Tonight I watched the Disney movie musical, “Newsies” with my girls. Not sure why I had not seen it until now.
It was made in 1992! 1992 people!!
I have no idea why we didn’t go see it when we were in NYC a few years ago. It was all the rage. Maybe it was sold out, although I didn’t even try to get tickets. I guess a bunch of boys in a show didn’t seem appealing.
I was wrong.
I liked Newsies for 3 reasons.
1. The songs are memorable, even the beautiful ballad, Santa Fe.
Everything is Awesome, Everything is Cool When You Are Part of a Team! –Lego Movie
The LEGO head or mask for a LEGO costume does not seem to be readily available from retailers, so you are in for a few hours of DIY if you want a Lego costume.
The couple from their tutorial here said they spent over 12 hours on their Lego costumes, so be prepared for a trip to Home Depot, cutting, gluing, painting, and drying time. It is worth it because their Lego heads turned out very authentic!
Photo courtesy of warfieldfamily.com
They said they got their instructions from this tutorial here from Instructables.com which has a ton of helpful tips in the comments.
If you allow enough prep time or have lots of help, this is a super family or group costume!
13 Days until Halloween and guys, you still have time to pull together a pretty snazzy Halloween costume. These next 6 ideas for Easy Halloween Costumes for Men range from classic to comic and are easy to pull together with a few pieces from your closet and a purchase or two online.
6 Easy Costumes Halloween Costumes for Men:
1. James Bond. Classy, elegant, and he always gets the girl. Black suit or black tux, black bow tie, collared white shirt, well-polished shoes, and don’t forget the cuff links. Even better if you drive a fast car.
2. Indiana Jones. Natural and easy for the rugged or adventurous man. Khaki pants, collared shirt, leather jacket, and a few key accessories including the hat. You must have the hat! A leather or canvas messenger bag is a fitting accessory too and be sure to allow time for some scruff for this costume.
3. Napoleon Dynamite. Comfy, goofy, and you even get a t shirt you might wear again. “Vote for Pedro” tshirt, jeans, and moon boots, which are really hard to find, so the moon boot boot covers may have to suffice. Dig out an old pair of glasses and if you are lucky enough to have some curl in your locks, pick them out for a slight frizzy mess. Oh and keep your mouth hanging open the entire night.
4. Sherlock Holmes. Smart, timeless, and even better with a British accent. Dark trousers, tweed coat, blue scarf, and hat.
5. Jay Gatsby. So smooth and debonair. Oozing style down to his spectator wingtips. Click here for my earlier post on this charming, passionate man.
6. Captain America. Heroic, powerful, and good for those who don’t mind the skinny pants. You can pull off a DIY version in skinny bright blue jeans or sweats, red, white, and blue t shirt, red Converse All-Stars, mask, gloves, and you must have the shield. Or you can just order the really cool but expensive version shown here. Don’t bother with the cheap versions of this costume. You’ll be disappointed in the quality. The fabric on the cheap super hero costumes is so thin you’ll be left feeling a little exposed…
Any extra layer you put under these cheap costumes does not look super heroic. Either do the DIY from real fabric and clothes or go for the pricey one.
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The Roaring 20’s and The Great Gatsby seems to be a popular costume theme for parties, dances, and other special events. I wrote a previous post here on 1920’s costumes for women, but I neglected to write for the 1920’s men’s costume.
To me, men’s fashion overall isn’t as fun or dynamic as women’s fashion, but the 1920’s do have some pretty snazzy looks for men. And boy are they good lookin’.
Think 3 piece suits, light colored suit pieces, club shirts with white collars on a blue or khaki dress shirt, bold striped vests and jackets (as in Barbershop quartet-look), pinstripes, pocket kerchiefs, and bow ties.
Head to the thrift store, raid Grandpa’s closet, or splurge on a dapper suit. If you can track down a fitted pin stripe suit, add a blue shirt, and a bow tie. Or go with brown tweed pants, a club shirt which is pretty easy to find, pattern vest, and a necktie with thick bold stripes. Then there’s always a tuxedo, especially if your date is dressed to the nines. Wear it with a lay down collar shirt (not wing-tip), vest, and hand tied bow tie. Do not wear a cummerbund and pre-tied tie because you will be mistaken for the waiter. The two-toned loafer or oxford Spectator shoe is a standout accessory from 1920’s men’s fashion. It’s all in the details.
