Like most first time mom’s whose adorable little baby has now learned to walk, I got super excited for Halloween! While pondering about what I wanted my son’s first Halloween costume to be I had a couple guidelines in place I felt were crucial.

1.) His costume had to be scary but also cute!

Although I love adorable costumes, I still felt strongly that I wanted this costume to embody the true essence of Halloween!

2.) It had to be recognizable.

I wanted to make something people would notice instantly.

3.) I didn’t want it to be generic (ex: witch, ghost, zombie)

With these rules I set in place for myself I thought “wow, I really love a challenge!” The internet was a great place to start for inspiration. I started googling classic Halloween movies for kids and one of the first to pop up was “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” This was perfect! I absolutely love all Tim Burton movies and this was definitely one of my favorites!

Now that I had my movie, picked out I instantly thought “Oogie Boogie!” I really wanted to make a costume that was original and not popular but that people would instantly recognize. The funny part is that I had no concept of how I was going to make this costume but it had been rolling around in my head for a few days before I actually committed.

First step, was fabric! I happen to love JoAnn fabric because of the coupons and the inventory. I took a trip and started searching. Originally the only type of fabric that felt appropriate for Oogie was burlap, but I wasn’t crazy about putting my 1 year old in a scratchy, itchy, burlap sack. Finally I came across some linen that had a similar look but a much softer feel. I happened to find a shade that had a bit of a grungy look to it, so I snatched it up and began perusing the store for other elements I could add to the costume. I came across some “Glow in the dark” fabric paint and thought “YESSSS! Oogie Boogie glows in the dark, this is going to be amazing!”

Next I had to figure out how would my little boy be able to see out of the costume, so I figured the hole for Oogie’s mouth would be the best place for his super cute little chubby face to poke through. I needed to create some rigidity to the opening of his mouth so that the face hole would stay in place and not obstruct his view. For that I used some jumbo chenille stem pipe cleaner wire (black of course).

Next I needed some black felt for Oogie’s eyes. For the rest, I decided to go home and wing it. If there was anything else I needed I’d probably already have it in my craft bin.

Here is a list of all that you will need to create your own toddler Oogie Boogie Halloween Costume:

• Your child’s measurements (Height, Arm Span, Head Circumference)
• Fabric of your choice ( I chose linen)
• Chenille Stem
• Black Yarn
• Glow in the Dark Paint ( I used Fabric Paint)
• A sheet of Black Felt
• Stuffing for the head
• Fake Bugs
• An old gift box for cutting out cubes for the Oogie Boogie Dice

When you’re a new home owner, you learn a bunch of new things you didn’t know, and also a ton of other things you didn’t know you needed to know. How to clean dryer vents fell into the second category for me and my husband.  I didn’t really know much about it until my parents came for a visit and my dad noticed a lot of lint hanging out of exhaust vent on the side of the house.  Driving around town, I started to notice companies advertising their services of “Dryer Vent Cleaning” with images of houses engulfed in flames due to dirty dryer vents. As a DIY evangelist, I decided I would take on the job and learn how to clean a dryer vent myself!

As the Husband of the DIY Handy Mom, my role is to continually break and/or ruins things around the house.  How else is my wife going to have projects to constantly work on?  I’m doing her a favor!

Anyway, we had a delicious meal, as we almost always do because we love to cook.  For this recipe, we seared some pork on our cast iron pan, one of the best tools in the kitchen.  This set is similar to the ones that we use at home.  The meal was great, but there was a ton of pork fat welded to the bottom of the pan that would probably take hours to scrub off by hand.  I’m a programmer by trade, so I don’t work harder: I (try to) work smarter!

After dinner, I filled the cast iron pan with soapy water and left it in our porcelain sink to do its work on the cemented pork fat.  You might see where I’m going with this by now.

The next morning, the pork fat came right off!  Woo!  But then I lifted the pan out of the sink, and saw this: