Vikings and Valkyries

Cue the Music!
So this year for Halloween we went Norse. Specifically we were Vikings and Valkyries.

We read this book over the Summer, and Greta was quite taken with Edda, the littlest Valkyrie. So when I was mulling over ideas for this years family costume, Vikings and Valkyries seemed like fun for Kent and I, with the added bonus that Greta would be 100% on board, yeeeeet not a Disney princess! Woooo parenting win! Besides, I had just found the most adorable Oliver sized flail at Target that day...it was settled.
I asked my friend Leanna if she was going to host a Halloween party. Because at this point we had a great costume idea, a baby flail, and no where to go.
I needed to save my party planning energy for December (see previous post) but I knew Leanna had a spark for putting on events, so I went ahead and made the match. Party, meet Leanna. Leanna, party. I offered to co-host, and the rest is history. The party was a hit!
Costumes were made, but like serious costumes were made. Leanna and her family came as How to Train your Dragon characters, and they were as authentic as you can get without the use of a hand loom and animal bone. Our friends Zach and Greta made giant paper mache bear heads, and there was a spot on Lego movie family as well.
Our costumes crossed the gamut in construction materials. Paper, paste, sheet metal, rivets, leather, fur, cloth, feathers, plastic, wood and mucho gold paint.
My dad lent a hand (and a pop rivet gun) when it came down to the heavy duty pieces.
For the armor, we made a pattern out of poster board, and then cut it out of sheet metal with tin snips.  I found the perfect metal pipe flange in the vent aisle at Home Depot, that we opened up for the Romanesque detailing at the bottom of the breast piece. Then we secured the two pieces with rivets, punched a few holes and wove in some leather straps, and darned if wearing armor doesn't feel awesome.
Greta was excited all month long. She drew pictures and told anyone who would listen at church about her Valkyrie costume.
On Halloween day, we suited up while listening to Wagner (of course) and sang Flight of the Valkyries in the car on the way to school, just to prepare the world for what was coming. I loved watching her explain to Spiderman what a Valkyrie was in the school line. The little boys face changed from skepticism to respect. Heck yeah, you respect the class Valkyrie.
Here we are from Greta's concept to, construction, to finish.
And look we won best group costume!