Happy *beep* Halloween *beep*

My son's school's Halloween party was last night, and weeks ago I had promised him that I'd show up as a "robot mama" for the big event. But how to deliver?

I still had the blue box from last year, so I figured that would make a good robot body base ... but I really, really wanted to have flashing lights. What's a robot without flashing lights?

A quick trip to the party store and I had eight flashing lights: three of those newfangled "pumpkin lights", and five safety flashers (and some mylar ribbon, which was an impulse purchase).

I traced the lenses of the pumpkin lights to make a template, and used the template to space the holes I wanted to cut in the box. I duct-taped the flashers to the inside of the box; the little safety lights had clips, so I hung those on bits of wire that I threaded through the box and twist-tied on the inside.

The whole thing (including the trip to the store, but not including running around trying to find the duct tape) took under an hour. (And it probably looks like a rush job, to grownups, but I have to tell you -- this costume KILLED with the under-seven set. I never had so many people ask to take my picture in such a short time, and certainly never with so many ladybugs, fairies, princesses, Batmans, Spidermans, and monsters ...)

Here's the end result -- my first-ever Dress A Day video (hard to get the effect of the flashing lights in a still image!). The audio (which is NOT essential, so feel free to turn those speakers down) is me giving instructions to my long-suffering cameraman, Mr. DressADay.


Erin's Robot Costume 2008 from Erin McKean on Vimeo.

The green deelyboppers on my head? A last-minute addition; I keep them in the trunk of my car, "for emergencies".

Happy Halloween!

So on Monday, about lunchtime, my sister Kate sent me a link to the awesome Diana Eng's supercool Lego costume.

I desperately needed a costume for my son's school Halloween party THAT SAME NIGHT, so I went ahead and put one together ... with a few modifications for the lazy.

First of all, you can't buy spray paint in Chicago (and I didn't have time to wait for it to dry anyway) so I ran to Home Depot and bought a roll of the widest blue painter's masking tape they had (cost me about $11). Then I hopped across the street to Party City and bought a package of plastic bowls in the same blue ($4). I taped the box completely, then I cut the holes for my head and arms. (I use an old serrated steak knife to cut cardboard.)

After trying it on to gauge proper placement, I stapled the bowls to the front of the box with an ordinary Swingline stapler (not a red one). I used a stapler because I'm sure I have a glue gun around here somewhere, but bless me if I can find it. I asked my son to bring me a real Lego block for reference, grabbed a Sharpie, and wrote LEGO on all the bowls.

The whole costume, not counting driving to the store or the time it took me to move some bikes in the garage so I could get to the right-size box, was done in about twenty minutes. Sweet! No sewing required, even!

I have to say that it was really fun to be a giant Lego. Lots of kids came up to me and said "ARE YOU A ... LEGO?" (I was good and said "Yes" and not "No, I'm a banana.") I also joked that Legos are very scary to parents. They multiply and always end up underfoot ...

Thanks very much to Kate for the link and to Diana (and the folks at CRAFT) for the idea!

And in unrelated news, if you want to see me wearing the yellow-bird dress, there's a picture up here.