Vintage Kiddo :: Creepy Cool Retro Halloween Costumes

Vintage Kiddo Photos, , , , ,

So I was shopping the other day and wandered into the Halloween aisle. I was kind of bummed out and horrified by all the creepy masks—the weirdo from the Saw movies, the Scream ghoul, super slasher monsters. I thought to myself, “Where is the childhood innocence? Who lets their kid dress up as a crazy murderer?? These masks are terrifying!” I shook my head thinking, “It’s not like back in the day when we were kids!”

Um…..OK. So I’m not sure when you last looked at old school Halloween masks, but shut mah mouth because some of these are positively terrifying!!! The cheap plastic only adds to the appeal. Of course I still love ’em all. And frankly, they’re miles better than the Scream ghoul. Let’s take a look at come vintage kiddo Halloween pics. I swear each kid is better than the next:


Yes the clown is terrifying, but my heart belongs to the stressed out little Planet of the Apes dude on the end.


The vacant Snoopy. That draggy clown. The “phonin’ it in” Charlie Brown. All genius. Not sure what’s happening with the faceless Mr. Skelly. Is that kid just wearing a pulled down hat over his head??

OK. These little kiddos from 1951 are actually really cute.


I love that you can see her little dress in the reflection of the mirror. So sweet!

Here are the same happy kidlets one year later:

I’m amazed at this nonchalant baby…like it ain’t nuthin’ but a thang….If that devil child showed up at my door step I’d run screaming. I can’t imagine anything more terrifying.

Oh wait, that’s because this little creeper hadn’t showed up yet:


This poor child is like a Tretchikoff painting on acid.

I can’t stop starring at and giggling at this next kiddo:


That poor child….looks like a classic victim of the dreaded, “It’s freezing out there! You wear a coat under that costume or you’ll catch your death of cold!” I always hated when mom made us wear our coats under our costumes.

These guys are actually all pretty cute:

The Top Hat wearing ghost is oddly adorable. Wolfie would never have let me get away with that…

This next one kills me. Devils in a Red Granny Flannel Dress.


OK, check out the wig on the little nurse. Hee.

I love this one. What child decides that they want to be George Washington??

Count Chocula? Cheap Bear in a Micky Sweat shirt? Love these guys…

Mod Darth Vader looking suspiciously like an Ewok….

And finally, my favorite of the bunch:


The Colonel Sanders girl? I mean….c’mon now. Seriously, I can’t wait for Halloween.

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Don’t forget, there is still time to send me your Best and Worst Homemade Costume Photos! Check here for details! We’ll be posting the Costume Parade on Wednesday!!

Vintage Kiddo Retro Round Up! The Halloween Edition.

Kiddo Style: Vintage, , , , , , , ,

Hi hi Everyone!

Well, it’s officially Halloween time here at the Modern Kiddo HQ—in fact we have our spooktacular header thanks to our gal, Pilgrim. Three cheers for Ms. Pilgrim for rocking our worlds! In honor of this time of year, today’s weekly vintage clothing round up will feature all vintage Halloween costumes—and early enough so you can purchase them in time for October 31st.  If I do say so myself, we’ve got some real pips in here!

So, let’s start off with a bang with this little gem.  Oh wow wow wow wow. Wow.  This is spectacular. I love the feather. It’s like she just hopped off that circus horse. From Etsy seller, Get Lucky Vintage.

Who hasn’t enjoyed the delights of a Ben Cooper Halloween costume when they were young? Well, your little one can still enjoy that full face mask experience and fancy hospital-tie, shift costume too! Like this vintage Cinderella costume from eBay seller,   stvinsthriftybin. I gotta say that when I think dressing up a Cinderella I might not choose to have a pumpkin carriage on my dress. But that’s just me.  Regardless the kitsch factor on this dress just hit eleven.

This little vintage find is dedicated to my parents who bought the same train conductor overalls for my brothers 45 years ago to wear when they would play with their trains.  And that were handed down to me for one Halloween to wear to go as a train conductor.  These  vintage kid sized train engineer overalls from eBay seller, 3744Paulette would be perfect for any Thomas the Tank Engine loving kid!

I love this little black vintage dress that with the right accessories could totally become a wonderfully witchy dress, yes? From  eBay seller Volta-Vintage.

How could I not include at least one vintage cowboy shirt for potential Halloween costume. And this one is a real pip.  Because nothing is cuter than a being a little bit country on Halloween.  From Ebay seller, Jessiebelle999.

You can’t have the Lone Ranger with out the awesomeness known as Tonto.  I’ve always been Team Tonto, so this great fringe shirt just made me smile for miles.  From eBay seller, MargosMedley.

