pua at the zoo-a

I actually gave myself a reasonable amount of time to work on Halloween costumes this year (though I still had some last minute scrambling on the 30th). Our theme this year is... *drumroll*... minor characters from the movie Moana. Mae is Pua (Moana's pig sidekick), Dan is Heihei (the derpy rooster stowaway), and I am a Kakamora (one of the coconut pirates).

Mae costume consists of a pair of fleece pants and a fleece hoodie. When I was a kid, mom usually steered me towards outfits that would keep me warm and cozy on a chilly Halloween, and I am trying to pass this wisdom along to my own kid. The pants are a lengthened version of the Puperita sprinkle shorts with modified cuffs and waistband, and the hoodie is the Be Rad pattern by Ellie and Mac in size 2T. I made the hood quite a bit bigger than the pattern to give more space for the ears and appliqué face.

Dan's Heihei head is basically a hooded fleece dickie. (Do dickies still exist??) I traced the hood from one of his sweatshirts to make the pattern. The eyes are fleece stretched over styrofoam with felt pupils, and the feather collar is felt. He borrowed some ridiculous yellow feet from our friend Raul to complete the ensemble.

My Kakamora face is made from felt pieces stitched to a brown t-shirt (I saved the easiest costume for myself).

I finished Mae's costume two weeks ago, just in time for her to wear it to the zoo. We arrived before the official trick-or-treating time, but we still got to see lots of animals (and other costumes).

We even caught the end of the barnyard show and got a chance to take Mae's picture with a real version of Pua!

And of course we had to brush the goats... which usually is about 90% trying to select a brush and 10% actually brushing goats. The concept of goats vs. ghosts has been a difficult one for Mae this Halloween. Whenever we see a ghost decoration and I ask Mae what a ghost says, she responds "Maa-aa-a-a." I say, "No silly... that's goats! Ghosts say 'Boo!'"

Happy Halloween!