Our elementary school this year had over 100 Elsa costumes and over 50 Anna's from Frozen! And my youngest two girls were among that number.  It was like a sea of blue!  My Elsa, predicting the large numbers, was determined to stage a sing-in of "Let it Go" during recess with everyone sporting the proper costume!

The thing I love most about costumes - and probably the reason I invest so much of my time and energy into sewing and creating them for my kids - is the amazing springboard they are to imagination. I am not a fan of Halloween because of ghosts and gore; I love Halloween because I love watching children have permission to be whatever they wish for that day. I watched Captain America somersault to hold open a door for a princess, who graced him with a regal curtsey. Every year I see kids come out of their shells and become the most outrageous characters and I love it!

This year all five of my kids wanted new costumes. That's a record. Normally a few of them plan something based off of something we've done in the past that requires me to make two or three new and modify some hand-me-downs. But this was unprecedented. And a little insane.

And because of the scale of it, I'm breaking my posts up as I did my sewing. Starting with the little girls - I'm covering Elsa and Anna by themselves. We'll get to the other kids in due time.

Elsa:

Honestly, I'm not sure if there is any girl left in the world without an Elsa costume who would need a tutorial, but since I used some rather interesting techniques, I'll still probably do a tutorial about the full insanity soon, but today I just want to get pics up. So here is how my Elsa turned out:

Anna: 

I can't imagine a more perfect personality for Anna. This was more than an ideal costume for my sunshine girl.

Sisters: 

But the true story here is about sisters.

 

Frozen is not my favorite Disney movie.  There were many things I found just ok, and even downright annoying.  However, in the past couple of weeks, fellow bloggers of religious ilk have targeted the movie for its immoral messages or – ready for this? – its hidden gay agenda – of which parents need to beware.  I acknowledge their vigilance. I appreciate their courage.  I also think they are over-analyzing (this coming from a rabid-analyst) and not giving kids nearly enough credit.

Let’s start with the most reasonable arguments.  Some are taking issue with the transformation of Elsa from good girl Elsa into sexy Elsa as well as the lyrics to her anthem, “Let it Go.”  I admit, I’m uncomfortable with my girls singing this song over and over at the top of their lungs – which my husband and I discuss in a Podcast on the topic (Reinforcing the Positive Messages Disney Films Teach your Girls). 

I happen to agree that the lyrics convey a message of rule breaking and rebellion right alongside those of self-discovery and empowerment.  However, I disagree that Disney was doing it subversively, advocating anything insidious, or trying to blur the lines between right and wrong.  There is a simultaneous moment of learning and growth going on, but she's also filled with fear, rage and rebellious angst.

Elsa is throwing a tantrum.  With a catchy song.

But that’s simplifying - it’s way more than a tantrum – Elsa is taking dangerous steps down the road toward becoming the villain.  Luckily, because of the faith, devotion and love of her sister, her journey toward isolation and cruelty is stopped.  WHICH IS THE STORY.  Instead of Frozen: How the Ice Witch Became Evil – we sort of get, Frozen: The Journey Towards Becoming a Scary Evil Witch and Back Again. 

The only thing I can think of to convey what I’m getting at is a Star Wars analogy: if Anakin Skywalker were singing as he turned into Darth Vader, it would be something along the lines of “Let it Go.” 

Giggles. I know. The visual of that happening makes me giddy.  I'm kind of ridiculous and now I want to write a Star Wars musical. But think about it for a minute. It works. Sort of. An extremely powerful, talented young adult rebelling, pushing limits, wreaking havoc, journey to the dark side, return to the light, in this case, because of his son. (Now I've got the "Tell your sister, you were right about me," line stuck in my head!)

But seriously.  Yes, Elsa’s song is powerful.  Anger feels powerful. Rebellion feels powerful.  Yes, for that moment she feels like she’s on top of the world.  She is finally using beautiful talents that have been misunderstood. And Yes, she is absolutely leaving the good girl and rules behind.  But the film does NOT advocate this as desirable behavior.  Unless you walk out of the movie right there, in which case, I can see your point.  

