The Saga of Sulley

Move over, Martha! There’s a new criminal in town and I’m killing it with the craftiness! Like many crimes today, mine was born out of necessity from the struggling economy. I simply did not have upwards of $1,000 to buy a Sulley costume. That’s right. . .$1,000!

It all started in late September when we were talking to the kids about what our family was going to dress up as for Halloween. A few different ideas were tossed around and we finally landed on Monsters, Inc. Before finalizing things, I did a quick search on e-Bay to make sure I could find a Sulley costume for Andy. There were lots. After I had already made the twins’ costumes and purchased Lexi’s, I got back on e-Bay to bid on one for Andy. It was then that I realized the majority of the costumes were for kids; the adult sized costumes were very rare. Disney discontinued them and put them in the “vault.” Probably so they can bring them back to coincide with the sequel scheduled for 2013, Monsters University.

After bidding—and losing by a HUGE margin—on the only three adult Sulley costumes I could find, I became desperate. Time was running out. I called Savers and the DI to see if by some miracle someone was as naïve as me, didn’t realize the value of the costume and decided to donate it. No such luck. Costume rental shops? Nope. I called Disneyland and Disneyworld. Nada. Disney outlet stores? Nothing. I couldn’t even attempt to sew Andy’s costume because not one fabric store between Sandy and Logan carried blue faux fur—or even white faux fur that I could dye for that matter! I was really getting stressed out at this point. The kids were so excited, I didn’t want to be mean mommy (yet again!) and ruin their fun.

Then, as I was watching Monsters Inc. with the kids for the bazillionth time, I noticed something. Sulley looks a lot like the abominable snowman. And that’s when I hatched my brilliant plan. I would buy an abominable snowman costume and modify it to look like Sulley. It would be simple really—a misdemeanor on the scale of craftiness if you will. With my sister as my long-distance accomplice cheering me on, I got to work.

In the mean time, a fourth costume that I was bidding on sold, but the buyer didn’t pay. So the seller contacted me and offered it to me for the low, low price of $520. It was tempting. I could turn around and sell it next year and maybe even make a profit. But after hemming and hawing, I decided it was too much of a gamble and went back to the snowman.

The first step was to dye the costume teal blue just like Sulley. One quick trip to the craft store and I had a bottle of Rit Fabric Dye and some purple fabric spray paint for step two. Unfortunately, the dye only turned the fur a very pale sky blue. Another trip to the craft store. I decided to use fabric spray paint on the entire thing since the dye didn’t work. I took the costume outside and began to spray it over the grass. But the clothing rack I had it on was too wobbly and the wind was blowing slightly. So I moved onto the paving stones where I thought I had cardboard strategically placed to catch any overspray; unfortunately, I did not. I had committed a felony in the eyes of my dear, sweet hubby—whom I affectionately refer to as Anal Andy—and vandalized our property. This time, with my brother as my accomplice I set out to destroy the evidence of my crime with some paint thinner. Nope. Lacquer thinner. Uh-uh. Acetone? Not even close. The paving stones are still blue. (Sigh.)

Next up: one pair of gloves and one pair of shoe covers. The fur only partially covered each. The rest was white rubber with unsightly brownish colored veins all over. I decided the best fix was once again spray paint. This time I used extreme caution when painting. Things were finally starting to fall into place.

Fast forward to three days later when I checked on the gloves and discovered that the paint was still tacky. For some reason the paint would not fully dry on the rubber. So, on Halloween morning I made yet another trip to the store for a pair of brown gloves. I found about 20 single gloves in a box on the shelf, but none of them had tags. I grabbed two and took them up to the register. The clerk informed me that they were only sold in packs of 6 and she couldn’t sell them to me. Ummm, yeah. Then why is there a box with so many single gloves in there? Whatever. I made another quick run up and down the aisle and found a different pair. That afternoon I unstitched the fur from the rubber gloves and sewed it on the gloves I just bought and put the finishing touches on the costume.

Much to my pleasure, Sulley only slightly resembled an overgrown cookie monster dressed as a Viking. Brayden, Makenzie and Alexis all overwhelmingly approved. Most people knew exactly who he was despite the fact that he didn’t have a tail. One teenage boy even yelled “Kitty!” when he saw Andy. Awesome! A few people took pictures. Very cool. I tried to ignore the people who thought he was supposed to be Sascawatch. Since when does Sascawatch have horns, purple polka dots and purple triangles on his back? Idiots.

So was the crime worth the time and punishment? I’ll let you be the judge.