Halloween Prep: DIY Masks

I’m going to pretend I didn’t just see aisle after aisle of Christmas supplies at a store last week (it’s barely September!) and start preparing for the closest upcoming holiday instead: Halloween.

Our children and I are fortunate that Matt is so imaginative. While I have always been at a loss trying to come up with good ideas for costumes and pumpkin-carving projects, he has loved Halloween—and its countless creative opportunities—since childhood.

Four of these masks were designed and assembled from scratch, and the other is based upon one in Making Masks by Renee Schwartz. Matt constructed all of them. At our children’s request, he designed the felt penguin and bear masks for Halloween two years ago, and he made the foam-sheet fox mask for Kelly last year. Timmy’s 2009 costume included a foam-sheet shark visor (not pictured), purchased for $2 at Michaels, which served as the inspiration for Kelly’s fox.

The last two masks were made purely for fun and not worn for Halloween. The paper dragon mask can be found in Renee Schwartz’s book, and Speedy was inspired, of course, by Looney Tunes. (Kelly went through a phase a couple of years ago during which she was completely smitten with Speedy Gonzales.)

Erect-crested Penguin Mask in felt, thread and elastic (10/08)