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While Halloween may be over for most, today Miss G and I celebrated once again with the wonderful mamas and munchkins of our play school co-op. Now, while she very easily could have worn the mermaid costume I made just a couple of days back, I couldn’t help but make Grae another one… A paper bag princess costume based on one of my favourite Robert Munsch books, The Paper Bag Princess!
Making the costume wasn’t difficult. I basically took two large Ikea bags, cut off the bottoms, and slit open the sides so I had two large, flat pieces to work with. Then, I lined them both with gold duct tape to make the costume more durable. Using a long, flowy tank top from Miss G’s closet, I traced the outline of the front of the tank on one piece of the paper bag and the outline of the back of the tank on the other piece, adding about an inch and a half worth’s of extra space on either side and a foot or so of length at the bottom. When I had both of my outlines sketched, I cut them out and cut the back piece straight down the centre. Next, I attached each of the back flaps to the front piece using strips of duct tape on the inside of the dress and some Tacky Glue on the outside of the dress. I also attached the shoulder straps in the same way. For the final step, I took a long strip of adhesive velcro and firmly pressed the soft side on the outside of the right back flap and the scratchy side on the inside of the left back flap. That was the dress.
As for the crown, I decided that attaching it to a headband would be the easiest route. To make it, I simply took a rectangular piece of golden glittery craft foam, hot glued it to the outside of a jar lid, and then cut the top edge to resemble The Paper Bag Princess’ crown. In order to attach it to the headband, I cut out a circle of yellow felt the same size as the jar lid, then cut two slits in it to feed the headband through. With the felt circle positioned at an angle on the headband, I covered it with hot glue and then quickly pressed the jar lid on top. Done.
In the morning, Miss G woke up to find this little collection of items waiting on the table for her. {I couldn’t help but include our dragon puppet from Ikea – it was just too perfect!}
Glitter? A crown? Talk of princesses?! Miss G was thrilled.
To finish off the look we teased up her hair {though it didn’t last long} and used a piece of black hair chalk to add some ashy smudges to her face.
Ta-da! One little paper bag princess ready to party! ☺
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Love this! Was the headband already glittery gold?
Very clever! I’m wondering about durability. How did it hold up? Could she sit in it comfortably? Thanks for the inspiration!
Hey Carrie! Truthfully, durability wise, the costume was great. We used a heavy paper bag and because the entire thing was lined with duct tape, it was really strong. Sitting, however, was not so easy due to how structured the paper bag became. If you’d like it to bend and fold easily, I’d probably scrunch the entire thing quite a long before wearing in order to “break it in”.
Many thanks Jen for the reply!
I’ve just made one for my daughter. I only put velcro from the top of the neckline to the base of her back, so that she can sit in it a little easier.
Love it, will definitely make one for my daughter for school