Where The Wild Things Are

This year for Halloween I talked the boys into dressing up as characters from the classic children’s book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. It’s always been one of our favorites, and lucky for me, they were game!

I knew I would have to spend a lot of time piecing together Aiden’s costume since they don’t make one for the Carol character in his size, so I felt really lucky to find a beautiful “Max” pajama outfit on Etsy and a leather crown to go along with it. For Aidens’ Carol costume I pieced together all of the items separately, and a couple required some DIY work on my end.

We took the photos at the Redwood Grove Nature Preserve in Los Altos, one of my favorite places for a quiet walk with nature. I’ve included their outfit details below in case you’d like to piece together something similar for Halloween or otherwise!

Max (Søren):

Custom Wolf Suit Pajamas – Via ElysiaP on Etsy. These have feet attached but I just tucked them into his shoes. The tail detaches and they were made perfect to his measurements.
Leather Max Crown – Via little blue olive on Etsy. This arrived quickly and was beautiful. I’m contemplating a Where The Wild Things Are birthday party for him now to get more use out of it.
Freshly Picked Shoes – I managed to snag these at Nordstrom the night before I took these photos. I’m so excited that they make hard-soled shoes now (and in larger sizes). I can’t believe I almost forgot shoes, ha!

Carol (Aiden):

Bear Hoody Hat – I purchased this hat and made the horns out of felt to sew on with brown thread.
Yellow Oversized Sunglasses – These were large and yellow enough I think to pull off Carol’s yellow eyes. I could have taken it a step further by adding pupils, but I wanted to let Aiden’s eyes shine.
Orange Foam Clown Nose – This is just an orange clown nose. I thought it would add a more cartoon-y effect, but I’d recommend just painting a nose on if it’s for a child because we had a hard time keeping this on Aiden’s nose.
Long Sleeved Shirt – I couldn’t find a shirt that was striped just like Carol’s sweater, so I purchased a long sleeve yellow tee and painted stripes on using painters tape and orange acrylic paint. It did not wash out.
Fingerless Gloves – These are from American Apparel. I sewed white felt triangles on them to look like claws.
Five Pocket Trousers – To make the scale effect, I used a gray Crayola washable marker. It came out after a few washes.
Striped Raccoon Tail – This is part of a raccoon dress up set from Oeuf NYC. Really, any tail that is darker brown or gray will work.
Grizzly Bear Slippers – Before he wore them outside, I used blue painters tape on the bottom to make them a little more resistant to the elements. If it were raining or we were walking in dirt, I would have gone another route with shoes.

Please let me know if you have any questions about the costumes or if you’d like me to elaborate on anything. Have a safe and happy Halloween weekend!