When I was little, too little to fight back, my mother made me wear a Halloween costume that gives me nightmares to this day. Not because it was scary, but because it was absurd and totally humiliating to wear! It was a large brown bird costume she sewed herself from a pattern that she still insists was meant to be Tweety Bird. My sister, who was forced to wear it first, and I have repeatedly told her it was in fact the chicken hawk. Ah Halloween, such fond memories. In keeping with tradition I too have begun making my children’s Halloween costumes, though I try not pick patterns that will humiliate them for years to come. I may have to throw a chicken hawk into the mix just once though. According to my mother it’s character building.

Last year I decided to make the girls Halloween costumes inspired by Martha Stewart’s Madam Butterfly. I loved the idea of simple head bands, hair combs or bobby pins transformed into a crown of fluttering butterflies to sit atop my pretty girls heads. I took some liberties with the rest of the idea and got creative with a couple of leotards, some tutus and a glue gun. Naleigh is my girly girl who likes sugar and spice and everything covered with glitter. Adalaide’s more of a tomboy and loves creepy crawly creatures and superheroes like Batman. So with their very unique and wonderful personalities in mind I headed over to Michaels and picked up all the supplies I’d need to turn a couple of little girls into magical creatures for a night.

I ordered the leotards, tights and tutus from Amazon, my go to for just about everything! Once it all arrived I got to work gluing. There really was no craft involved in this one, just my imagination and some strategically placed faux flowers and bugs. I did run into a bit of a problem with the snakes on Adalaide’s leotard. They hung in there for awhile but by the time we were half way through our trick or treating they had begun to fall off. I realized too late that they needed a far stronger glue to keep them in place than my little glue gun could deliver. On the up side once they had fallen completely off I was able to remove the glue, wash the leotard and have the option of using it again for some new fantastical Halloween creation.

It was a little tricky getting the girls into their costumes without pulling the flowers or bugs off but we managed. Once they were in I put the final butterfly crown touch on and they were ready to hit the streets of Park City in pursuit of some treats. I really loved how the costumes turned out and the girls loved the uniqueness of them. All in all it was a successful, chicken hawk free Halloween.