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Where The Wild Things Are: Family Halloween Costume

Few children’s books have captured the hearts of adults and kids alike in the way that Maurice Sendak’s, Where the Wild Things Are has. This iconic book follows the story of Max, a young boy who wears a wolf suit and has a wild spirit. Max is sent to his room without supper, after a series of mischievous antics at home. In his room, his imagination takes flight, and he embarks on a journey to a land where the Wild Things reside. He goes on a thrilling adventure and becomes their king. However, Max begins to long for the comforts of his home, and awakens from his slumber to find his supper waiting for him.

At its core, Max’s story is about imagination, as well as the journey of self discovery and emotional exploration. The Wild Things he encounters along the way are symbolic of human emotions that we all have, such as the need for love and acceptance, fear, loneliness and anger. Max learns to confront these emotions, and about the complexity of his inner world. Ultimately, it leads him back to the comforting embrace of his family.

The story reminds us of the importance of imagination in transforming ordinary moments into extraordinary adventures. Simultaneously, it reminds us of the significance of home and feeling safe and secure.

What a spectacular book, that will always hold a special place in my heart. As such, one of my all time favourite Family Halloween Costumes is the year 2017 when we did Where the Wild Things Are. I handmade larger than life paper mache Wild Things that really grabbed a lot of attention on my social media feeds. I began this project in early July of that year to allow plenty of time to create these magnificent masterpieces just in the nick of time for our annual Halloween Family Portrait.

How To Make Where the Wild Things Are Costumes:

I purchased 2 giant inflatable balls from Amazon.com, and I covered them in Saran Wrap to insure that the paper mache wouldn’t stick to the ball when it was time to remove them.

Then it was time for the paper mache. For this process, I ripped strips of newspaper in roughly 1 inch width pieces. I mixed 1 part flour to 2 parts water for the paste. Then, I dipped the newspaper strips into the paste and applied them to the ball in a thin, even layer being sure to overlap the pieces along the way. I left a small opening where the inflation valve was to allow me to deflate and remove the ball once the project was complete. I allowed the paper to dry between coats overnight, and continued to add paper until the desired thickness had been achieved. This process took quite a few days, but the drying was essential to prevent any mildew from forming, and to ensure that the head would stay properly formed once the ball was no longer supporting it.

For the nose, ears, horns, eyes, and other facial details, I used tinfoil, cardboard and masking tape to form the shapes. I then covered them with paper mache, and used masking tape and the same paste to adhere them to the head. Once all was dry, I went to work painting the head with acrylic paint, which really brought them into the wild.

The final touch was the hair. I found the most incredible super thick, red chunky chenille yarn for KW’s hair, which gave it a fully finished 4D look. I glued strips of the yarn on to the paper mache head, and then I gave it a haircut with long layers to match the character. For Carol, I glued on 4 black Feather Boas with hot glue, and trimmed the excess. It was a feathery mess, but it was well worth it because it really brought these characters to the next level. Who knows, maybe in my next career I will become a Hairdresser!

Lastly, I had to put together the outfits themselves. Carol’s shirt was made by sewing together strips of two oversized shirts, one in yellow one in orange. The shirts were the same exact shirt in size and weight except for the color, which made it super simple to interchange the strips when sewing them back together. For Carol’s pants, I used an old pair of white pyjama pants that I had lying around and I drew scallops with a Black sharpie. I found a brown furry onesie from Amazon that I used for KW. The kids outfits were from Nordstrom, but any onesies with hoods will do. the trick. Just sew on ears out of matching fabric to make them look like Wild Things.

For Max, it was important to make a gold crown, buttons and a wand to resemble the character. All these elements were pieced together from things I found around our house.

We can’t forget about Wilfred, our King Charles Cavalier Spaniel who dressed up as Alexander. For his costume, I took a simple grey hoodie and glued rubber horns to it that I “borrowed” from another Halloween costume we had. He was not too fussed about it, and was more interested in the falling feathers than in his own costume. In the end, he cooperated really nicely and we were able to capture the perfect family picture, and no animals were harmed in the making of this picture.

So, there you have it! With Halloween just around the corner, we are starting to think about this year’s Halloween Family portraits. Costume deliberations are in full swing around here, and we have narrowed our choices down to the top two. Stay tuned to see what we came up with. I hope I’ve inspired you to go wild this year for your family Halloween portraits. “Oh please don’t go – I’ll eat you up – I love you so!,” Maurice Sendak.

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