Child's Olaf Costume That Gives Warm Hugs

As my son Aaron grows older his costume ideas have grown with him. This year will be his last at his current school and he wanted to go out in style at the school’s annual Trunk r Treat event.

He searched the internet for ideas and found a number of basic costumes, and then found one online. When I looked at it the vendor wanted $250 plus $100 shipping!!!!

We did find one online, but when I looked through the photos and read the details I quickly realized that I do not have the talent to create what that person had done. Before this year I never knew how to use a sewing machine – and even now I can still only sew a basic straight line. However, I was determined to make this work out somehow.

Olaf Costume Details

– The inside core I built from is a flannel white hoodie. Then I sewed a large piece of white flannel to the bottom so it sort of looked like a long full dress. I flipped up the bottom, placed a hula hoop at the lower inner fold and sewed up the flap to the hoodie bottom. We spent a lot of time dealing with stuffing – oh, and that “stuff” is expensive.

I sewed a piece of white flannel into a tube, cut out the arm holes and then placed it over the hoodie. I sewed it to the bottom and then the top neck portion and then stuffed it while my son stood there. Lesson learned – it took me 3 hours to setup and figure out how to use the sewing machine my sister-in-law gave me to borrow. I sewed this top tube piece in 2 minutes. Not sure that worked out as planned.

The head took a while. It is a construction helmet inside that I taped, and tied the large cutout flannel head pieces to. Stuffing it was tough to make it look okay. Getting the nose to stay on was a pain.

The tooth is a piece of white trim board that I screwed into the helmet. The black netting to cover his face is the remains of our screen patio door we replaced this year.

Olaf Costume Comments

Was it easy – NO WAY! It took multiple hours over three weekends and other hours during the work week after the kids were in bed. With my travel schedule during the week this time of year it was very hard. Remember, this it is mostly all sewed by hand. Aaron says it looks great from the front, but the back “makes his butt look big.” Oh, he is funny.

Half way through last night’s event one of my son’s friends came by and said – “Aaron looks great. He is like a celebrity tonight. He even needs handlers.”

The costume is a bit bulky and he needed help keeping the kids from pulling at him during the party. His two best friends helped with that during the event.

Reaction at Trunk R Treat

Aaron was the hit of the event last night. The little kids (Pre-K to 2nd grade) kept stopping him to take photos with him. It was even better when they were dressed as Princess Ana.

He did not get much time to grab candy since he basically was with the little kids. He never complained and simply stayed with the little kids all night. The costume came out fine. More importantly, I am proud that my son was patient enough and kind enough to be mindful of the younger kids and ignore his inner need for chocolate.

I am fairly certain this is my son’s last big costume. He is going to high school next year and he is becoming more of a man and less of a boy so quickly. It was fun to make and fun to watch him enjoy his evening.

Everyone asked me how long it took and then when I told them I got one parent who asked – was it really worth it? My only answer was – “Not sure, I will let you know in 20 years if he still remembers.“