31 days of Halloween
Mom takes on a month of costumes challenge.
Tiny Eliza Taylor is a Halloween fashion show every day of October.
She’s been dressed as Dorothy from “The Wizard of Oz,” wearing sparkly red shoes, a lumberjack with hiking boots, complete with an aluminum foil ax, and a very tame little lion.
The idea for 31 days of costumes began in early September when a friend asked Caitlin Redding Taylor if she had a Halloween costume for her baby girl.
I hadn’t thought about how I would dress Eliza, the Oklahoma City mother said, so I started looking for ideas online.
“Halloween is my favorite holiday,” she said. “When I saw all the precious costumes, I challenged myself to make all of them and turn it into a fun project.”
So, Redding Taylor, a first-time mom who grew up in El Reno and graduated from Oklahoma City University, started gathering her sewing supplies, scraps of felt and thrift shop items so she could transform into a wonderland of costumes for her 7-month-old daughter.
“I want people to see that it’s possible to make really great costumes that recycle things you already own and pull something together on the cheap,” she said. “My mother always
made our Halloween costumes, and watching her create them was as much fun as actually wearing them to trick-or-treat.”
All of the costumes, from the cow to the strawberry added up to less than $100 total. Eliza can wear many of the separate pieces after Halloween.
Photos of the costumes are posted on her Facebook album each day, along with a list of materials and cost for each of the creations.
October is especially memorable for Alan and Caitlin Taylor. On Oct. 13, Eliza’s adoption became official.
“She is a little ball of happiness and joy,” Redding Taylor said. “A baby in a costume makes people smile. I show her photos of herself, and she touches them and smiles.”
The monthlong challenging project ends with a “Top Secret” costume theme on Halloween.
“People ask me if I will do this every year,” Redding Taylor said. “I get a lot of joy out of creating these costumes, and my friends love seeing the daily photos.”
She will think about it next fall, but she said this year’s Halloween costume extravaganza is probably a onetime event.