Last night was our friends’ annual halloween party, something we look forward to every year because they do such an amazing job!  There is always a good food spread, incredible decorations, libations abundant, costume voting and awards, and a backdrop for photo ops.  So. Much. Fun!

The last several years there have been a theme, but this year the hosts decided not to have a theme.  I think it actually made coming up with a costume idea more difficult, but Brett and I NAILED it!!!

After discussing a couple of different ideas (I suggested cowboys and indians) we were having a tough time deciding on a really great costume idea.  The last two years Brett and I have won awards for our costumes, so we wanted to keep the trend going, of course!  So a couple weeks ago, Brett sent me a link that said ‘I think this might be the winner.’

I clicked on the link and knew he was right.  We gathered all of the pieces we would need for our costumes and set out to the party.  We had a great time as always, and after all the votes were tallied the results were announced… (drum roll please) And we won first place for Best Couple and second place for Best Overall!  How exciting!!

I know you’re all dying to know what our Award Winning costumes were so, without further ado……………………………………

So, if any of you are curious about the process of transforming ourselves into Mary Poppins and Bert, here are the details:

Mary Poppins

I bought a mid-length pin stripe jacket for $4.

I bought an XS men’s tuxedo shirt for $4

I bought a long navy blue skirt for $4

I bought the hat for $2 – the hat was white when I bought it, and the flowers and ribbon were falling off.  I bought some fabric paint for $3 at Hobby Lobby and removed the flowers and ribbon and painted the hat black.  Once the paint was dry I used a hot glue gun to reattach the flowers and ribbon.

I bought the red bowtie at Hobby Lobby as well.

I bought the bag and umbrella at Target.

The boots were my own.

Bert

We bought a wool suit coat at Salvation Army for $3

We bought the red scarf at Salvation Army for $1

We bought the newboy cap at Target

The black shirt, black pants and black shoes were Brett’s.

We used left over ash and charcoal from our fireplace for the ash on his face

For the chimney sweep broom, I repurposed an old broom that was in the basement.  We bought a styrofoam disc at Hobby Lobby and used left over paint from the Mary Poppins hat to paint the disc black.  Brett cut all the bristles off of the broom and I poked them into the disc until all the bristles were used and the broom looked full.  Once the paint was dry, I attached the disc to the broom handle and used hot glue to make sure it stayed in place.

I have to say, of all of the Halloween costumes I’ve ever put together, I think this is by far my most favorite!  And I was Rainbow Brite one year!  It was so fun to put everything together and see myself transform from everyday Arianna into Mary Poppins.  I found a YouTube tutorial to help with the makeup application and am really pleased with how everything came together.

Brett looked absolutely AWESOME as Bert and the fact that we were able to use real ash for his face and hands was just perfect.  We got lots of positive feedback about our costume and just had a really fun time with awesome friends.

Thanks to the Hendersons for hosting such a great time!