Check out this link to Brooks Brothers’ Great Gatsby Collection.
This link is a helpful guide to men’s suits in the 1920’s, this one for men’s shirts in the 1920’s, and this link for shoes from the era.
Here is a link with many pictures to inspire your costume based on incorporating more recent trends in fashion.
Not only is this a great group costume, but isn’t this a great image? Just so stinkin’ cute. This is from my friend who made these costumes for her son and his cousins. These costumes are easy to make from black sweats. The hardest part may be waiting for the silver glitter glue to dry so that you can flip the sweats to decorate another area. I dare my three girls to pull this off when they are all teenagers. With a mustache, of course.
These are classy, clean, and creative costumes that you are going to want to take a look at. I was trolling around Pinterest checking out Halloween costumes for couples and ran across this very cool post for “10 Vintage Inspired Couples Costumes.” Most are for male/female couples, but there’s also an idea for 2 girl friends. You could easily compose many of these costumes from clothing in your own closet and a trip to the thrift store or your grandma’s closet. I totally see college age kids pulling these looks off and looking good doing it.
A friend messaged me asking for some ideas on a toga costume for her and her new fiance. (Congrats Lauren!)
Yes, you can make a toga using a bed sheet or curtains, if they aren’t too thick. It needs to be a fabric that is lightweight like sheets, and will drape nicely. Start with a twin sheet to see how it fits, but it depends on your size and height. You may need to experiment with the sheet size for the best results. Fold it in half if necessary. Use safety pins to secure. The three videos below show different methods for tying the toga, both for men and women.
Clothing: Consider what you will wear underneath the toga in case of a wardrobe malfunction or if you simply want a little more coverage. Items that fit snug like a tank top, tube top, layering tee, bike shorts or spankies work the best so that the toga isn’t disturbed by bulky or baggy fabric underneath.
Accessories: Find gold trim or ribbon at Walmart or a craft & fabric store to form a belt for the toga. It gives a better shape to the toga by pulling it in a bit at the waist for both men and women. Sandals or flip flops complement this look along with gold jewelry. And don’t forget something for the hair such as gold trim wrapped around the head as the first video shows, a golden floral wreath shown in the second video, or a green leaf wreath worn by the male in the last video.
Makeup: If you really want to look like you didn’t just throw on a sheet at the last minute, then follow the second video for some tips on a makeup design to go with the toga. This will really finish off the look and your costume will look intentional and stylized.
I just had lunch with a friend who said her son wanted to be Sully, but she was having trouble finding the costume in his size, so she was going to make one. Here are some other options for Sully that are simple and no-sew. Top it off with the Sully hat or mask shown.
You have to watch this music video if you haven’t seen it yet. It’s clean and safe for all ages and though the video seems a bit bizarre, it has gone viral and the song is c-a-t-c-h-y-. My daughter’s karate studio plays the song for their warmups, so it must be legit…
I already did a post on a cool take for a “Mr. & Mrs. Fox” couples Halloween costume, but this post gives you some ideas for costumes that are slightly more literal representations of the animal characters from this song. It’s going to be a popular Halloween costume theme this year for individuals, couples (a fox and a fox dancer), and groups. You could even do a huge group with many different animals, or just the fox and a large ensemble of female fox dancers. Have animals and dancers for a super size group.
>SUPER SIMPLE TIP IF YOU DO THE GROUP OF ANIMALS INCLUDING THE FOX: HAVE EVERYONE WEAR ALL BLACK AND THEN WEAR THE HAT/EARS/ACCESSORIES THAT GOES ALONG WITH IT. IT WILL BE CHEAP, EASY, AND YOU WILL LOOK REALLY PULLED TOGETHER AS A GROUP, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ADD IN THE FEMALE FOX DANCERS IN THEIR BLACK AND WHITE UNIFORMS. SUGAR SHARP.
Fox: The fox mascot costume for a male adult is now in hot demand, so retailers have raised their prices and may even be sold out. Check out Amazon for the fox costume.
These shoes available here from Costume Craze are the coolest shoes for a costume that I’ve seen in a while. The list of costumes they could be used with seems endless: Frankenstein, Jack Skellington, Joker, Ridler, Mad Hatter, Beetlejuice, a vampire, a gangster, Steampunk, it goes on…
