Introduction: FAIRY COSTUME From Plastic Milk Jugs: Recycle Crafting

About: My life is busy. My days are full. I go to bed at night tired. I am HAPPY!
My daughter wants to have a Spring Fairy Birthday Party this year where all her friends can dress up like little flower fairies and earn their wings by saving Summer from the evil Snow Queen.  Where do they come up with this stuff =)

Lots to do in planning a birthday party but first things first,  the costumes.  Since there will be a number of children invited to the party, I know the costumes  will have to be made from something FREE, or almost free, and from something easy to come by.   As it turns out, plastic milk jugs are perfect for this project. 

My conservative price estimate is $8.00 per flower fairy.  That price includes the cost of the tutu, which is optional.
Ribbon - $1.50 to $3.00
Silk Flowers - 50 cents
Glitter - 50 cents
Tulle - $4.00 (optional)

Step 1: SUPPLIES:

WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO NEED:

5 plastic milk jugs, gallon size
Ribbon 12 to 24 feet
  
I found a roll, 12 feet, about half an inch wide, for $1.50 at a super center.
Silk flowers
  Goodwill is a great place to find these.  All the flowers I need for ten costumes for 50 cents.
Glitter - Optional
  
I used some leftover snow glitter from another project.
Hot glue and gun
wire
Xacto Knife
Broken hanger or stick

Step 2: MILK JUGS:

For this step I attached three pictures.  On each, I loosely sketched the placement of all the parts of the costume.

Milk Jug 1:  One bracelet
                      Wand
                      Crown
                      2 large skirt petals
                      2 small skirt petals
                      ring

Milk Jug 2:  One fairy wing

Milk Jug 3:  One fair wing

Milk Jug 4:  2 large skirt petals
                     2 small skirt petals

Milk Jug 5:  2 large skirt petals
                     2 small skirt petals

Step 3: CROWN:

The crown is made by using the base of the milk jug (placement depicted in step 2)
Cut out a center point and then the band of the crown is the entire base of the milk jug. 

I ran a line of hot glue on the edge of the crown and added the snow glitter. 
With the Xacto knife, cut half inch slits to thread the ribbon through.  Then decorate with the silk flowers.

NOTE:  I tried to make more intricate patterns and found that it was lost when applying glitter.

Step 4: WAND:

The wand is made by using the bottom of the milk jug.  Cut out the triangular shapes like butterfly wings. 

I poked two holes in each wing and secured them together with wire and hot glue.

The wand's stick is a broken plastic hanger.

Decorate the wand with glitter, ribbon and silk flowers.

Step 5: WINGS:

Step 2 has the placement for the wings.

Once you cut out the shape you want, the wing will still have the shape of the milk jug.  If you turn it inside out, it will hold its shape and will look like a wing.  I just stacked the two on top of each other and did some fine cutting to make sure they were even. 

I left a little tab at the end of the wings to overlap when attaching (see picture)

I used the wire and hot glue to hold the two pieces of wing together.  Glitter on the edges.

Cut four slits in the wing to hold the ribbon.  The ribbon will be used to tie the wings on.

Decorate with silk flowers.

Step 6: BRACELETS & RINGS:

Once again, look for placement on Step 2.

The ring is made from the handle of the milk jug.  Simply cut a small piece and hot glue a silk flower to the top.

The bracelets and ankle bracelets are made from the top of the milk jug.  Glitter and slits cut into the plastic to thread the ribbon through.

Step 7: SKIRT & TUTU:

Cut the skirt petals and apply glitter to the edges.  Slits in the plastic to thread the ribbon through and decorate.

I made a Tulle tutu using this Instructable.  Very easy to do and the tutu turned out amazingly well.  I used one roll of pre-cut Tulle that I purchased from a super center for $4.00.  I had to improvise and used the band of a pair of old nylons instead of the elastic, but it worked.

OPTION:  If you want to save the cost of the tulle, you could cut skirt petals in the same way the wings are made and not use the tutu at all.   I imagine it would be another four to five gallons of milk.

Step 8: SHOES & BASKET:

I know this is optional, but for Halloween I would like the whole costume to be complete.

Use a pair of old shoes and decorate with glitter and silk flowers.  If you don't have white shoes, you can paint old shoes with acrylics or with white spray paint.

The trick-or-treat basket is just the body of a milk jug, some ribbon and flowers.