DIY Deer Costume
Doe a deer, a female deer…
I realize female deer do not have antlers and it’s highly unlikely that a male would have pink sparkly antlers with flowers. However, in my imagination, this is what I would look like if I were a deer. There are lots of deer and fawn makeup tutorials on-line, most of them are pretty similar. Some are very extravagant and require skills. Luckily, I found a few that I thought were do-able for someone like me with zero make-up skills. So with that, I decided to become a deer for a day. This look was inspired by a tutorial from Whippy Cake who I’ve been following for years (first on YouTube and now on Instagram). If you don’t follow her yet, go over to Instagram and check her out. If you do follow her, you know that she is in the fight of her life right now battling cancer. She is strong, but if you think of it, please send up a prayer or two for her.
Oh Deer!
I have a bit of a history with deer. Well, one deer specifically. Five years ago I had a run-in with an aggressive deer who knocked me down and drug me across our yard. After the incident I was pretty bruised up and suffered minor impact wounds where the antlers pressed against my legs. If you know me in real life you may have heard the story. It’s a pretty intense story! If you haven’t heard the story, ask us some time. Dan tells it much better than I do!
Now that a few years have gone by since the attack, I am finally able to really joke about it. However, in the moment it was quite frightening. What better way for me to “poke” (see what I did there?) fun at my traumatic memory than to dress up as a deer for Halloween…if you can’t beat em, join em I say!
Headband
At first I considered purchasing an antler headband online. There are some really beautiful antlers for sale on Etsy. When I started looking at them closely, I decided it would be pretty easy…and fun, to make one myself. My daughter, who is very artsy, helped me create the antlers out of Fimo clay. We decided on a more whimsical look. Rather than creating a realistic set of antlers, we chose a shorter more stylized pair, similar to Whippy Cake’s costume.
Materials
Fimo Clay Basics
If you’ve never worked with Fimo/Sculpey clay before, it’s really easy. Think back to your kindergarten days when you loved playing with playdough. Fimo is not as soft as playdough at first, so you will need to start off by kneading the clay with your fingers to make it more pliable. Once the clay is soft you can begin shaping it. I made sure to make the base of the antlers slightly wider so there would be adequate surface area for gluing them to the headband. After you’ve created two antlers you’re happy with, follow the baking instructions on the package to determine how long it needs to bake. Generally, the thicker your pieces, the longer they take in the oven.
Embellishments
I purchased a light rose pearl clay so I wouldn’t have to paint the antlers, but in the end, we ended up painting them anyway (after they were done baking). While the paint was still wet, I sprinkled fine pink glitter on the antlers which gives them a really pretty frosty look. If I could, I would probably add pink sparkles to everything! To make the deer’s ears I just improvised the shape and made a paper template. Next I cut that shape out of felt scraps. Instead of gluing the pink felt to the tan felt, I stitched them together with needle and thread. Once the ears were complete, I wrapped a headband with ribbon. This gave me a better surface to glue everything to. You could skip this step if you use a satin covered headband. After I added the ribbon, I glued the antlers and ears on with the hot glue gun. To complete the headband, I glued fall flowers to the front to hide all the raw edges. You can find all kinds of silk flowers at your local craft stores, but this is a great option if you want to order online.
If you want to skip the DIY deer headband and just purchase something already finished, there are several on Amazon. Some of my favorites are THIS ONE, THIS ONE and THIS ONE. If you want to dress up your favorite four legged friend, there are even antlers for your dog or cat!
The rest of this costume was pretty simple. I already had the polka-dotted shirt, and found the pink faux fur vest at Target. Although target no longer carries this fur vest, you can get a similar one here. It’s not pink, but the khaki color would look great!
**Disclaimer: I have included product links to make the products I used easier for you to track down. By using these links, I receive a small commission on your purchase. There is no additional cost to you, but it’s an easy way to support my blog and my family. Thank you so much!
