When I first learned about the Disney Princess Half Marathon over six years ago I was sold and knew that I had to be part of it one day. It took me that entire six plus years to make it work with my husband’s schedule, but this year we finally made it happen! Because I had built it up so much in my mind over all of that time, I felt pressure to have the most epic costumes possible. And then the race snuck up on me and was here before I knew it. After waiting that long and envisioning it all, I had somehow wound up with less than a week to create a costume for myself and for my hubby too. Not only did we pull it off, but we did it on the cheap to boot. Here’s how:
For us, I think the hardest part of the entire race was deciding upon which characters to dress as. We knew that we wanted to stick with the theme and only use a princess, so that really narrowed our choices. After multiple drawing names from a hat sessions, we finally ended up with provincial Belle and Gaston (because he is one of my all time fave characters…gotta love those bad boys!) mostly for the ease of the costumes.
After a quick internet search to refresh my memory, I made a run to my local craft store and picked up sequin knit fabric, elastic, white cotton fabric, white ribbon and thread. Then I hustled over to the sporting goods store to pick up a tank top and matching shorts for me, plus a red athletic shirt for my guy. One last stop at Walmart to grab a yellow polo and I was headed home to craft.
I shared with you how I made my own DIY sparkling running skirt, but when it came to compression arm sleeves, I decided that purchasing them would probably be safer. Worries about chafing and circulation made this $22 purchase totally worth it for me. To create my top, I used a Nike tank as a base and dug through my closet for an old white button down shirt. I laid the button down flat inside the tank and measured where it needed to be cut. I didn’t want the sleeves attached and I was hoping to have as little fabric from it as possible still remaining because you never know how hot it will be in Orlando while running.
After cutting it down as small as possible, I put it on and then tried the tank on over it. A few safety pins on each side held it in place and allowed me to keep the tank and reuse it after the race.
The apron was made from 1/4 yard of fabric and some matching white ribbon. Folding the fabric and holding it up to myself to measure how large I wanted it to be (technical, it’s how I roll), I simply hemmed three sides of the square. Then I folded over the top side and sewed it, leaving a pocket for my ribbon to be threaded through. On race day I tied the apron on and didn’t have to fiddle with it all day. It was the easiest accessory ever.
Last but not least, I whipped up a super quick hair bow with ribbon that I had on hand using this tutorial I shared awhile back. I added a FlipBelt to hold my chapstick and my sunglasses and I was all set!
I just want to point out that the lovely sweat looking stain on the front of my shirt in the above photo is totally water from the water station shortly before we took this picture. I swear! 🙂
With the Gaston costume, I had planned to do much the same with the layered shirts as I did with my outfit, but my hubby chose to sew his together instead. As I had done with my shirt, he laid the polo out inside the red athletic shirt and cut it down. Then he cut the red shirt into a v-neck (because Gaston has to show off his chest hair) and sewed the polo and the athletic shirt together. He had the black shorts and FlipBelt on hand, so all he had to do was use the scraps from the cut up polo to create a quick “belt buckle.”
Our total cost breakdown for Belle is:
tank top: $25
arm sleeves: $22
shorts: $12
sparkle skirt: $5
apron: $1
hair bow: $0 (made from items on hand)
FlipBelt $18 (purchased on eBay)
Cost breakdown for Gaston is:
red athletic shirt: $15
yellow polo: $6
Total cost of $104 for the two costumes combined. We could have shaved it down even more had I not purchased the FlipBelt or the arm sleeves, but I was extremely happy with the outcome after pricing similar outfits on Etsy and other online retailers. There were lots of tops alone that cost as much as our two full costumes combined!
All in all, we had such a fantastic time, our costumes were easily recognizable and often complimented and I am looking forward to DIYing our next race costumes…even if I have to wait another six years! I’ll be posting a full recap on the race in the next week or two.
Have you participated in any of the Run Disney races? What would be your dream race to run? I’d love to hear from you!
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