So, I decided that we needed a family costume this year. Halloween is Justin's favorite holiday, so why not dive into our first parental Halloween with a bang? In the spirit of the London Olympics and our limber, ultra active daughter, we thought Ellie as a gymnast would be perfect.
As I started to research options for Ellie's leotard, I was bound and determined for the leotard to be a true replica of the 2012 USA Olypmpic gymnasts uniforms. However, I found it it was nearly impossible to find a gymnast's (not dancer's) leotard small enough for our little peanut. After hammering about 20 different seamstresses on Etsy with no luck, I realized I needed to get creative. I reached out to ladies that specialized in American Girl doll clothes. After some major negotiations and about 30 measurements later, I was able to convince a wonderful woman to take a chance on us. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much since this was her first custom leotard for a 7 month old.
Then came me as her gymnast side kick mother (lesson learned was that I hung up my leotards 15 years ago for a reason - 33-year-olds shouldn't be caught dead shimmery numbers like the one below). Originally, Justin was going to be a male gymnast, but when we found out Monday (10/29) that his stirrup pants from Leotards.com were on backorder, we had to improvise QUICKLY. Thanks to a suggestion from our neighbor, Brian, we thought it only appropriate that Justin dress as the renown coach Bela Karolyi. After multiple trips to multiple costume shops so that Justin could perfectly match his wig to his mustache, we were in business.
All in all, we were pretty happy with the finished product... our neighbors got a kick out of us doing a victory lap around our cul-de-sac at 5:00 p.m. Since Ellie goes to bed at 6:30, we came home early from work to gear up and get maximize photo ops. If only Ellie would have smiled and even pretended to look at the camera... oh well.
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| For your reference, the official 2012 Gymnasts' Olympic Uniform. The inspiration behind Ellie's leo... |
Seriously sooooo funny!! Can't wait to see what you come up with next year!
ReplyDeleteAMAZING costumes!!!! I think Plan B was an amazing effort! I'm unsure why Justin didn't just re-purpose his Hamm Brother costume? hahahahaha. Great pictures!
ReplyDeleteSo awesome! I hear you on Ellie's disinterest. I never cared about Halloween until Ellen came along. It is a struggle every year to get a good picture after all my blood, sweat and tears. I keep thinking she'll look back at the pictures as an adult and realize how much I loved her. :)
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