one pill makes you larger, the other makes you small

October 2, 2012 2:20 PM

[costume filter] My toddler daughter and I are going as Alice in Wonderland this Halloween. I will be representing Alice after she has eaten the cookie that makes her grow, and my daughter will be Alice after drinking the drink that makes her small. What visual techniques can I use to enhance this?

For example, I'll wear a tiny hat to help with the grown large illusion, and her dress is actually a little big. Any other ideas of things we could do to make it clear that I have "grown" and she has "shrunk"?

posted by dipolemoment to clothing, beauty, & fashion (9 answers total)

You're going to carry around the "eat me" cake with a bite out of it, and the empty "drink me" bottle, right?
posted by aimedwander at 2:22 PM on October 2, 2012 [5 favorites]

Split some of the seams of your dress, particularly around the arm joins.
posted by dadici at 2:26 PM on October 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

And her 'drink' is going to be very big and your 'cake' tiny? Right?

Possible to enhance the stitching of the seams on your dress to make it look 'too small'
posted by bilabial at 2:27 PM on October 2, 2012 [4 favorites]

Yes, working on giant drink me bottle and tiny cookie. (and the costume from pre-baby time is indeed tight :) )
posted by dipolemoment at 2:35 PM on October 2, 2012

Your daughter's other props should also be a bit larger - maybe a large-ish basket to carry? Bonus if you can find one just like it (but tiny) for yourself.
posted by jquinby at 2:38 PM on October 2, 2012 [2 favorites]

A house as your hat would remind people of the cartoon version.
posted by TooFewShoes at 4:32 PM on October 2, 2012 [1 favorite]

Love this idea. Nthing make any possible props too big/too small. Maybe a tiny candy bag/bucket for you (since presumably you're not collecting candy, but you could keep your cell, keys, etc. in it) and a bigger one for her.
posted by jorlyfish at 6:07 PM on October 2, 2012

Also loving this idea. The title of your post makes me wonder if you could add some cues vis-a-vis the Jefferson Airplane song to make it a little clearer to the older set. Is there perhaps a third person who would like to go with you as the "hookah smoking caterpillar" or the dormouse?
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:54 PM on October 2, 2012

Agreeing with the sizing of accessories idea, that's key here.
Speaking of which, she should carry a giant key (make it out of paper mache so it will be relatively light) while you carry a tiny one. Same with hooka, mushroom, eat me/drink me items.

Part of the problem is her accessories need to be big, while she herself is little and won't want to carry around a ton of stuff. So either have her accessories attached to her somehow, or have them act as her halloween basket so she won't put them down for the life of her.
Or, have her drag/push something (wagon? toddler shopping cart?) that you have decorated to look like the caterpillar and she can put her accessories on that when she gets sick of carrying all of them.

All of your tiny accessories should go on a thread around your neck/arm/waist so people see them without you having to go "Look see they are little cause I am big!"

Please update with pictures!
posted by 8dot3 at 10:28 AM on October 3, 2012