Parrot Costume

This past Spring, my boyfriend surprised me with a trip to Pittsburgh. He took me to The National Aviary because he knows what an extreme animal lover I am. While we were there, I got the chance to meet some of the most beautiful creatures that I have ever seen! One of them was the Macaw (a beautifully colored parrot). At that moment, I knew exactly what I wanted to be for Halloween this year. I made my costume with cardboard, tulle, and lots and lots of feathers. I bought a surplus of colorful feathers at one of the local craft stores. For the wings, I cut off a large piece of a cardboard box that was sitting in my garage and I cut it in to my desired shape. Next, I cut up an old red sweater, and hot glued the pieces to the cardboard. After the entire piece of cardboard was wrapped in fabric, I began hot-gluing the feathers on to it. Front, and back. Once I was finished, I attached straps to my wings so that I could secure them easily to my back. For this, I just used some ribbon that I had laying around the house. Next came my tail. I bought 5 different colored rolls of tulle. I cut each roll up in to the desired length, and attached piece by piece to ribbon. Each color went on to a different piece of ribbon. I then attached all of the (ribbon with tulle) pieces together, in layers. Once all of the layers were combined, I attached a long piece of ribbon to it so that I could fasten it around my waste. I bought a plain, white paper mask from a local craft store. I painted the mask red, attached rhinestones, small feathers, and one large plume to the mask using my hot glue gun. I then secured some ribbon to the mask so that I could fasten the mask to my head. The leotard and stockings were store-bought. I love Halloween because it gives me a chance to really express my creativity. One day of Halloween per year just isn't enough, in my opinion. Needless to say, the hot glue gun that my parents bought me when I was about 10 years old has definitely been one of my best friends over the years and has allowed me to put together many costumes, including this one. The way that I designed my wings actually allowed me to move them from side to side while they were strapped to my back, so that was an added bonus whenever someone came up to me on Halloween night. (It gave them a "flapping" effect!) The overall cost of my costume was $35.08 and we won't even count how many hours went in to it. Thank you for your time! I hope you enjoy!