However, shortly after the song during which she truly discovers the wonder of her powers, her talents almost kill her sister then create a monster to throw them off a cliff!  Hello. Villain.  Just look at her eye makeup – she’s a villain ;) Only Maleficent rocks the eye shadow harder. 

Which brings me to her somewhat vampy look people are decrying.  Here’s my question I’d like to pose to the board for consideration: If Elsa had started off the movie as THE ICE WITCH, an evil antagonist, and she looked EXACTLY the same as she does in her ice castle scene, would anyone be pitching a fit? Just sayin’  

The big difference in this film is, again, that we’re seeing how a villain becomes a villain.  We’re getting the back story.  The transformation.  Not that a tight shiny dress and eye shadow are evil, but hopefully you get my point.  Besides, that dress is hardly groundbreaking in the revealing category when you consider Tinkerbell…

Ah, you say, but children are not sophisticated enough to see this.  They sing the song, they want to dress up like Elsa, they want to be like her so they’ll think it is ok to leave the “good girl” and “right and wrong” and “rules” behind like Elsa does.  To that I respond with two answers.

First, back to Star Wars – pretty sure that every kid ever has dressed up like Vader at some point or another.  Pretty sure society is still in tact.  Sometimes the villain is just cool.  And Elsa pulls herself back from becoming the villain.  She shows strength of character to stop that path.  Not too bad a morality lesson. 

Second, ASK THE CHILDREN!  They get it.  While us frantic adults run around the internet analyzing and policing, all it takes is a conversation to see that sometimes we’re the blind ones.  

Here’s my dinner conversation with my children:

Me: You keep singing that song.  What does it even mean?

Chloe: It’s about how Elsa has been locked up in her room and now she’s free to use her powers.

Me: So it’s a good song?

Chloe: Well, sort of – because she’s also running away and doing some bad things too.  So she only thinks she’s free. But then, she's not really bad because she's really just a lot scared. 

Me: She builds an Ice Castle though – that’s pretty cool.  And powerful.  Is that when she’s most powerful?

Lily: No.  She isn’t.  Because she can’t control it and she hurts people. She isn’t really powerful until she can control her powers at the end.  When she loves her sister she is most powerful.

Hello. Counterarguments anyone?

Out of the mouths of the children themselves.  “When she loves her sister she is most powerful.” What are kids getting out of this film? Let’s stop speculating and ASK THEM! As we advocated on the podcast, talking to our children about what they are ingesting from media is the best way to turn it into a positive parenting tool. 

As for the gay agenda in the film – I don’t really have much to say.  Except if you’re looking for anything, you’ll find it.  Magical power to create snow and freeze things is EXACTLY like being gay.  Why didn’t I see that?  (Where is my sarcasm font when I need it?) 

Also, the family gloried in her power UNTIL IT ALMOST KILLED SOMEONE.  Only then came the fear.  Um, wouldn’t you be afraid?  It’s not shaming, it’s protection.  And if it is a gay agenda, why make Elsa’s power dangerous. If the film is advocating, the figure representing the agenda would have a talent that is  universally positive and misunderstood, rather than one both dangerous and literally and figuratively “cold”.

The gay agenda argument made is simply based on how Elsa is encouraged to hide, and then finally “comes out.” I’m going to blow your mind right here, all of you who believe this.  Don’t watch the Little Mermaid. Gay agenda.  Being human= being gay. Ariel wants to be human but has to hide it, even from her father. His reaction to her human (gay) tendencies is entirely predictably violent. Only when he accepts that she IS human (gay) do we get the happy ending.  Oh wait, don’t watch Beauty and the Beast.  Gay agenda. The Beast hides away in his castle afraid of what others will think of him.  And when he finally does transform, that hair…totally gay.  Wait, wait…Tangled.  She’s shut away in a tower because of her special power that must be hidden from the world!  The only reason she doesn’t end up special in the end is because her power is destroyed by a man –OH NO – maybe we can watch that one because he fixes her and she is all better.  Hey, watch out for Merida – she doesn’t want to get married, and she rides horses and wields weapons… wow, SO gay agenda.  Don’t even get me started on Mulan. Oh, that Disney…

All I’m getting at here – facetiously, I admit, is that if you look for it, you can make whatever agenda you’re jonesin on fit whatever you’d like to demonize.

