The Totally 80’s Halloween Cartoon Craftacular!

The crisp air that begs for thrifted argyle sweaters. The horror movie marathons and mountains of miniature candy bars. Fall is my favorite time of year and my annual Halloween party is the highlight of the social calendar.

Now, I don't encourage guests spending big bucks on store-bought costumes. Instead, I encourage thrifty ideas and craft projects. Something like this, for instance.



Straight from the 80’s, it’s Rainbow Brite. Finding this DIY child's costume pattern, among other awesome miscellany to be documented later, was the start to a great day. And scoring this spectacular crafty find for a mere quarter got me thinking about the level of ambition I have reserved for that special night when you get to be someone else…someone who gets free candy.

And that someone I wanted to be for as long as I could remember was none other than Rainbow Brite. And while this thrift score is truly outrageous (Yeah, that was a Jem reference), last year I got my wish.




























That’s right. At 25 years old, I was Rainbow Brite. And it was a heavy workload for a novice crafter. The final product was an estimated 20+ hours of cutting, sewing, gluing and stuffing by hand. My boyfriend and blog co-creator (pictured above) did a lot of the labor too, with both of us working up until the Halloween afternoon just hours before our big bash.

Dan was so involved with the process, in fact, he almost didn’t have time for his own costume. But lo and behold, one day before the party we decided, “Hey, why not stick with the 80’s cartoon theme?”

And so it was. With tattered punk clothes from the nearest Goodwill, a purple mohawk
(yes, a real one), matching shades, chains and a string of ammo…Dan transformed…



…into Bebop, one of the airhead villains of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon!  It should be noted that Dan did have a plastic gun that never make it into the picture. He also fashioned a large metal ring for his nose. But it was too uncomfortable to wear all night.

In the end, our 80’s inspired crafted cartoon costumes were a big hit at the party, and a personal triumph, I think.
This year we have also opted for a DIY couples' costume, something a little more contemporary. But I can’t say anything else until after the big night. Don’t want to ruin the surprise!

Now who else out there has thrifted ‘n’ crafted themselves something special this Halloween?