Monkey costume for rent

Lately, Ben has been lovingly referring to me as "Arts & Crafts Mommy" whenever I'm doing anything remotely creative (i.e. gift wrapping, sewing, holiday decorating, etc).  Well, this Arts & Crafts Mommy went a bit overboard when it came to Jackson's Halloween costume.  Deadset on making him a custom monkey costume, I spent hours creating my pattern, scouting out the perfect brown plush fabric, then cutting, sewing, ripping out seams and re-sewing Jackson's monkey suit.  I was happy with how it turned out (other than the v-neck I had to add last minute since his head wouldn't fit through the neck-hole), and I had finished my first official Halloween costume with 2 weeks to spare.  Just in time to hit up the Greer Halloween Festival the week before Halloween.  Or so I thought.

Thanks to global warming, October 23rd was an unseasonable warm day, with highs in the low 80s, which incidentally is about 20-degrees too hot for my prized monkey suit with its 2 layers of plush & batting.  After debating whether or not Jackson would have a heat-stroke if he wore it, we opted for a last minute costume of rolled-up denim overalls, plaid shirt & bare feet -- Huck Finn.  (Bonus point for the overalls - they were Ben's when he was a tyke) 


Huck Finn

Overalls from Ben's toddlerhood. 
The straps were stitched so I couldn't easily loosen
them up to prevent Jackson's perma-wedgie.

Halloween weekend rolled around, and we got a few minutes of wear out of the monkey at our neighborhood supper club on Saturday night.  Like, 10 minutes.  On Sunday, Ben woke up with terrible allergies and was out of commission most the day.  Our plans of hitting up the carnival at Jackson's school went by the wayside.  We were going to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood, but only a few houses were even giving out candy...not to mention its no fun to take a 1-year old candy collecting by yourself!  So Jackson put on his costume and helped me hand out candy to the five (5) trick-or-treaters we had come by.  All in all, we got a good solid 30 cumulative minutes of wear out of the monkey costume -- I spent a good 6 hours making it.  That $20 one from Old Navy isn't looking so bad anymore.

I love this action shot.

 

He loved wearing it, I swear!