I’m Chiquita Banana and I am here to say, this year we’re celebrating Halloween in the sweetest way! I had so much fun making this family fruit costume!! And it was surprisingly cheap and simple to do! Read on to see how I made it happen!
Some days I still find it hard to believe that we are now a family of four! I am so excited that this is our first costume all together! And that I was able to get it completed! With two little babes to care for, and me going back to work, I wasn’t too sure I could make it happen… but I am so glad I did!
To be honest the hardest part of the whole costume was taking the pictures! haha Man, you have no idea how difficult it is capturing a family costume picture! Especially when you have a crazy two year old on the loose and all you have is a tripod to take the picture on! haha Let’s just say there was LOTS of bribing with candy! See if you can spot any candy in any of the shots!
Miss Chiquita
I have been dying to recreate the Chiquita Banana girl’s hat for years! I bought my rainbow dress last year and when it arrived in the mail it gave me ALL the Chiquita Banana vibes and I just knew I had to make it happen!
I scoured Hobby Lobby and Michaels for some fake fruit to make my hat out of, but when I found out how expensive fake fruit was, I decided to make it myself! I thought papier-mâché would be my best option since it is very light and would be easier to make balance on my head. Plus I just adore the “imperfect”, artistic look of papier-mâché! (directions of how I did this below)
After I created all my fruit for the hat, I glued them together and on top of a piece of felt with a hot glue gun, so that they were all strongly connected. After that, I affixed the felt and fruit onto my turban with more hot glue and also zip ties for extra strength.
I just love how the fruit hat turned out and was so excited that I finally brought this vision to life! I love the fruit so much that I am going to keep it as decoration somewhere in our home! Maybe in the playroom or somewhere fun like that!
LINKS: DRESS (substitute) | TURBAN
HOW TO PAPIER-MACHE:
SUPPLIES:
– Glue
– Water
– Newspaper
– Scissors
– Masking Tape
– Balloons
– Acrylic Paint
– Paintbrush
Step 1.) For the paste, mix together glue (I used Elmer’s) and water at a 1:1 ratio
Step 2.) Cut thin strips out of newspaper
Step 3.) Determine what shape/size objects you want to create. Depending on the shape you would like, you can build your base out of newspaper and masking tape or you can use a balloon for the structure. For my small fruits I made the base structure out of masking tape and the pineapple I made with a balloon base.
Step 4.) Dip your newspaper strips in the paste and lay across structure. Continue this across the entire structure until it is completely covered. Allow time to dry.
Step 5.) Repeat step 4 for as many times as you’d like until you have a solid piece.
Step 6.) Paint your object however you’d like!
Strawberry
When I thought up this costume idea I immediately knew I was going to make Scarlett a strawberry! Strawberries are her absolute favorite! So much so that we have even nicknamed her “Scarberry”! And doesn’t she just make the cutest little strawberry?!
Her costume was relatively easy! I just used a large red shirt (adult small), cut off the sleeves, added some seeds that I cut out of yellow felt and made her a matching leaf “necklace” and stem headpiece out of green felt!
It was nearly impossible getting a good pic of her in her costume since she is a rambunctious 2 year old, but I was soooo surprised how much she liked it!! When I put it on her she kept running in front of our mirror to look at herself and she wouldn’t stop smiling!!
Bunch of Grapes
Since I made Scarlett a red strawberry I knew I had to make Violett some purple grapes!!!! I figured it would be one of the easiest things to do with a newborn as well! All I did for her costume was get 1 yard of purple fabric and make her a swaddle out of it and then attached some purple balloons with tape! I didn’t need her costume to last very long, otherwise I would have probably attached with glue. But I wanted the balloons to be able to be removed whenever she got tired of them. And for her headpiece I just used some green felt and elastic! Luckily we already owned a matching purple pacifier, so we gave her that to use since she was so sleepy when we were taking pictures! She is just the sweetest!!!
Banana
Ian’s banana costume was by far the easiest, we just bought it from Walmart! haha I really wanted to DIY his costume as well, but as I was looking for yellow pants for him to wear with it they were wildly out of the budget and just not worth it in my opinion! I hate to buy costumes unless I absolutely have to, so since we had to in this instance, I promised myself we will reuse this banana in future costumes… So I am already starting to brainstorm some fun ideas!
Hope you have the sweetest Halloween!
Auburn Artisan 