I found not one, but two great vintage kiddo navy uniforms.  For the right little girl, she could be Shirley Temple with that outfit.

Now if I could only find the cop and a construction worker we’d have a great Village People costume party.

Seriously, you gotta love Ben Cooper–that guy will turn any misc. one hit wonder into a costume. Case in point–Bat Fink.  For those not in the know, Bat Fink was a short cartoon that mocked Batman and the Green Hornet that ran in the 1960s and was totally an underground hero until it was recently picked up by Cartoon Network.

It is totally the hipster cartoon reference to make any kid wearing this would get knowing nods from the cool kids’ parents. It totally trumps going as DJ Lancelot.   Hey! This inspired my Halloween costume. I’ll go as a Hipster Dinosaur! From eBay seller, asisterfun.

OK, I have to share one more vintage witch costume with you. And it’s a doozy.  I mean, the cats alone. From Etsy seller, Iciernia.

Now you might remember in my homemade Halloween post a couple of weeks ago and my bitterness over my mother’s lack of sewing skills over a chicken costume.  Well, I think this vintage chicken costume was what I had in mind. And it is genius.  That lace covering totally looks like chicken feathers. It is spectacular in all of its chickeny goodness! From eBay seller, onealphafem.

Can’t decide between going as someone from Star Wars, Dukes of Hazzard or Strawberry Shortcake? Well, lucky for you, eBay seller Coocoostarwarsfan has all three of them with a starting bid of 49 cents!

Now this vintage dress is a great base for so many Halloween costumes. You could do Marie Antoinette, Martha Washington–or even pull it back to create a bustle for a more Victorian look–Madam Curie anyone? From Etsy seller, Magnolia Vintage.

Help your little girl connect with her inner Annie Oakley with this great cowgirl costume. In a big girl size 12 to boot! Start teaching her the words to “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better” now… From eBay seller, abstuff.

Hoo Hoo Hoo wouldn’t want to go as a sassy hooty owl costume from vintage kid’s Halloween costume maker, Ben Cooper. From Etsy seller, Ira Mency.

When most people think of PAAS, they think of those fizzy tablets that color water for dying eggs.  But the PAAS marketing team saw that they needed to extend beyond Easter to another Holiday. Like Halloween with kiddie make-up.  I don’t know if I could put 25 year old lead-sodden paint on my kid, but the box is priceless.  That poor kid dressed as “The American Star” is just asking to have her candy taken from her,  but I totally dig Baroness Von Boo and Queen Astra! From eBay seller, rusty33150.

Be a clown! A cute vintage baby clown costume that can be snuggy in the stroller!  By Etsy seller, VaydaSophia’s Boutique.

This costume was totally bought by some mother who didn’t want her daughter rooting around her Hermes scarves to complete her gypsy costume.  “Here honey, why don’t you just wear this outfit instead…”  But isn’t the box killer?  And the mask is glow in the dark. How badass would that be to walk around with that gem! From Etsy Seller, GreenGables62.

If none of these gems float yer boat and you are determined to make your own Halloween outfit for your little one, check out this grand book–1975 Scholastic book on how to make no-sew costumes.  Genius. Nay, super genius! From Etsy seller, MidWest Girl.

How great are all of those?? Amazing! OK , we have a wee favor to ask of you. Voting was reset over at Top Mommy Blogs and we’d love to get back on top with a little help from our fabulous readers. If you are a fan of our blog, could pretty please click the special Modern Kiddo link below and then click once again on the words “Click to Vote” to register a vote for Modern Kiddo. (It never says our name, just “Click to Vote for the blog you just came from”.) We would appreciate it ever so much!!

PS You can vote once a day, if you are so inclined (and you’ll find the little brown “Vote for Kiddo” banner always hanging out on the left over there). THANK YOU SO MUCH! Be sure to come back this afternoon when Alix will have some more vintage kiddo fun for everyone. Happy week for all!

Winner of the Grace Hester Design Giveaway

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is….

Jenny Rebecca!

Three cheers for Jenny! We are so happy you came by and entered our giveaway for this gorgeous Grace Hester Book poster. Truly a wonderful piece of art for anyone’s room.

And thanks to all of you for entering the contest!  And a big super thanks to Grace Hester Designs for offering up her beautiful work to a Modern Kiddo reader.

But turn that frown upsidedown if you didn’t win because we have a rollicking good giveaway coming up soon.

Meet Ingrid! Our Weekly Kiddo.

