Childrens' fancy dress parties

[sykes]

My elder dd is four soon and is having a joint b'day party with her best friend Charlie. The idea is to come as an animal - nothing too fancy/expensive. Elder dd wants to go as a pig .... and she wants her little sister to go as a tiger .... Any ideas on how to manufacture a cheap pig and tiger look? I'm useless at this kind of thing. Can you buy masks from somewhere? Work in central London, live in Godstone, Surrey. Any party ideas v much appreciated.

Oh yes pig is easy, I remember going as one to a party once. Find a piggy pink dress or outfit, buy some pink cardboard and make a snout, ears and trotters out of them (the trotters you cut out circles and snip down a radius, cut a hole in the middle and tape round your feet. Snout is just a rolled up tube with a disc on the front and ears can be attached to an alice band.) Oh and don't forget a curly tail stuck on the bum.

For the tiger you can usually buy cheap furry fun tiger fabric in the market, then buy orange card and do the same as the pig with ears and feet, make a tail from the fabric and paint a tigers face on with some face paint.

have fun!

Thanks v much. I shall try my best .....

Ikea sells animal hats gloves and ears for £10, we have the monkey ones. They are fantastic

Dont know if theres an ikea near you (or if your interested!) this season they have only got cats and dogs and you can look at them here

It's really easy to make a waistcoat-type animal outfit out of furry material and add an appropriate tail on the back. You can sew/stick velcro spots on to fasten it up. You can make mittens/sock things too for hands and feet. Face paint for faces and a hairband with furry ears? Another thing to try is that thin craft foam to make a mask, works brilliantly.

A local fabric or craft shop should have tiger striped fabric. It is easy to cut and sew, even if you are cack handed. If you have a sewinf machine it is really easy. I did a bear and a monkey (using the Ikea hats and gloves) for my two. A tabbard of fake fur (cut a hole for the head and sew up teh sides leaving arm holes. A tube for each leg and arm, the tail was on a belt from IKEA but you could get a brown belt and a length of fake fur. Ears could go on an alice band and there you go.

A Pig could be soimilar, but made from pink felt fabric, with teh snout made from a loo roll inner covered in felt, and elastic to keep it on.

Good Luck

Thanks, thanks, thanks. Just off for drinks but shall review in depth tomorrow and panic, probably. THANK YOU V MUCH.

not read the whole thread so don't know i someone has suggested this but there are tiger suits in my local M and S