Wreck It Ralph Family Costume

So its that time of the year again, Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween.

Which means Fam Bam Halloween costume time, here is last years.

After a family vote, Wreck It Ralph won out.

And since it is one of Disney's lowest grossing movies of all time, there pretty much isn't anything out there for costumes, which meant A LOT of homemade.

Felix was the easiest.

After a friends suggestion, I snagged these patches on this Etsy shop.

Amazon came through with some cheap leather gloves and blue hat.

And he was done.

It was kinda up in the air which character I was going to be.

But for some reason EVERYONE agreed Momma should be the "mean girl" Taffyta Muttonfudge.

Not sure if I should be insulted by this or happy since she wears all pink.

But I set to work on Taffyta.

I got a pink ball cap at Michael's.

Cut the brim to shape it more like a helmet.

Attached some felt for the green brim and stem with leaf.

Lastly, since she has a sparkle to it, I glue beads around.

As for the rest, I took some white leggings from Target painted strips on them with fabric paint.

Got a hot pink satin jacket off American Apparel and took a men xl Hanes tank top and dyed it pink.

For Ralph, I grabbed a clearance orange vneck shirt, added a little green fabric at the neck and a few buttons.

Then with painters tape, I taped off sections for plaid and used a red fabric marker.

As I mention before Wreck It stuff is hard to come by.  When I went to find Ralph hands, it was looking like they would set us back an easy $60!!! So since that was not about to happen, I got Hulk hands for $13 and a can of spray paint. This idea was brilliant in my head, but lets just say by the end of the night Ralph had SLOWING turned into the hulk with chucks of spray paint being left in a travel behind us.
OOPS.

Vanellope took a bit of work just to find the things needed.

But I was able to get a hoodie at Target in just the right color.

And then added some pink rope I found at Joannes.

The leggings, I just taped off the strips and painted with fabric paint.

The skirt was just brown fabric ironed into pleats and then sewn onto an existing skirt.

After all that work we were all set for Mickeys Not So Scary Halloween.

I loved seeing the kids faces when someone would see us and say "They are Wreck It Ralph!!" It was worth all the work to go into it.

It was the perfectly magical family night we needed.

Talks have already started for next years.

I love this tradition.

And on a funny side note:

I thought I would get a white bob for my costume.

After a trip to Walmart {I hadn't been in 9 years when I witnessed a fist fight in the cat food/toy/toilet paper aisle}

Lets just say the packaging did not match the product,

HAHAHAHA

Nolan's Big Bad Monster Truck Bash

I am still trying to come to terms with the fact that my little man turned three last week.  I honestly have NO idea how it happened so fast.  One day my water was breaking and the next I am planning his 3rd birthday.  But lets keep it real, the kid is still in diapers and sleeps in a crib {we did order a big boy bed this weekend} the diaper thing we are working on, so I guess he is still a baby in some ways...

He is a boys boy, in that he is WAY into trucks, car, trains, and pretty much anything that moves.  When we asked him what kind of party he wanted his first and only response was "monster trucks".

And if you know me from parties past, I am always teaming up with my girlfriend Kori. Paper and Pigtails to make party magic. After choosing colors and a concept, Kori went to work and I starting gathering, buying, and spray painting , the things I do best.

For his backdrop I wanted something that made me think of a winners circle at a Monster Truck Rally. I took him to a local car parts store that always has a "monster truck" outside, and after getting permission to take a few photos, I took the winning image to Staples and had them print an engineer print.  They were able to scale it just almost fit perfectly on a piece of foam board I had purchased, total cost for the board and print was $10.  

Then I took spray adhesive and worked from the top down in sections.  Once it was on, I took tissue paper and hole punch it to make confetti and then glue sticked it down.  

Right after we chose Monster Trucks, I was at Target and they had these trophies in the dollar bin {they were really $2} for Halloween costumes.  The water bottle labels Kori made fit perfectly on the base.

Then I took pans I got at the Dollar Tree and spray pained them, finally I Gorilla Glued them together to create a CHEAP but fun cupcake stand!

I love the idea of bite size cookies as cupcake toppers, like I did here, and Renee from Bee's Knees Creative made that happen yet again with these little tires.  She also made an amazing "BIG" cookie for Nolan.

Other treats included "Mud Buddies" in my oh so favorite snack cups from Kori.

Chocolate Doughnut Spare Tires

LARGE Marshmallow Bolts {Take marshmallows on paper straws, quickly dunk in water, then roll in sugar sprinkles.}

Oreo Pop Rocks, because I can NEVER have a party without them, people will not come. 

Brownie Dirt Ramps aka boxed brownie mix made from the directions but added crushed peanut butter Oreos on top before baking.

And for good measure we bagged up some popcorn to add a little bit of salt after so much sweet.

And just to finish things off I got paper fans and streamers from Party City for the backdrop.

And of course add some Monster Trucks and their tracks to the table.  I scored the tire track tape here.

And lastly was the favor table. Being the week after Halloween I was not about to give candy. So I found these monster truck tire cups, mini trophies, and monster truck tattoos, on Birthday Express.

I also purchased some checker duck tape from Micheals, I wanted to buy fabric but the tape was SOOO much cheaper after my 40% off coupon.  I added it to my mirror then hung photos of Nolan on it.  It was easy to just add throughout the tables.

The cups came with a monster truck sticker on the front and back, but I decided to cover it.  I took the party circles Kori made, printed them on sticky paper and punched them out. I also used them on the blue and yellow traffic cones I scored at the Dollar Tree.

For the "Winners Circle" sign I used this DIY from Smile and Wave. 

I hope you are all still with me after such a long post.

And if you are then you will her me say, it was a success.

From my friend Kori's partnership in creating fun paper goods, to the DIY's, to the weather, to the food, to my sweet little three year old boy!

Please free to ask any questions!

PS:

I made his shirt, using a freezer paper stencil and some black fabric paint.

Homemade Turkey Sloppy Joes.

Like I said yesterday, we had Turkey Sloppy Joes planned for Tuesday night din din.

So here is my from scratch, no jarred stuff here, Slop Sloppy Joes.

{advance apologies for the crap iphone pics}

Ingredients:

- 1 lb ground turkey

- 1/4 cup brown sugar

- 1 tbsp Adobe seasoning

- 1 medium onion chopped

- 2 medium carrots chopped into small pieces {now most people will use a bell pepper, my fam bam is not bell pepper fans, so carrot it is}

- 1 & 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar

- 1 & 1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

- 2 cups tomato sauce

- 2 tbsp tomato paste

- potato rolls to serve

First brown the turkey with the brown sugar and adobe seasoning over high medium heat.

Once browned add onion and carrots. Then add red wine vinegar and worcestershire sauce and reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 mins.

Mix in tomato sauce and paste, reduce to a simmer and cook another 5 mins.

And bam!

You have homemade Turkey Sloppy Joes!!!!

For a side I made cucumber salad:

Ingredients:

- cucumber

- shallot diced small

- 2 dollops of sour cream

- 1 tsbp red wine vinegar

- 1 & 1/2 tsp dry dill weed

Mix everything together, add salt and pepper to taste.

Add a little kick with a jalapeno pepper or

if you can't handle the heat, a sliced pickle will be nice.

BUT for the love of everything DO NOT FORGET THE TOTS!!

Enjoy.