Illustration by EUGENE CUBILLO

Q. My 4-year old daughter Melissa is so excited about Halloween. Her cousin asked her to come with them to do some trick or treating in a village and she couldn’t wait for the big day. She wanted to have a nice costume. Unfortunately, my husband’s company has not yet released their salaries. I tried to make her wear her old costume but she does not want to. How can I make her understand that we don’t have any money to buy a new one? It’s really heartbreaking to see her cry but I really can’t do anything. Help!

Melinda Manigod, Bulacan

Hi Melinda! Why not try making your own new costumes? This is a fun way to get your little girl to apply what she has learned in her art classes. This activity will help her develop her creativity plus it will be a great bonding moment for you and your daughter. You’ll realize that many of the items needed for making a costume is probably just in your drawer, utility box and closets. I found some wonderful ideas from an old magazine I kept: October 2008 issue of Parenting magazine. Ellen Goldberg showed us samples of “no-sew costumes that any mom can make.” Here is one:

What-a-hoot Owl

You’ll need:

Oversize brown sweatshirt, Fabric glue, ½ yard brown ribbon, 1 yard light brown felt paper or fabric, brown feathers, 1 yard dark brown felt paper or fabric, 2 oversize yellow buttons, 2 black buttons, 2 copper scouring pads (used to clean dishes), black rubber glove, cotton balls

You’ll need to do:

Body
1. Get the sweatshirt and cut the sleeves off, about three inches from the neck. Set these aside.
2. Glue the raw edges under so it would not show.
3. Cut a slit down the back, starting at the center of the neck. The slit must be four inches in length.
4. Cut zigzag strips of light brown felt paper or fabric. Glue these to the sweatshirt. Start from the bottom and slightly overlap the strips as you glue. This will create an illusion of overlapping feathers.
5. Glue feathers around the neck.

Wings
1. Cut dark-brown felt into two teardrop wing shapes. Glue the round part to the shoulders of the sweatshirt. Bigger kids require bigger wings. So make sure you measure them first.
2. Cut the wristbands off the sleeves that you’ve set aside and glue these on the inside of each wing.

Hat
1. Cut two small triangles from the remaining portions of one sleeve. They should be about three inches long and three inches wide. Fold them in half.
2. Take the other sleeve and cut eight inches down from the shoulder. Glue raw edges of the widest end under. Tuck them in the opposite end to form a horizontal seam.
3. Glue the triangles from inside the fold to create ears. Then glue across the seam to close.
4. Glue the black buttons to the center of the yellow buttons. Glue the yellow buttons to the center of each scouring pad. These are the eyes.
5 Glue the feathers around the back edge of each pad and glue the eyes to the front of the hat.
6. For the beak, cut a finger off the glove, and stuff it with cotton balls. Glue this between the eyes.

Additionals:
Wear brown sneakers or boots to finish the look.