Original Family Costume Idea: "Party of Five"

I really wanted to make a cupcake costume, but we also enjoy dressing up together as a family every year. So I started brainstorming about how we could incorporate a cupcake into a theme for all of us, and the “party of 5” concept grew from there. My youngest daughter was the cupcake, my oldest daughter was a present, my son was a birthday candle, I was a bunch of balloons, and of course every party has a party pooper (which was played by my husband).

Here’s how everything was created:

Cupcake: I purchased an accordian style lampshade from a thrift store, spray-painted it silver, removed the metal “spokes” inside, flipped it upside down, hot-glued padding around the rim (so the icing would have a rounder look), and attached suspenders for my daughter to wear it. For the “icing” on top, I found a cute pink fleece hooded poncho at the thrift store. I wrapped it with lots of pink tulle and attached pompoms for the “sprinkles.” I sewed little hooks to secure the bottom of the poncho around the “top” of the lampshade. I sewed some white fabric for the “whipped cream” on top and then fashioned a cherry out of a red sparkly styrofoam ball ornament and a pipe cleaner.

Present: I painted a cardboard box light pink and added the circle pattern using various green foam craft “paper” (some of which was adhesive and some of which I hot-glued). I glued on a ribbon too and added a bow made out of the same ribbon to a headband. I created a to/from tag as well out of craft paper and stickers.

Candle: I created the body using a collapsible laundry basket covered with white fabric. I added the candle stripes with blue duct tape. I used paper mache to make the flame. I started with a balloon as the base and attached a cone to get the right shape, then I added layers of yellow and red tissue paper pieces using liquid starch. Once dry, I cut out the opening for the face and added lights inside so that the candle flame would glow. Then I just added a little paint to his face to blend in. I also made a matching treat bag for him using a small bag meant for washing lingerie. I created the body of the mini candle the same way, but I sewed a small battery operated tealight into the top for this flame.

Balloons: My costume was pretty simple. I created my balloon head using a hooded sweatshirt. I cut off the sweatshirt so that the hood and a little bit of the fabric was left. I hemmed the bottom of that extra fabric and inserted some wire (pipe cleaners, if I remember correctly) so that I could manipulate it into rippling properly. I also wrapped some of the red fabric around my next, and this lower portion became the knotted end of a balloon. I added padding to the hood to get a fuller/rounder look and some face paint, and my head represented a single balloon. I then tied a bunch of real balloons around my neck with the strings hanging in front so that I was dressed as a bunch of party balloons.

Party Pooper: His costume was the easiest and added a little humor to the group. He wore a brown sweatsuit. I added brown construction paper and a pompom to an existing party hat for him to wear on his head. I made the sign out of foam board and wrote “this party stinks!” with a sharpie. Add a grumpy face and viola!

The girls used party gift bags as their treat bags, and we carried various party noise blowers with us as well.

We had a lot of fun interpreting this play on words, and it made for some original and cute costumes. It was a great party!