Category: pop culture princess

Happy Halloween! Halloween is one of the best times of the year, and I often spend the other 364 days of the year dreaming up the perfect costumes. Often, I’ve drawn upon pop culture and sentimental favorites for inspiration.

In looking back on some of my favorite Halloween costumes, I noticed a common theme: they were animated characters. And it makes total sense. There’s a creative freedom that comes with taking a cartoon and making it come to life. It often means fun makeup and hair, and searching for or creating clothing pieces that match what the characters  wear.

Most of the costumes I’ve worn below were courtesy of the Salvation Army or my own closet, with little additions here and there (the apples on my Mrs. Felicity Fox costume, for example). Zuzu’s Robin Hood costume was actually a Peter Pan costume from the pet store… who knew their outfits were actually so much alike?

Also, when your friend puts the effort into a homemade Marge wig, you have to dress up as both Simpson daughters to really make it count.

Here are 10 examples of our animated character costumes over the years.

Continue reading “Why animated characters make the best Halloween costumes”

Back in March, Stella announced that she wanted to be Tamatoa for Halloween. I tweeted about it:

Hey @AJemaineClement – my four-year-old daughter loves Tamatoa (and “Shiny”) so much that she already wants to be you for Halloween. #Moana pic.twitter.com/1VWcpbcLyN

— Stefanie Pohl 👩🏻 (@stefysays) March 10, 2017

And Jemaine Clement, the voice of Tamatoa, even gave his approval:

she doesn’t need my permission but I give it anyway.

— Jemaine Clement (@AJemaineClement) March 12, 2017

And months later, that wish became a reality. This was a total DIY effort, with several visits to the craft store, a search for the perfect purple clothes (thanks, Kohls), an Amazon order for purple tights and kitchen mitts, and lots of gold spray paint.

We took Tamatoa out for a spin during MSU Safe Halloween last week, and it was so much fun to see the reaction of parents, kids, and the MSU students alike. Stella got a lot of attention for her costume, and I think that made her feel very special. It made the last month of putting this costume together worth it.

Here’s how it all came to life, in photo form.

Continue reading “DIY: Tamatoa Halloween costume”

One of my most favorite parts about Halloween is carving pumpkins. For our first Halloween as a married couple in 2009, Zack and I invited his cousin Brian over to carve pumpkins together. That was also the year Michael Jackson died, so I decided to carve a tribute pumpkin in his honor. MJ has been inextricably linked to Halloween ever since “Thriller,” so it seemed seasonably appropriate as well.

For the last eight Halloweens, we’ve kept up the tradition of getting together with Brian to carve pumpkins. And if/when there’s a notable death in the world of pop culture (we had a hundred to choose from in 2016), we’ve made a tribute pumpkin in his or her honor.

In the years since, we’ve had Brian’s partner Rion join us, and last night we were also joined by Zack’s cousins Kenny and Jessi. It has become a really fun holiday tradition with dinner, cupcakes, and a Halloween playlist.

Continue reading “Tribute pumpkins: A family tradition”