Fantastic Homemade Child Villain Costume

Last year our 5 year-old daughter Riley wanted to be Maleficent! Knowing that there would be 100’s of little Maleficent’s running around, due to the recent release starring Angelina Jolie, I asked Riley if there was another thing she wanted to be that would make her feel special and stand out. Immediately she said Ursula! I searched online for child Ursula costumes to buy, only to find there were none. Riley was so excited about getting to be Ursula, that I knew that the only option would be to make it ourselves.

I was so eager to get started that we immediately went to the store to start scoping out material. We found a velvety material that came in a dark purple, and black which would be perfect. I knew that part of the whole Ursula effect would be the purple skin. I opted out of using face paint to cover her arms, chest, neck, and face because of the messiness, and my Riley having sensitive skin. So I decided that a long lavender leotard would do the job, which ended up being perfect for keeping her warm on the chilly Halloween night!

Once we had the bulk of materials we brought them over to “grandmas” house to plan how exactly we would design the costume. My mom had made all mine and my brothers costumes growing up, so I knew the outcome would be great, but great is an understatement to the end result.

The costume was affordable, yet tricky to make. The smaller of the problems was sewing the velvety material to the leotard in a way that wouldn’t restrict the leotard from stretching when Riley put it on. Afterwards we tackled the tentacles. The problem wasn’t so much the idea and implementing it, as it was creating something that wouldn’t be so heavy that it would slip off our little petite girl or cause her discomfort.

The tentacles were attached to a heavy duty thick piece of black elastic that would help support the weight! Lastly was the accessories. It was the day before Halloween when we were walking through the mall and out of the corner of my eyes I spotted a lady in Claire’s accessory store wearing an Ursula headband. As I walked closer to approach her and ask where she found it I saw a shelf full of villain accessories. The necklace pendant was attached to the headband, which I removed to make a necklace of our own.

I found sea shells in my daughters “treasure box” at home and painted them purple to create her earrings. The eels were a necessary accessory that would just add the completed touch needed. Made of felt and stuffed with stuffing and a wire inserted allowed us to shape the eel in a position that we liked and attach it with a safety pin to her costume. However, Ursula has two eel companions, which is where we came up with the idea of gluing one on to her trick or treat pail to eliminate the amount of items that would be attached to her body.

The costume was an absolute success! It was unique and made Riley stand out from the Elsa’s and Maleficents. People were blown away when she stopped on their door steps to collect her candy, throwing out compliments of how much they loved her costume. I posted the image in a social media page that I follow on Facebook and received hundreds of comments about her costume.

Riley did an excellent job of jumping into her evil character with her facial expressions and voice. This was the year that convinced me to home make all of her costumes for the years to come!

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