Avengers Assemble . . . in $10 Costumes!

Every Halloween, our family (well, me!) likes to have a theme to our costumes.  Our boy always picks what he wants to be and we dress to match him.  This year, he was Iron Man so of course, we had to be Avengers.  No masks or helmets were allowed at the party and the boy wouldn't let me give him a Tony Stark beard.  : (

The candy coma is setting in . . .

The kiddo's birthday was in September (the party was Avenger-themed of course!) and my mom got him an Iron Man suit.  It was $10 at Target!  Iron Man for $10.

My hubby was the Hulk!  He used an old shirt and a pair of pants and ripped them up.  He got a green undershirt ($3.50) and 3 tubes of green paint ($1 a piece) at Walmart.  The Hulk for $6.50!

It took me awhile to decide on my costume.  The obvious choice would be Black Widow since she's the only female.  However, I didn't want to make an idiot out of myself by trying to imitate Scarlett Johansson.  She's pretty much perfect so I really didn't want to invite any comparison.

In the end, I realized that Black Widow would be the easiest and cheapest to pull off.  The base of my costume consisted of black skinny jeans, a long-sleeved black cotton shirt, a belt and tall black boots.  I know that she wore a jumpsuit in the movie but I didn't want to spend the money on a (ahem) camel toe.

I found a wig at JoAnn for $6 on sale as well as some $1 black gloves (I cut the fingers off for a BW look).  I spent $1.49 for a large sheet of black foam, which I used to make my two holsters.  My guns were only 75 cents a piece and I spray painted them with paint I already have.  (Safety tip: if you are painting a toy gun, be sure to leave the tip or another part of the gun a bright color so people don't confuse it with a real gun.)

At this point, I should mention that the wig I bought was not exactly like Black Widow's hair.  It was a page boy style.  To make it resemble her hair, I brushed the bangs to the side and curled the wig with snap sponge curlers.  No heat or hot water necessary!  It was a synthetic wig so it held the curl nicely.

Everything else I made or used was homemade.  I printed the Shield logos on fabric using this tutorial.  I added some fusible interfacing to the back of the patches and ironed them on my shirt.  I used a lightweight interfacing so I was able to peel the patches off easily at the end of the night.

For my "utility belt" (the belt to hold up the holsters), I needed black webbing.  Then, I realized I had an old laptop case as well as a backpack, neither of which I had used in years.  I cut the handles and latches off and glued them into a belt.  Luckily, the hot glue held up the holsters!  I literally had to glue the belt and holsters on while I was wearing it!

Overall, Black Widow for $9.99!

We went to a church party and won two awards.  John won "most colorful costume" and as a family, we won "best matching costumes."  Woohoo!

Everyone was super nice about the costumes.  I had several people tell me I should dye my hair red!  It was a lot of fun to put together and I can't wait until next year's costumes!