We are happy to welcome a special guest today!  DSC reader Starr shared this adorable and ingenious peacock costume idea on our Facebook fan page, and she was kind enough to put together a how-to!  Thanks so much, Starr!

Hi everyone! My family loves Halloween…mostly because we LOVE costumes. Since my daughter is only 2, I can still pressure her into wearing whatever I want (I hope!).  I decided a peacock would be adorable, and started checking the stores online & Ebay. I found the one I wanted…the famous Gymboree peacock costume (which is now retired, and priced way out of my comfort zone at around $60 for most auctions). I decided I’d have to get creative.

Project estimate:

• Butterfly wings, $6
• Paint, on hand or $1 and up
• Glitter, on hand or $1
• Felt, on hand
• Elastic, on hand or $1 and up
• Broken CD or DVD, on hand
• Hot glue, on hand

Total:  $6 and up

I’m a total Dollar Tree junkie…I have to go at LEAST once a week (okay, usually several times). I remembered they had cute little fairy/butterfly wings in several colors. And, for $1 each, that’s right up my alley.

I decided on my colors and bought 2 pairs each of blue, green and purple. I figured even if my idea didn’t work out it was only a six dollar investment.

First, I took each wing apart. It’s a small wire, so I only had to bend it back and forth a few times, then cut the fabric. I reshaped each wing to resemble more of a feather shape. My plan was to use the larger wings for the main plume feathers, and the smaller wings as tail feathers. I played around with arrangement for a bit.

I was happy with how that looked, so I started working on adding the eye. On each of the large ‘feathers’, I painted a metallic gold circle. Inside that I painted an aqua circle with glitter paint. I used some blue glitter stickers for the center of the eye. I used my hot glue gun to make sure they’d stay on.  For some extra bling, I covered the tips of the feathers with glitter.

Then I had to decide how exactly I was going to put them together.

I decided just to glue the feathers to a piece of felt from my Dollar Tree stash. For some extra support I took a broken DVD and cut it in half, and glued it inside the piece of felt.  I used my trusty glue gun to stick it all together. I added some blue glitter stripes for fun.

Then the happy day came…the base costume came in the mail! EEEE!!! I ordered an adorable dance outfit on Ebay. I attached a large piece of velcro to the wings and the back of the costume. I also left one set of arm elastics on the wings for extra support…I’ll color them later.

I glued some blue and purple feathers…taken from Dollar Tree boas…on the front of the costume to make it more bird-like. It’s now about 85% done. I need to attach the tail feathers in back, and I may add some more feathers & embellishments here or there. Halloween is still a few weeks away, so who knows! But, for now, here’s my daughter’s peacock costume. I’m thrilled with how my $6 wings turned out, and even more thrilled that I didn’t break the bank on the brand name I originally wanted. Now here’s hoping I can convince her to wear it!