A Mary Poppins Halloween :: FAM-O-WEEN with Little Mama Poppins

Chim chimney chim chimney chim chim che BOO!

Little Mama Poppins does it again. She took a classic, and made it her own. All in the name of Halloween – A Mary Poppins Halloween!

And as always… we were her mere accessories.

I grew up watching Mary Poppins on repeat. Who didn’t? There’s just something about that magic nanny that takes all the boo-boos away. And boy – did we ever make a boo-boo this year.

Just like in almost all of our Halloweens of yore, we waited until the very last day, to figure out how we were going to convert our Halloween into FAM-O-WEEN 2016! The funny thing is, as we were wracking our brains trying to find a suitable theme that would work with our little family of three, the song Step In Time was blasting through our tv speakers. Big Daddy broke into his fancy footwork while sweeping our kitchen floor, meanwhile Little Mama was prancing around to her daddy’s beat, dragging my beautiful MK purse (eeeps!) around like 10lbs of coal was weighing it down. I kept thinking to myself “C’mon guys, let’s get serious here. And please stop dragging my purse. You two look like Mary Poppins and Bert dancing around the roof waiting for your big Chimney sweep solo.”

And then it hit me.

A MARY POPPINS HALLOWEEN!

It’s recognizable. It’s easy. It’s fun.

The best part? As far as costumes, we spent a whopping $13.00 for all three of us. Well… not exactly. We spent that amount in the last 24 hours. How much we spent in the last two decades of collecting these items, I’m not exactly sure.

Since our last run with closet shopping at its finest for Fam-o-ween, we have been diligent with keeping our closets and tickle trunk filled with “options” for future ideas, while keeping our wallets full and happy.

Let’s start with Little Mama Poppins herself.

Being a late bloomer in the world of parenthood, we’re pretty lucky to have a built-in consignment service among our friends and relatives; this outfit being one of the many interesting pieces we’ve received. However, what exactly can a preschooler do with a blazer, and a shapeless long skirt? That is what I asked myself 2 years ago when one of my good friends passed over an old Kid’s English Nanny Costume that she later used for its cute tailcoat blazer. I didn’t quite know at the time that, one day, Little Mama Poppins would somehow fit into a mini tailcoat, throw on some white gloves from her Frozen-obsession days, don a hat, and look just like Disney’s most beloved magic nanny. The best part? We got to recycle Big Daddy‘s obnxious red bowtie from his days as a snack vendor exactly three halloweens ago, which we literally bumped into while sorting out our “to sell on Varagesale” pile. Moral of the story – think twice about KonMari-ing your life away as far as costumes, because you never know what might come in handy at the 11th hour.

The hat was another delicious addition to the English Nanny Costume. But it wasn’t quite as Mary Poppins as I would have liked. So I went on a 15 minute shopping hunt for fake flowers and cherry accents at the Dollar Store. Since the material of the hat is relatively soft, I was able to pierce the falsies through the seams with little to no trouble. And with no need for glue. However, for safety reasons, I cut them, folded them over, and taped them into the inside rim of the hat.

That was $3.00 of fun, with minimal effort, ending up with a fabulous hat that only a magic nanny would wear! Looks like someone is all geared up for a Mary Poppins Halloween!

Then there’s Bert, the oh-so-loveable, ever-enthusiastic, dancing machine, Chimney Sweep who lives by the mantra, “I does what I likes, and I likes what I do.”

Sounds just like another dancing machine I know… Big Daddy.

He didn’t cost us a cent. From his tattered button-down that he wore during his old corporate office days, to a tartan plaid vest that he could never find an occasion to wear, to dark denims that haven’t seen the light of day, right down to his wingtip classics – he essentially completed his closet shopping within seconds. Topped off with his go-to tweed blazer, accessorized with one of his favorite driver caps. And all he needed was a red scarf.

Next stop… Little Mama‘s closet! Surely there’s a floral silk scarf itching to be worn, stuffed under her mountain of accessories.

But wait.

How to make Bert’s most beloved prop – the chimney sweeper?

We had two options: Drive ourselves bananas looking for one in the city, or get creative. And do you think this last minute family has time to go shopping on Halloween’s eve? DIY it is.

All we needed was:

1. Our broom (which was pretty much well on its way to dumpsville anyway).
2. Black electric tape, that yes, we had lying around.
3. Strong patient hands to pull out the bristles.

And pull out the bristles, we did. Plus we straightened every single strand. Then we pierced them into a sponge foam that we had in our craft box from Little Mama‘s birthday party last spring. Once we made it around the entire foam piece, we secured it with a hot glue gun. Luckily we had on some good Mary Poppins music to get us in the mood and help get us through the manual labor. Took our 2 sets of hands 1 hour to get through the madness.

But it was worth every strand.

The final step was gently screwing the broomstick into the foam which was once again, secured with hot glue, and spray painting the foam piece in dark black.

Finished product? A chimney sweeper for good old Bert to dance around with during his rooftop sequence.

But there was still something pretty unconvincing about his overall Chimney Sweep look. He was much too clean! What about the chimney soot?

Little Mama Poppins to the rescue!

Oh what fun for Little Mama Poppins! A chance to use mommy’s brushes to smear Big Daddy‘s face with dark makeup? And not get reprimanded for it!??

Yes. Please.

Turns out Bert had just as much fun as his makeup artist did. Who would have thought a Mary Poppins Halloween would be so much fun, even for the biggest of skeptics?

Speaking of fun – guess who spent the remaining $10??

Happy little Jane Banks. And yes, she’s as innocent as she looks.

Sure, it was pretty much a steal to find a $7.00 batwing fall jacket and a $3.00 straw hat at the local Value Village, both of which I have no problem wearing post Oct 31st! Yes I had the shoes in the closet, but I had thrifted these retro oxfords for less than $10 earlier this year. Yay, for finding good reason to wear them again!

The point is – Mary Poppins is a magic nanny, so we needed a little magic to get our Mary Poppins halloween costumes organized within a mere 24 hour period. Nothing more magical than closet shopping, recycling old costume pieces from your dress-up box, and braving the thrift shops equipped with the exact items you have in mind (a good thrifting tip from our friends at Oui C’est Chic). I had my mind set on finding a mustard yellow jacket, suitable for the mid ’60s and wearable for 2016, and for a mere $7.00, I found it! Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!!!

And when all else fails, just add a spoon full of sugar, and you’re good to go!

Happy Fam-O-Ween! 

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