It’s that time of year – the kids are back in school, the weather will (hopefully) start getting a little cooler, and it won’t be weird that stores are carrying Christmas supplies soon. But the beginning of the “eating lots of tasty food” holidays, and the beginning of the special holiday celebrations at Walt Disney World is Halloween.
With Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party now going on for this year, this seemed like the perfect time to think back on a fun DIY Halloween solution to make your little princess feel just like Merida.
A few years back, my niece was obsessed with Brave (she has good taste). As such, she wanted to be Merida for Halloween, and honestly most other days as well. We found several decent dresses, bows, and even bears, but one of the challenging points was the hair.
Lots and lots of hair.
As you probably know, Merida has a lot of hair, and it kind of goes all over the place. While you could go to a store and find a red wig, most of the time these did not really capture the volume and essence of Merida.
Around this time, my wife was in one of her phases where she wanted to crochet everything. She came up with the idea that we could make a Merida wig and found some instructions on Pinterest. Since this was a surprise, we had to guess on head size and found that my Muppet was a pretty good sit in for a five year old.
There are several different patterns and tutorials for making a wig like this, so as a starting point you can find one that seems doable for your ambition, budget, and skill level. The one we started from involved crocheted a sort of skull cap and then using the openings on that hat to connect the strands of hair. Once you find a pattern to start from, here are a few extra tips:
-Don’t use acrylic yarn – sometimes this yarn can be cheaper, and in a pinch you can use it, but Merida’s hair is super curly, and acrylic yarn won’t curl – go with wool instead
-To really give the hair that special curl, separate out each strand of yarn by fraying the cut end (one end will be crocheted to the “hat” portion, the other end can just stay as is, but if you fray it the end result is much more wild and natural)
-The final product is kind of heavy and warm – if the person who will be wearing this hates being warm and it won’t be cold when they have to wear it, this wig might end up being too hot for them. It is also a bit heavy
-It can be helpful to have a helper for the hair strands, even if that person doesn’t know about crocheting or knitting (this was my job)
-If you have cats, they will try to “help” you. Because they are cats.
Overall, getting this done took a little longer than expected, but considering I would get pictures of my niece wearing it while watching Brave years later, my wife and I both think it was worth the effort.
So, as you are venturing out and thinking about costumes for Halloween, don’t be afraid to put something together yourself. You might be able to save some money and end up with a better product all at the same time.
What’s your favorite costume you’ve made from scratch for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party? Share in the comments.