This Halloween season my daughter is 31 months old. Not quite old enough to understand exactly what Halloween is (so far she has no idea what candy is), or what I mean when I ask what she wants to be for Halloween. For her first two Halloweens, I got to pick her costumes, and I considered that a precious gift. But I am determined to be the mom who helps make her dress up dreams come true. So I’ve been watching closely as she explores the world. We don’t give her tons of screen time, and often when we do, it’s animated movies from Japan, or Bluey episodes. She’s become very attached to Kiki’s Delivery Service. Over the course of the summer, as we played in the pool, she started trying to ride pool noodles, as if they were a broom, and asked to be called Kiki. So when she couldn’t answer me with what she wanted to be for Halloween, I took a leap of faith, and decided she really wanted to be Kiki.
For reference, here’s an image from the cover for the DVD.
Kiki’s dress is very large, and rather shapeless. While Ada wears a size 2T, I bought a size 4T, A-line dress from Primary, secondhand through ThreadUp, for $7. All it needed was hemming, and shortening the sleeves. Because it’s October, I picked up a pair of leggings in as-close-to-flesh-tone as possible to keep her warm.
The rest of the costume is basically accessories, including Kiki’s friend, Jiji, the black cat. I found a 9" plush version secondhand on eBay. He’s perfectly sized to a toddler.
Kiki has an orange messenger bag, that she flies away from home for the first time with. She doesn’t always carry it in the movie, but I figured it was iconic, and could double as her candy collecting bag. I might normally have drafted my own pattern, but I got called in to do some costume work unexpectedly, and so I only had a morning to put it together, so I followed this tutorial.
I did have a bit of fun, by lining the inside with Kiki themed fabric that I found on Etsy. I added a pocket, because everyone needs extra pockets. Ada has been carrying the bag around since I finished it, putting various toys in it, so it looks like it will get lots of use.
Kiki wears a distinctive red bow in her hair, that looks to be a tied scarf, but also sticks up pretty high. I knew a toddler wouldn’t keep a tied bow in place, and that it would need some structural components to keep it perky. After looking at some inspiration online, I found one from Amazon for $8. There was no way I could pick up the supplies for that little, so I just went with it. Her shoes also came from Amazon, and she loves them so much, that she’s been wearing them all over the place.
Finally, Kiki has a red radio that she listens to as she flies on her broom. My husband’s company just gifted us a 3D printer, so Jim searched online for a copy of the radio, and printed it for us. I added a ribbon, and a clip from another toy.
Finally, the beautiful broom is an antique hearth broom, that my dad sent Ada, because it was the perfect size. It’s so lovely that we’ve only let her use it with the full costume a few times, for Trick or Treating, and at the library Costume Parade.
We did a short Trick or Treat with the neighbors. Here’s Ada with her friend Mina the Ghost. I love this photo of them silhouetted in the doorway. They are so little!