Weekly Kiddos

Howdy, howdy pals, it’s time for this week’s kiddo cutie—Ingrid. This little sassy pants is two years old and lives in mah loverly homestate of Michigan. Her mama Amber is one of our fave readers—and an awesome commenter, thank you very much—so I’m super excited to show off her sweet little girl. Amber dresses her in a combination of vintage and new, but most awesomely she makes a lot of Ingrid’s clothes herself. Since we have clearly established that I am the NON-sewing half of Modern Kiddo, I am always impressed by this. Let’s have a lookie at the super, adorable Ingrid!


+ Mama-made coat (with amazing lining) from a pattern by Heidi and Finn
+ Orange shoes, See Kai Run

I love these two cute little vintage dressies too. You kinda can’t go wrong with smocking and gingham, right?


+ Vintage dress


+ Vintage dress, from LishyLoo Vintage

+ Striped shirt, LeTop
+ Red skirt, Gymboree (a hand me down from Pippi and Heather of 3RingCircus)
+ Pirate shoes, Airwalk

+ Orange shoes, See Kai Run

+ Another super handmade dress from her mama

Ingrid is a total sweetie. She loves music and her favorite band is Yo Gabba Gabba—she just saw their live show and is very proud of the special Yo Gabba tote bag that she got. She is an animal lover—cows, horses, goats, you name it—but her best pal is her dog Cody, who she loves to take  for walks by the lake. Ingrid also loves coloring, laughing, riding her tricycle and avocados. Mmmm. Avocados. Ingrid, you are my kinda gal.

Amber, thanks for sharing this super adorable little girlie with us!

Guest Post :: Quick Cookin' with Shutterbean Mexican Stir Fry

Guest Blogger, Kiddo Cooks

Oooh lalala! Ring the dinner bell friends, it’s time for Quick Cookin with Tracy of Shutterbean. Tracy is not only an amazing cook, she is a very clever cook! Her meals are not only supremely tasty they are always deliciously simple—perfect for busy folks, whether you have kiddos or not. Hit it, Tracy!

Hi friends! Tracy here with another easy peasy dish for you and your family to enjoy.

Have you heard of Soyrizo? It’s soy version of chorizo and it’s totally fabulous! It’s got the taste & texture of spicy chorizo, but there’s no meat involved! My husband is a huge fan of the stuff even though he’s a big meat eater. Sometimes I serve it alongside our eggs and toast or I mix it up with breakfast potatoes! Most of the time I just use it to make this quick Mexican Stir Fry. My boys love it.

I’m always trying to find a way to get my son Cooper to eat vegetables, and this dish does a good job of masking some! In this rendition, there’s corn, tomatoes and green peppers. There’s also a dose of protein & fiber from beans & brown rice. The soyrizo has all the spices you need so nothing really needs to be added, making it super easy to make. The leftovers are fantastic. Throw some in a cheesy quesadilla or add it to a burrito or taco! I like to eat what’s leftover the next day with some avocado chunks and a few dashes of hot sauce on top!

This is what it looks like fresh off the stove:

I like to make a little “toppings” bar so you we all can customize our own plate!

My boyz LOVE it.

p.s—This is what soyrizo looks like! I usually get mine from Trader Joe’s!

p.p.s.— It looks like a long sausage- shaped like a big U. You need to make sure you don’t cook the “skin” as it’s plastic! Just cut off the ends and *squeeze* it out into the skillet.

Mexican Stir Fry
Ingredients:
-1 package soyrizo
-1 medium onion, chopped
-1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed
-1 cup frozen corn
-2 bell peppers, chopped (use any color you like)
-2 cups cooked brown rice

In a deep skillet on medium high heat, add soyrizo & onions. Cook for a few minutes until the onions start becoming translucent. Add in the frozen corn & bell peppers and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add your black beans and brown rice and heat through. It’s really good if you can almost brown/char some of the soyrizo! It adds a nice texture to it! Serve with you favorite toppings!

Fun Toppings:
-avocado slices
-sour cream
-chopped tomatoes
-cilantro
-shredded cheese
-green onions
-tortilla chips
-salsa
-hot sauce!

This recipe is just a base. If you like more corn, add more corn! Not a fan of black beans? Add pinto! Have some leftover sweet potatoes? Throw them in! I must warn you that the soyrizo is on the spicier side. If your children or significant other is sensitive to spice, then you might wanna opt out of this recipe 😉 You could also just add some pureed sweet potatoes to help balance the spice! Fortunately, my son Cooper LOOOVES spicy stuff. He goes totally apey when I make this. He calls it “Spicy Rice!” I guess the apple doesn’t fall from the tree!

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Thank you so much Tracy for another super yum yum dish. I can vouch for the fact that soyrizo is TASTE-TEE!!! Oh, and that little cutie in the background (aka The Spicy Wonder!) is Tracy’s mega cute boy Cooper. Coop has been Weekly Kiddo before and I think you’ll agree he is adorable. Check him out here.