Costume help for my son

[TonFirst]

It's a long story, but in very early September, I commissioned an Etsy seller, via Alchemy, to make a Purple People Eater headpiece for my son. I can make the wings and all that, but I have never made a headpiece before and didn't want to experiment for this Halloween costume that he's been talking about all year. The deadline for the headpiece to be finished is today. We have Halloween parties this weekend.

Right now, there is no headpiece. I am FURIOUS. I have not had the heart to even tell my son yet. The headpiece won't be here until next week at the earliest. I am trying to be nice to the seller so she'll actually finish the thing but I am seriously beside myself with pure, unadulterated RAGE. (I know there are bigger things to be upset about, but this is going to break my son's heart. Mama Bear, and all...)

So, anyone have any ideas for how I can make a one-eyed, one-horned purple people eater headpiece in about 48 hours? I have a sewing machine, a glue gun, and purple felt in my house right now. THANK YOU.

[Cheburashka]

I did some quick googling, didn't really find much. Can you make a purple face-mask and paint the one eye on the forehead? Maybe attach the horn to a headband? A hood might also work, with the mask and then the headband underneath with the horn on it for support (then DS doesn't have to obviously be wearing a headband, and you wouldn't have to hunt down one to match his hair color).

[ciw]

Oh, that would make me MAD too! I had to google images of a purple people eater -- wasn't sure what one looked like:bag -- but here are some thoughts...

If you can find a purple hoodie or sock/beanie hat for him, you could do something like this pretty easily:
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.moonmountainranch.us/userimages/g_1.3.3_thumb.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.moonmountainranch.us/1.3.html&usg=__QMFBSVF-AFq2iSHifq8LogaLTYA=&h=253&w=190&sz=44&hl=en&start=3&um=1&tbnid=um6XLkkhB4di5M:&tbnh=111&tbnw=83&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dpurple%2Bpeople%2Beater%2Bcostume%26h l%3Den%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:en-US%26um%3D1
Just make a cone out of cardboard; you could probably use a cereal or cracker box. Glue it together and then glue green felt to it to make the horn. For the eye, you could use white felt -- or even a sock -- stuff it with batting or other fabric you have on hand (you could even use old nylons or tights). Then glue or stitch a black circle on top.

I think the hard part is going to be if you can't find a purple hoodie or hat. I'm not sure what else you could use for a "base." If you can sew, I suppose you could sew a hood out of the purple felt and then work off that.

[KrisM]

For the cone, you could use a birthday party hat and cover it with the purple felt. It would have the shape and the elastic to hold it on already.

I'm so sorry she didn't finish on time. I would be furious as well. I hope she's not charging you the full amount.

[ciw]

Oh, I like KrisM's idea! You could just just cut an eye out of felt then and glue it to the felt-covered cone hat. Easy peasy...

If you don't have a birthday hat on hand, you can make one yourself. Just cut a semi-circle out of lightweight cardboard, fold and glue or staple.
http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/bltemplpartyht.htm

[alexsmommy]

Could you paint his entire face purple and draw one large eye on his forhead, maybe spraypaint his hair purple (if you want to go that far) and the use the PP's idea of a purple felt covered (or spray painted) birthday hat?
How disappointing. I hope whatever you come up with keeps any disappointment for your son at bay.

[katydid1971]

I think the birthday hat idea is great. You can get a pack of 6 at the dollar store. My only thing would be to not cover it in purple but in cream or brown because horns are usually those colors. I would pick up a can of that purple hair spray too. So sorry about the etsy thing though.

[JTsMom]

You can sew a little, and follow a pattern, right? Assuming so, I'd do something like the hoods shown here:

http://www.simplicity.com/p-1773-costumes.aspx

(Those are child size, but they have toddler sizes also- don't know how big you need.)

Omit the ears, do the horn on a cardboard cone, cut a slit, and insert it that way, or hot-glue it on.

I made Jason a cat costume with a hood like these as the very first costume I sewed, and it was really pretty simple, I swear.

ETA: And I would be livid too.

[TonFirst]

Lori - HOLD UP. Is that a new sig? CONGRATULATIONS!