Or we can encourage positivity. 

Ask kids what they are learning.  Because I think they are more sophisticated than we are sometimes. If they pick up questionable messages, nip it in the bud. But pulling out the positive, the uplifting, and the wholesome teaches our children to do the same - with people and with the world around them. Even though, go ahead and attack me now, I thought Frozen was boring and not nearly the equal of Brave, I love that my girls got out of it that “when she loves her sister she is most powerful.”  I’m good with that.

Chloe's very first request with her Merida party was the cakes.  Not the costume, not the bows & arrows - the cakes.  She wanted cakes EXACTLY like the one in the movie that Merida gives her mom.  Perfect - except she was SO picky and it had to be exact - and I have no clue how that fictional animated cake came to be.  I did exhaustive research into pastries, cupcakes, all sorts of variations.

There were failed experiments with cookie doughs and pastry - some looked ok, but were thick and brick-like, others were flat and ugly.  I was feeling silly and ridiculous for wasting so much time on a child's party, when I finally figured it out!  It isn't exact, but it's close enough to satisfy my Picky VonPickyPrincess.  It's basically a bundt recipe made in cupcake tins, which makes them so dense that the centers sink and the edges round out and become golden. These are SO, SO yummy! They taste a lot like buttermilk donuts somehow, with a slightly lemony flavor from the glaze.






"Magic" Merida Cakelettes
1 box yellow cake mix
1 3 1/2 oz box instant pudding mix (I used vanilla - could use lemon)
4 eggs
1/2 c oil

Blend all ingredients until smooth.  Fill greased cupcake pan with batter (a little more than 1/2 full for each cup).  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes (fork needs to come out clean - make sure they're done, my first batch had extremely doughy centers)

Glaze
2 C powdered sugar
1/4 c lemon juice (scant fourth, don't over-do it)
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp water

Mix glaze together while cakes are baking.

After cakes are done, remove to rack to cool slightly.  While they are still warm, dip/coat/drizzle with glaze.  Back to the wire rack for cooling thoroughly. (tip - put wax paper or something under the wire rack, as the glaze drips)

Filling
1 c chopped strawberries
1/4 c sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over low to medium heat.  Boil on low for about 2 minutes until filling thickens, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and cool.

Assembly
Some of the cooled and glazed cakes will have centers sunken enough to add filling to as-is, but most will require a little extra shaping.  Using a spoon, scoop out a small divot in the center of the cake.  Add  about a Tbsp of filling to each cake's center, keeping it neat and round as possible if trying for the Merida cake look-alike. (if not, no worries!)

To finish off food - Bear-shaped sugar cookies (I know, they should have been chocolate! I realized after the fact), and a basket of BRAVE fruit snacks for the littles rounded up the buffet.


For Decorations, draped dark brown burlap and plaid fabric look both rustic & Scottish.  Coordinated color napkins, etc, of course. I bought supplies to make clan banners, but settled for throwing up a few Brave posters we had on hand when we ran out of time. Oh, and I came up with a digital decor that was a huge hit.  Using my AppleTV, I downloaded a ton of pics from Brave and streamed them one of the slideshow options, together with celtic music from our iTunes.  It ran on the TV in the background and provided a constantly changing decor and atmosphere.

For Fun! Not much was necessary for entertainment after giving kids bows and arrows, but for the sake of fun and whimsy, we had to make the "magic" cakes actually turn the kids into bears, like it does in the movie.
Super simple craft: headbands from the dollar store, black cardstock, metallic markers that color on black, and a hot glue gun.
Kids cut out "ears" and decorated them with their markers to have fuzzy centers.  Some were silver, some were pink, some purple - really cute.  Then I just glued the ears to the headbands - right side of the ear to the wrong side of the headband, then folding the ear up to stand.  The kids loved them and were adorable too.

FINALLY - the Dress. 

