DIY Halloween: The Mad Hatter and the White Rabbit

I'm proud to say that this Halloween I only spent about $25 on new materials/accessories. Everything else came from previous projects (which were probably also bought on the cheap!) or was clothing items from the kids' closets. Of course, as my hubby always points out, that doesn't account for the time spent in making those costumes and I have to admit that I expended far more effort on this Mad Hatter costume than I had originally planned. 

DIY Halloween: Simple and Quick Alice in Wonderland

Note to self: Never ever make promises that have dates or times attached to them. Like saying I'll be somewhere with my four chronologically-indifferent children at a specific time. Or saying that this post would be done a week ago. Or promising myself to start Halloween sewing earlier. The end result is always that I'm rushing up until the last minute and sometimes miss my deadline completely.

This year, I started out with a bang and high hopes. The fabric was bought and washed at the beginning of October, making an early Halloween costume debut entirely possible. But as my young children slowly become older children, I'm starting to get a taste of how chaotic scheduling and managing children's calendars can be. So between birthday parties and Chinese school and weddings and Thanksgiving, the costumes were just barely done in time for our annual photo shoot with friends.