MIng Ming Costume-toot toot

Toot toot? You ask. That would be me tooting my own horn!! I am so not a crafty or creative type of mom. I am really good at buying stuff with instructions and following them. I suggested to Monkey a week ago that he might want to consider being Ming Ming from the Wonder Pets for Halloween.

For those of you who don't know who Ming Ming is he is a duck on a kids show. Monkey likes the show and we really don't mind it. He is actually Ming Ming within his group of friend's at school. Here's Ming Ming.So Monkey jumped at the idea to dress up as Ming Ming. I failed to recognize when I made the suggestion that to be Ming Ming one needs to be a duck with a pilot hat on and also have a green cape WITH the Wonder Pets logo. Groan. So I looked up ready made costumes:
or:
and found myself quite underwhelmed. I figured that if that cost $30 plus shipping from the US, I could do better on my own. So I set out to make it piece by piece. First thing I did was find a woman locally who could make a cape (like I said, I am not crafty or anysuch). I got two reversible Wonder Pets logoed capes for $15 each.
Then we tracked down some yellow clothing. That wasn't hard.

The last step was to tackle that head piece. Both a duck and a pilot?? Not easy. I'll spare you the nitty gritty and the false starts. What we ended up with was a duck head from Value Village that we found on the floor separated from it's costume. They couldn't find the costume which actually worked well for me since the costume was an infant or toddler costume that would not have fit Monkey. They agreed to give it to us for $4. Awesome.

Next step was supposed to be a trip to the craft store to pick up felt to make the pilot hat. I got a brain wave to pick up something at Value Village that would work as fabric. I found a brown golf bag towel. It was $0.99 I intended to cut it to be the helmet and the hanging straps. Almost out of the store I think to take a look at the belts to see if I could do the pilot hat straps from a belt. Found one, perfect for the job. Another $0.99. Awesome. Now to find a glue gun. I don't own one but it is now on my Christmas list.

We get home and try out the clothes and bare hat to make sure that Monkey is happy with the result. Despite the expression on his face, he actually is quite pleased with it.
So I set to work. Thanks Brigitte for the glue gun. It was awesome!!!
First step take the golf towel and fold it over so that the pleated part is against the top of the duck head (essentially it is inside out). I started by centering it at the top and gluing there. Then I fastened my pilot straps.
Next step, the goggles. I found this container that came with a pair of ear plugs a couple of years ago. You can see my little device on the counter with the Ming Ming image on it for reference.
Add a piece of ribbon for the goggle straps and we have a Wonderpets Ming Ming costume for a 5 year old. He loves it!! I have to admit that I am really excited about it too!!!
Now to go and turn our wagon into the fly boat...