Sassy Sea Creature!

This past Sunday was the New England Quahog and Sea Creature Parade in my town, so naturally I had to participate! I agonized over what kind of sea creature I wanted to be, and after cruising Pinterest for ideas, I finally settled on jellyfish.

The basic costume is pretty simple, you get a clear, "bubble" style umbrella (I bought this one), and ribbon, cellophane, whatever to create the jellyfish tentacles.

Never being satisfied with the simple version of something, I added lights. These ones worked out really nicely - they're battery operated, remote controlled, and lightweight, plus they had multiple color options and light pattern settings.

After that it was simply a matter of gluing everything on! I used some sparkly tulle, cut into strips, some cellophane streamers, crepe paper, and this really awesome yarn that looked totally like jellyfish stingers! I had grand plans to cover every last inch of the bottom of the umbrella with streamers and such, but this process was way more difficult than I thought it would be! I couldn't figure out a good way to sit the umbrella while still being able to glue the spots that I needed, so I spent a good amount of time uncomfortably hunched over it, holding the umbrella in one hand, glue gun in the other, trying desperately not to burn myself. But I got it done to my satisfaction.

I added to the look by wearing a red tank (for that oh-so-scary red jellyfish look), and a flouncy pink skirt trimmed with more of the tulle, crepe paper, and stinger yarn. Overall I was pretty pleased with it!

Check out my pic in the Providence Journal from the parade here!

Here's a quick photo I made my husband take in our living room so I had some sort of image of the final look