Update: I changed the post to recurrently update. I will (hopefully) upload every year’s costumes.
Purim has always been one of the best holidays in the Ben-Shabat family. Those of you which do not know it, it’s the Jewish version of Halloween (only less spooky ghosts and more kings and princesses of old times), basically – it’s when kids (and adults) get to dress-up.
One of my most vivid memories from childhood is my mother making me the best costumes all by herself. Today, most costumes are mail-ordered from ebay or AliExpress. I found that all of the uniqueness and family time around Purim is somewhat lost this way. Therefore, when Shaked was born I decided that we are going to make his costumes from scratch every year (at least until he can tell us not to).
Purim 2019 – Jett ( Super wings)
This year was a close call… Two kids + Keshet got a fever + PhD dissertation to write + seminar presentation to prepare = We almost didn’t finish the costume on time. Nothing an all nigher couldn’t fix 🙂
Shaked wanted to dress up as Jett from Super wings.
Here is the result:
Note to self – always use fleece, it is so much more forgiving.
We made Keshet a Rainbow costume (like her name) but so far she did not have a chance to wear it (5 days of fever does not go well with Purim).
Purim 2018 – Cat Boy (PJ Masks)
This year Shaked specifically requested a Catboy costume. I actually found some pretty good ones for sale online. But a tradition is a tradition, to make things easier ( having another child in the house takes some time) we bought basic blue pants and sweatshirt and sew on the design. Anna was in charge of the mask. I even added a piece of “Tech” to make it glow like in the show (tiny pushbutton LED sewed into the costume).
Here is the result:
Purim 2017 – Triceratops
This year Shaked wanted to dress up as his favorite dinosaur – Triceratops. Quite a challenge for beginners but Anna and I decided to give it a go.
Here is the result:
Big thanks to my mom for the sewing advice. Huge thanks to my dear wife Anna which was a great (and very patient) partner in the making of this masterpiece.
This blog didn’t exist a year ago (2017), therefore the costumes of 2014-2016 were not so well documented. However, I thought this post is the right spot to post them anyway. I think we are improving over the years.
2016: The very hungry caterpillar (based on the famous children’s book)
2015: Lion
2014: Minion
He actually really likes them now (2017).
Triceratops process
note: This is not a step by step tutorial but rather a general documentation.
The jumpsuit was inspired by this bunny costume instructable. We scaled the dimensions using Shaked clothes and used green fleece fabric.
The head was cut out of foam and glued using contact cement. The half dome was cut using this pattern \ tutorial. The top head and front beak were drawn and cut freehandedly ( it took a lot of tweaking). We glued three straws to create the illusion of bones. Then we cut some pieces of fabric and sewn them together. The horns were made out of white felt. We used hot glue to hold everything together. The eyes were made from stereophone spheres which we cut in half and drew pupils using a sharpie.
Sewing the concealed zipper was not as hard as I thought, I used this youtube tutorial. (I had to unsew the back for it – should have planned ahead).
The purple circles and the stripes of the back were sewn like an applique using a zigzag stitch (far from perfect).
Most importantly we had a lot of fun making it as Shaked had fun wearing it. I can’t wait until he will be older and can contribute to the family effort.