I love Halloween so much. It's the one day each year when I go overboard with craftiness and force all my kids to dress up in whatever costume I deem worthy. This year, we were inspired to Disneybound and channel our inner French nobility with these Beauty and the Beast Family costumes.
In years past for our Halloween costumes we've been minions, zombies and Wizard of Oz characters.
Note: this is a past costume that I'm republishing this season because people always email and ask for the details of ‘that Beauty and the Beast family costume'! So here it is. As they say, this is a tale as old as time.
My Belle outfit is a bridesmaid dress (similar can be found at this link). The Beast took shape by pairing an old blue blazer with a costume jabot and cuffs, a wig and horns. Our unhappy-looking Chip was made with a 20-inch planter (similar), paint and some drain pipe we had laying around. Lumière came together with a gold vest and some flameless candles that I attached to a kids' beret. The toddler would only tolerate a steampunk clock shirt for his role as Cogsworth, and the baby had no choice but to get into character as Fifi with a bodysuit, baby tutu and feather boa.
It's getting more and more challenging to convince the kids to do this as the years go by, so I'm really living it up while I can!
Family Costume Construction
For photos, I was able to secure the smallest candle to Lumière's beret by closing the fabric in between the battery compartment door. For long-term use, though, you'll need some serious super glue.
For Fifi, I tucked the feather boa up under the tutu using some safety pins. I could have had the baby be Gaston or the dog footstool, but I couldn't resist the chance to put that little black tutu to use!
I have four boys, you guys, this is a once in a lifetime thing.
I could totally get on board with this Beast costume situation. Just sayin. Nate pretty much rocked his role.
For Chip, we cut a chip out of the pot and cut out the bottom so he could slip it over his head.
I tried to get the toddler to don some gold shoulder pads along with his clock shirt, but the dude was NOT having it. That's alright. In context, with everyone else around him, it makes sense.
A lot of these outfit components could be re-used, too. Nate's fancy frills could be part of a pirate costume, the horns could be a faun (perhaps for a family rendition of Hercules?), the gold vest could be MC Hammer, and I feel like the tutu could be the beginning of some sort of bug or spiderweb situation.
Having done many, many costumes over the years, I feel like this might be my favorite costume for adults AND costume for kids, and definitely one of the best family costumes we've pulled off. Costumes and accessories are often so cheesy, I'm thrilled to be able to add our own original spin on it! Buying high quality items that can be reused down the line is what really makes the difference and makes those up-front investments (like the dress for my Belle costume, which can totally be worn on date night) worth it. If you're after a good group costume, I'm not sure how it can get any better than this!
What is your family being for Halloween? Any desire to give our Beauty and the Beast family costume a go?