Somehow we managed to squeak in another family costume. I’m not sure how much longer it will last really, but I’ll soak in all of the family moments I can get with these ones. To be honest, I wasn’t sure we’d ever top our DIY Incredibles Family Costume, but this Circus Family Costume comes in pretty close I think!
It definitely hits home for me since I feel like our family life is pretty much like a three ring circus under the bit top. Every Day.
After arriving home around 4am this morning from a long weekend trip for work in Memphis, I was ready to take on this spectacle. It’s full and beautiful and messy and chaotic… and I love just about every part of it. I say just about, because there are some messes I could do without, but even so, life with this circus family is so worth it! Speaking of messes, we definitely had our share of it tonight while Skylar “authenticated” his costume when he landed in some animal poo at a friends house. We cleaned him up of course, but yeah… life has it’s messy moments for sure. I’m grateful that we have the chance to capture and share these happy, shiny moments, because of course the rest will come into play and fill in the cracks of time all on it’s own. The overall masterpiece, the moments we paint onto a canvas, is what we have a choice in, and I choose to make big beautiful moments with my big beautiful family and celebrate as much as possible. And right at this moment, I’m also about to choose some sleep 😉
Our Circus Family Costume
Strong Man: Striped Shirt, Large Red tee cut into a loose muscle-man’s tank and black sweatpants cut into shorts. Add a pair of boots, fake mustache and a large barbell made from a plastic black pipe with black balloons taped to the ends, and this costume is complete!
Lion Tamer/Ring Master: Black leggings and white tank top, red jacket with gold piping added (I hot glued it on, but you could also use temporary tape) and black boots. I found a simple top hat and whip from a party store and they’ll both go into our costume tote for future costumes!
Fire Breather: For this one, the outfit can be anything and is best kept simple! For the fire, we cut the shape out of a cardboard box (2 pieces) and taped them together with a dowel taped in between. I then spray painted the entire thing yellow and added orange acrylic paint to create the finished design. Slick the hair down and add a mustache for some finishing touches.
Lion: For our sweet lion, my little guy already had a neutral colored jumpsuit. We also had a felt lion mask in his dress-up bin (from his birthday party!!), so it was an easy one to finish off. We cut a fur shawl into four pieces that would fit around his wrists and ankles and a friend sewed velcro along where the edges met for him to easily get the fur on and off… a great addition for his dress-up fun. I can’t sew and would have hot glued (my kind of “sewing”) the velcro which would have worked out great for that night, though I’m not sure that solution would last as long for future dress-up needs.
Acrobat: Take a simple ballet outfit and dress it up with feathers (in a mask or hair piece!) and gloves. Add in an umbrella, or a parasol for an even more “authentic” look to complete the ensemble.
Baby Clown: For our little babe’s clown outfit, I crafted a bunch of yarn pom poms (SUPER simple tutorial coming soon!) and pinned two to a plain onesie to create front “buttons”. Then I made a party hat in her size with cardstock, more poms and a hot glue gun! Finally, a friend sewed the little ruffle for the neck with this tutorial. 
I’m also totally throwing out props to my oldest, Aliyah, who helped with all of these family circus costume photos!! She helped take the pics of me getting the boys ready and then while were out and needed to have daddy in some pictures, she snapped away. So proud!
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