I don't usually make a costume for a birthday party, but since Chloe's birthday lands a couple months before Halloween, it was the two birds - one stone scenario.  Luckily there is a pattern that works almost perfectly.  McCalls 5499 is excellent in every way except the sleeve. That was just some trial and error.  Some versions I've seen do a false elbow inset, but I found it just as easy to have the puffy sleeve underneath be a full sleeve with the over-sleeve attaching with strips at the shoulder, like Merida's does. Around the neck it is just a ruffle though, not a full shirt.

For more pics of the dress and cloak: Halloween Costume post

That's it! I did say that I had a ton more ideas though, and here are some of them that I ran out of time, energy, cash.....for. Still, I'll pass them along in case anyone is interested.  Super cute stuff!

This and other Merida Party Ideas

Disney printable and craft ideas - BRAVE themed

Bear mask, in case you prefer it to ears.

Welcome to Part 2 of the Merida party post!  It seems that blogger finally let me post part 1 in its entirety, and though I've already lost a pic on this post and I've just started writing, I'll keep my fingers crossed that we'll get through to the end.  Because what good are bows without ARROWS?!?  NO good, I say! And of all the tutorials for bows that I found online, I found very little about arrows and had to make it up as I went along, so I need to share and make the world a better place - it's what the blogosphere is about, right?! ;)

Supplies Needed:
Wooden Dowels (I chose 5/8" - the orange tipped ones)
Duct tape
Foam (I used pipe insulation left over from bows, but pool noodle foam or batting would work too)
Paint (optional)

Step 1: Cut dowels to 18".  I bought 36" dowels and cut them in half using a saw.  I sanded the edges a little so they wouldn't be rough.

If you want the arrows colored, now is the time to paint them, before putting the tips and fletchings on.  We faced a dilemma here because we wanted to stay authentic to Brave, and make realistic looking arrows, but we also knew that the arrows were likely to go missing deep in bushes in trees.  Therefore, we opted to paint them neon glow-in-the-dark and attach neon fletchings.  This is the BEST part for kids - they LOVED painting the arrows neon camo - which is a hilarious contradiction in terms ;)

Step 2: Add fletchings. Cut three pieces of Duct tape, approximately 2 - 3 inches long. It doesn't really matter, as long as all three are the same length.

 - Lay the dowel on an approximately 2 1/2"-3" strip of duct tape, leaving about an inch of the dowel at the end to grab on to when shooting (I learned this one the hard way, putting my first flight right at the end).

- Line up a second piece of duct tape, cut to be the same length as the first, along the edge of the first piece, with the dowel coming to the center of the second piece of tape as it does the first one.  Make sure to not let the two pieces of tape touch on the other side of the dowel - leave their sticky sides open.

- Line up a 3rd piece of identical duct tape along the final sticky edge of the original piece of tape.  Smooth to center and the dowel, then match up with second piece of tape and press all tightly to each other and to the dowel.

Looks like this

Step 3: Shape fletchings. Cut each flap into a triangle shape, tapering toward the front of the arrow. (Learned this one the hard way too - tapered my first one the wrong direction and my triangles faced the wrong way.)

Triangles need to look like this

Step 4: Safety Arrow Tips. Cut foam about 1 1/2", then cut in half.

- Wrap foam around tip of dowel.  I used a little glue (E6000) at first, but after a while I realized the tape alone held them on very securely.  *Note, my kids wore through these tips in only a couple of days and we added extra layers of foam.  On subsequent arrows, I started off double thickness and they have been fine - though I recommend checking them regularly as they do need to be re-tipped from time to time for safety.

-Wrapping a strip of duct tape around the fom tip keeps the foam from coming off in chunks when the arrow hits anything abrasive. Then using either electrical tape or more duct tape, wrap the base of the foam, around the dowel joining them securely.

Finished Arrow

Oh, I almost forgot that the arrows do need little notches for nocking them on the string.  You can see it in the Finished Arrow pic, that there is a tiny little groove in the bottom of the arrow.  I just used a file out of the toolbox.

Go to A very BRAVE birthday party - Part 3: Goodies & Fun Stuff