Oh! This Is The Greatest Show!

This summer, The Greatest Showman took over our television. My three-year old loves belting out the soundtrack and the movie is a nice relief from all of the animated princess flicks.

While watching the movie one weekend, I turned to Lennon and said, “Do you want to be P.T. Burnam for Halloween?” She said, “YES” and thus this costume was born.

While I’m always a big DIY-er, I did spend some time scouring the internet for a costume. It’s really tough to find a ringmaster jacket for a toddler. There was something on Amazon, but I just couldn’t justify the spend. Then, I found this tutorial, and it was all over!

You guys. This Greatest Showman costume was the EASIEST Halloween DIY that I’ve ever made!

I purchased an oversized red hoodie, and just cut off the hood and the pockets.

In my ribbon box (yes, I said my ribbon box), I already had the gold sequins and ribbon for the chest area. For the final product, I added some fringe on the shoulders.

No sewing. All glue gun.

The hat has been an issue. I just couldn’t find one small enough for the kid’s head, so we went with this headband and a leotard for dance class.

For school and trick ‘or treat, we have some more layers - a white collar shirt and gold vest! Along with the shorts and cane, all of these items were purchased from Amazon! Here you can find links to the hat, gold vest, sequin shorts, sweatshirt and the way too big top hat (a steal at $6!). I'm pretty sure I made this costume under $50. And thanks to Amazon, everything was delivered to my door! 

Oh, and an added bonus? A themed class treat was super easy for this one!

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This is a bathing suit post in October.

This is a bathing suit post in October.

Temps dropped in Pittsburgh this past weekend, so I’m going to talk to you about bathing suits.

Doesn’t seem right, does it? But it IS.

J. Crew has become my go-to for mom-friendly bathing suits to wear while chasing my kid at the pool or beach. I tend to keep my eye on their options for when they go on sale and this week the suits have hit some of the lowest prices that I’ve ever seen!

Here are some of my favs! And seriously - most of them are under $20!!! Shop now for next year and save!

         

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Let's Get Scary: Halloween Ideas for 2018

You guys know that I love Halloween. And my annual ideas for Halloween costumes is one thing that I keep consistent on this blog.

Throughout the year, I spot things and I’m like “Yep, that will make a good costume.” This year was no exception.

Without further ado, here are my top 8 costumes for 2018

Mason Ramsey aka the Yodeling Walmart Kid - This little dude went viral earlier this year and then became a pop cultural icon. He appeared on Ellen, at Coachella - people loved Mason. And this costume is easy - you just need jeans, a white shirt, cowboy boots, a bow tie and your golden.

Handmaid’s Tale - This isn’t a “new” idea, but I just binged watched the show, so let me have my moment here. The Handmaids are a good group costume, but please don’t make it slutty. Also inspired by my binge watching: Orange is the New Black prisoners, cast of Stranger Things or the all the vintage garb from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Gritty - The Philadelphia Flyers recently introduced a puzzling mascot - Gritty. At first, people were straight up like WTF, but now he’s become a bit of pop culture icon. If you’re already a Flyers fan (sucks to be you), than you may have a jersey and can just add some wacky fur to your face and voila! Halloween 2018 done.

Kayne and Lil’ Pump - This rap duo appeared on the season opener of SNL dressed as water bottles. Grab your bestie and decide who gets to be Perrier and who can be Fiji.

Banksy - This one may be a bit more tricky to pull off, but bare with me. The illusive artist, Banksy, pulled off a huge stunt last weekend. One of his famous paintings was being sold at Sotheby's in London when the frame started shredding the painting. Banksy planted the shredder INSIDE the frame for this very moment more than two years ago. It was estimated that the stunt DROVE UP the value of the artwork by DOUBLE. To create this costume, I’m visioning a box that has the painting half in / half out, and your head peering over the top of the paper inside the frame/box. Read more about the stunt here. Bonus sidekick costume could be the girl with the balloon!

Tonya Harding - With a hit movie about her life and a stint on DWTS, Tonya Harding was in the spotlight earlier this year. A Tonya costume is a little tricky to pull off, but a quick Amazon search pulls up a several ice skating costumes that you can totally Tonya-ize. Add yourself a Nancy and you have a nice little pairs costume!

Yanny / Laurel - This year’s version of “the dress,” you totally know you listened to that audio file. For the costume, you can do a little two sided costume with one side Yanny and the other Laurel!

LaCroix - Last year I was at a coffee shop on Halloween and the barista was dressed as a can of LaCroix and it made me LOL. Here’s a cute spin on that costume with tye-dye dresses. Amazon also has a dress where you can just add “LaCroix” with a Cricut machine!

I’m assuming you’ll see a lot of Royal Couples, Superheroes, Incredibles, Queer Eye, Stranger Things and G.L.O.W. Girls.

Image Sources: yahoo, Boston Globe, ABC 7, Insider, The Guardian, Glamour, Self, LaCroix

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