Beautiful Homemade Girls Peacock Costume

Here’s the story behind my four-year-old girls peacock costume. Well, she wanted to be a peacock for Halloween this year. Of course, no ordinary store bought costume would do. Instead she had me on a wild goose chase searching every website I could imagine looking for peacock feathers that were not only the right size (for her), but that didn’t cost an arm and a leg (for me). I finally found some that suited the both of us, ordered them, and of course they ended up being back ordered. Fingers were crossed now that they’d make it here in time.

Next on the list of my girls peacock costume, a plastic oriental fan. One would think that would be easy to find, but it’s not. Turning to eBay now, I found the perfect one, had 4 hours left to place a bid, or I could ‘Buy it Now’. Of course I clicked ‘But it Now’ and wouldn’t you know when I went to sign it, I receive a notice that my account was suspended.

This is when we drag grandma into the costume experience. Grandma came to the rescue and ordered the fan. Another waiting game on the items delivery date. Time to rummage through her old dance recital tutus to see if one indeed would work and luckily it did.

Now to find a 2” wide teal or purple ribbon. All I had on hand was white. Looking a little deeper in my bag of tricks, I found forest green RID Dye. Why not? I tossed the ribbon in a pot, filled it with water and vinegar and emptied the entire contents of the bottle within. There I let it sit for hours. I had to make sure the dye took to the ribbon. And of course it didn’t. After washing, I had myself a white ribbon still. Mind you I leave nowhere near anything except a dollar store, gas station, and grocery store. I wasn’t driving hours for a damn teal or purple ribbon.

Next up, velcro! Can you believe I actually had two correct strips on hand? We’re getting somewhere. The hot glue, fishing line, and bra eyelets/hooks also had on hand. One week before Halloween, I had everything I needed laid out on the kitchen floor. Here goes nothing! I opened the fan and hot glued the ribbon on. Next I glued one feather onto each ‘pleat’ of the fan. This is when the swearing began. The next row I lowered the feathers and placed them in the open spaces. Now it was time to fight off all the hot glue cobwebs and start cropping each feather.

I was tired at this point and my finger tips were burnt. Feathers begun getting chopped and glued anywhere I could fit them. After I lost two hours of my life, I had four feathers left that I glued to a batter and called it a night.

The next day I had my son hold it in place on my daughter so I could measure and glue in the velcro for a belt. I pulled a tad too hard and broke the fan in half in the back. Screw it! Just add more glue I say. With everything glued now, I tore apart an old bra and sewed one eyelet to each shoulder. I then cut off two of the hooks, looped fishing line thru them, and glued the fishing line end to the top of the fan. Phew!

The next day it was ready and drum roll please… It all worked! She put on tights, then her tutu, black boots, her brother held the tail, I velcro’d it on, hooked each fishing line to her shoulders, slapped her hair up, clipped in a barrette, and wiped on some dress up makeup she has tucked away. I was DONE and there she stood, ‘Proud as a Peacock’ of her homemade Halloween costume!