Greetings from Arendelle

I don't know too many little girls who didn't fall in love with Anna and Elsa last year. My twins were no exception. My boys were just as enamored with the movie Frozen, and they ALL agreed that they needed costumes! Well, of course I couldn't argue! I really wanted to push myself and see what I could come up with.

It was easy to find a pattern for the Anna and Elsa dresses. I used this pattern from McCalls with some modifications.

I found this website that helped me make those modifications on the Anna dress. I made the changes to the Elsa dress on my own. The biggest modification was a detachable cape (since the movie version is SO much longer than in this pattern, I wanted something my daughter could take off when she's playing). I used jeweled buttons to cover the snaps. We bought the Anna boots from JCPenny. I bought old tap shoes at Goodwill for the Elsa shoes, pained them with acrylic paint, then covered with Mod Podge and glitter.  

The Kristoff costume took more thought and trial and error. I searched for patterns that would work as well as online tutorials. I couldn't find anything helpful at all so I eventually just buckled down and figured it out on my own. I knitted the sleeves and collar out of blue yarn and made every stitch of the outfit, even the boots. It was a labor of love, for sure!

Olaf was the easiest and most fun of the 4 costumes to make. I bought an XXL-sized white sweatshirt instead of fabric. The pants were made by cutting off the sleeves and sewing them into pants. I added elastic to the neck and the middle of the sweatshirt to make the snowman sections. The coal "buttons" are removable and made of black felt. I made the hat from white and orange fleece and the eyes are made of felt. I knitted "hair" for Olaf out of brown yarn. This hat took some trial and error too, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I use a length of tulle stuffed inside the costume to make the sections rounded. My son wore a long-sleeved brown shirt underneath for Olaf's wooden arms. 

We visited Downtown Disney Marketplace in costume at Christmas time to visit Santa. The kids were instant celebrities! We were stopped for photographs and people ooohed and aaahed everywhere we went. Then while visiting Santa, the kids were given a special gift -- the last snowflake from Arendelle's Christmas Tree! 

I've never taken on a project this extensive before, and it was a LOT of work. But I believe it was worth it. What do you think?