Coolest Thrift Shop Pippi Longstocking Costume

My first-grader was just reading the Pippi books and loved the idea of dressing in a Pippi Longstocking costume for Halloween. I wasn’t sure how to go about putting together the costume, so I followed many of the instructions on this website.

How We Made the Costume

• Bought a too-big denim jumper for $5 at a thrift shop.
• Cut patches out of an old red t-shirt and tacked them onthe jumper  with embroidery thread.
• Cut the bottom off the jumper and used the excess fabric to make pants for Mr. Nilsson. Used a piece of yellow felt to make his jacket. His tiny hat we found for $2 at a party supply store.
• She already had the lavender t-shirt she wore.
• The freckles are just brown eyeliner.
• Luckily, she had tons of funky socks, so we just used some mismatched tall ones.

How We Shaped the Braids

For the Pippi braids…

• I bought floral wire (thinner than a hanger).
• Pulled her hair into two ponytails.
• Threaded three wires across the back of her head and through both pony-tails.
• Braided her hair into pigtails, keeping one wire in each strand of hair, and then bent the ends of the wire back into the pigtails so they wouldn’t catch on things. It worked brilliantly — they stayed up all night.
• The only issue was that she had to remember to walk through doors sideways, or her braids would hit the sides! I imagine someone with longer hair would have even more trouble!
• Her hair is very dark, so instead of red hair spray, we used orange spray, figuring it would show up better. Applied it after the braids were done, so it was just on the surface and easier to wash out later.

So many people (especially older girls, which she loved) stopped while trick-or-treating to compliment her on her costume. The best part was that later in the school year they had a “storybook dressup day” and she got to wear the whole get-up again!

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