn costume and the fact that this version came in her favorite color... rainbow... was perfection. I just looked it up at Costco and see it's still listed: Teetot Rainbow Unicorn Child Costume.

Outfit

With the costume picked I assumed we were done but later, once Ada got a crown, Zoey decided she needed one too but declined a 3D printed one and instead chose the one we already had from her Princess Anna birthday party three years before... though I'm now realizing the blue gem she brought me to glue on years ago didn't quite fit as it wasn't originally part of the crown. I worried about the crown staying on her head especially as she now likes to wear her hair loose. Luckily the costume came with a horn and mane headpiece so I was able to simply sew the crown to the front and sides of her headpiece. Customization finished!

That said, while writing this post and checking the tags on previous Halloween posts, I found this image from Zoey's Princess Skateboarder Costume in 2021 where I also used her hair to keep this exact crown on:

I started out by pulling two strands of hair from the front of her head through the tiara. I then started french braiding her hair grabbing the new sections from either inside the tiara or, carefully, pulling the strands through an opening in the tiara to get to the braid. Zoey likes the top elastic from her mask to lay on a pony so I finished the braid with her go to pony.

Face Paint

What rainbow unicorn can be complete without a rainbow on their cheek? Zoey was much more particular about how it should look than Ada so I pulled out my reMarkable so we could sketch out what we each pictured until we reached a consensus. With the design locked in I next had her pick her colors and lay them out in the order I should use them before I got started. There were copious amounts of in progress photos to confirm I was on the right track. Then for the second event we added a cloud!

Final Look

And they turned out amazing! Love the final looks.

And with that I bid you adieu. I hope your Halloween plans are going well and you have a fun event wherever it may be! And I'd love to hear from you in the comments whether either of these costumes inspired you and what you created. Have a great one!

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