May 19, 2005

This post will not tell you how to make a pirate costume so go away now

Back in February, I wrote a post about making a pirate costume for my son, with a follow-up post that explained why red silk lingerie might have been a reasonable part of the costume. And recently, I have been flooded with google searches about pirate costumes:

pirate dress like
how to make a pirate costume
cute pirate costume
what pirates wear
space pirate costumes
making a pirate costume
making a pirate outfit
pirates lingerie
Mom had son wear slip
pirate costumes for children
pirate costume for less
pirates wear
billowing shirts pirate

Of course, it's nearing the end of the school year, and kids everywhere are putting on plays, so I assumed that the google searches came from frantic parents looking for ways to dress their kids. And I think my post would be quite helpful to these parents. I think my pirate costume skills are pretty impressive.

In fact, my youngest son is going to be in the play Peter Pan next week, and I was disappointed that he didn't get the part of a pirate. Instead he's the crocodile. It's a good part for a shy kid like him because all he has to do is crawl around on the floor. But a crocodile costume is a bit beyond my range of costume expertise.

"How do I make him look like a crocodile?" I asked another parent as we were waiting to pick up our kids. (Play practice runs late as they get near the big performance so the parents were milling about the gym impatiently.) She smiled brightly. "Oh, there are all kinds of costume ideas on the internet. Just do a google search."

I looked at the other parents with a start. How many of them had stumbled onto my blog while looking for pirate costumes?

I have told no one in my home community about my blog. No one. My husband does not read it. Or anyone in my family. None of my hometown friends either. It's an anonymous blog, completely anonymous. Now I wonder how many of these parents may have read one of my blog posts, perhaps without even realizing it was me.

Oh, well. Next week is the play. We'll see how many of the pirates show up with red silk lingerie pinned to their shoulder. Then, I'll know ....

16 comments:

Rhonda said...

If Peter Pan turns out to be twenty kids with lingerie pinned to their shoulders, you absolutely must post pictures. I hope the "Mom made son wear slip" searchers aren't your neighbors, though.

Liz Miller said...

I almost roared out loud reading these three posts, which woulda been a mistake since I'm at work.

Muffin Man is totally about Captain Feathersword, the friendly pirate, so I coulda helped make a costume for you if I'd known.

For an alligator though....hmmm.

Howsabout a green shirt, green leggings (or pants if they are more manly) and a green birthday hat with a slit cut in the top and worn over the face?

Phantom Scribbler said...

If you're neighbors haven't started treating you like a writing deity, then they haven't read your blog....

jo(e) said...

Liz, I think you are right. We are going to have to go to the thrift store and get him green pants and a green shirt. I'm afraid that he will look more like a cute little leprechaun than a scary crocodile though. Maybe duct tape a row of teeth to his arms?

purple_kangaroo said...

I remember when I was gradeschool age, my mom made me an angel costume . . . then later we dyed the white dress brown, sewed beads to it and cut fringe to turn it into a Pocahontas costume.

For the crocodile, make sure he has a long scaly tail. And you could make clawed crocodile feet to go over his ankles and hang down around his hands & shoes. Lots of teeth in the mask, of course. A paper-mache mask might do the trick.

jo(e) said...

Purple Kangaroo: You are way overestimating how much time and effort I plan to put into the crocodile costume. Fifteen minutes at the local thrift store is about my limit. Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the actor to make the audience think he's a crocodile?

Paper mache sounds fun though. I like messy craft projects. But they have a real tendency to spiral out of control .... no chance I would end up with something he could actually use.

Rana said...

Maybe a big green laundry bag? He could go inside it, and put each hand in each corner, and bring them together to make a mouth (like a sock puppet). Then you could glue felt eyes, teeth, tongue, etc. in the proper locations. Of course, he'd be more of a crocodile head than a whole crocodile, but that'd be okay because he needs to be big enough to eat pirates.

jo(e) said...

Ooo... I do have a big green duffle bag. I'm not sure how he could crawl across the stage in it, but maybe someone could just give him a shove and he could roll across the stage. Now that would be properly frightening, wouldn't it?

Liz Miller said...

I like the duffle bag idea. If you actually use yours, why don't you get a spare from the thrift store and cut holes for arms and legs?

jo(e) said...

Pz Myers: Great photos! That looks like it was a terrific production.

The play my fourth grade son is going to be in is pretty low budget: well, actually there is no budget at all. But luckily, the audience is very biased so I think they will get a lot of applause anyhow.

The kids are young enough that they will look cute no matter what they do.

jo(e) said...

Friday Mom: That's a great idea! I think Philosophical Boy is one of the pirates. And he would look great in black and white. With something red hanging off the shoulder ....

Lucy said...

My little brother was a triceratops once with the armour made out of paper plates (the ruffled edges made a kind of scale effect). He could wear green clothes with scales of paper plates pinned on (if you can get green ones or paint them). I'm not sure how much effort that would be. You could attach a lower jaw and teeth to a green baseball cap for the head.

Psycho Kitty said...

Ha! I can see it now...
I wish you were here, I would loan you the Boy's crocodile towel, which is basically a green terry towel that's sewed up the sides and has a crocodile head on top. For which I paid a ridiculous sum to that money suck, Gymboree.

Anonymous said...

I was once the crocodile in Peter Pan, only I was in high school at the time. The costume was 8 feet long, and I could only sit down by sitting on the tail!

I'm glad it went well for him--do tell us the end of the costume story.

Anonymous said...

I am still no further ahead as to how I make the crocodiles head for my 2 year old. PLs help as I am rapidly becoming insane trying to get the info I need through google!
Erica

Anonymous said...

just read the blog about the crocodile costume. I guess it seems simple to me after my son was born with a wonderful imagination and was always looking for costumes to wear. Take a sweat suit that is too big at least one size to give the impression he is wider. Green of course. A stocking cap again, green and a green billed baseball cap. Buy some white felt and fabric glue. Get a pair of brown work gloves. Take a pair of panty hose and stuff them with anything even old panty hose or green fabric then roll the papers and stuff the stocking. If you use newspaper be sure to wet it after you stuff into one leg of panty hose then stuff this into the remaining leg.{wetting it allows the crocodile to be quiet as he creeps around). Glue and slip stitch this to the seat of the pants for a tail. Take the baseball cap and glue to the inside of the green stocking cap. Then glue triangle shapes to the bill for teeth. For the claws do the same on the finger tips and a pair of green socks that are big enough to slide over the childs shoes. If you really want to take a bottle of brown and green paint and put in little spray bottles and spray each color all over the costume one at a time. I sure do miss him outgrowing this stage and wish I lived close by to relive the stage plays. I promise it will take longer to gather the items than to do the costume good luck. Hope this helps