It all started with bare feet. Isn’t that how all love stories start? It was May 30, 2009 and I was meeting friends at our local movie theatre for the premiere of the newest Pixar movie, Up. I noticed the new guy had shown up, dressed in shorts and his North Face flip flops. As we all headed into the theatre and I settled into my seat, I kicked off my own flip flops and put my [clean] feet up on the head rest (with no one seated) in front of me. Ah, so comfortable. As the movie started, I noticed another pair of well manicured and what I presumed were clean bare feet propped up on the headrest three chairs to my left. The new guy. Like-mindedness at its finest, I thought. As the opening credits started, little did I know that I would marry that new guy with really nice feet. Like Carl and Ellie, our own adventure would soon begin over the coming months and our introduction to the movie Up would forever become a sweet and nostalgic memory.

-2021-

Carl and Ellie

OUTFIT AND ACCESSORY DETAILS

ELLIE

Ready for yet another thrift store mission, I entered one of my favorite locations. I didn’t have to look far to see that hanging on one of the front racks was an ugly yellow and floral shirt. It wasn’t the exact style that young Ellie wore, but I wasn’t sure I’d find a print so similar. I added it to the cart as a possibility and continued looking. Speaking of bare feet, Ellie was so simple and mismatched in her style that I really only needed one more item—overalls. Unfortunately, the only ones in the store were branded with Winnie the Pooh, but Ellie’s overalls were covered in patches anyway and I had an idea! It was nothing that a little leftover fabric from Carl’s soon-to-be-thrifted sweater, fabric from Halloweens past, some Heat Bond, hot glue, and buttons couldn’t cover! You’d think after 11 years of dressing up that I would have actually learned to sew by now—challenging as that skill may be to learn, maybe I just love a no-sew challenge more!

THE EXTRAS

Little Ellie seemed to have an affinity for soda pop badges and I was able to find exact replicas on Etsy! The 4 pin set that I purchased are no longer available, but you can still find similar ones from the same seller here. After carefully looking at our reference photos, I pinned the badges exactly in place on the overall straps!

For Ellie’s shaggy hairstyle, I donned a similarly cut orange wig purchased from Amazon, and using dry shampoo and hairspray, I did my best to make the layers of hair stick out a bit—a little reminiscent of the scene when she takes off her aviator hat and her hair is full of static! To complete her adorable semi-ragamuffin look, I used purple felt for crafting her hair bow that would clip in and sit perfectly askew atop her head.

THE MAKEUP

When I look at young Ellie, the facial features that pop out the most to me are her wide tooth gap and her freckles. I first applied natural makeup, and using wet eyeshadow and a brush, flicked freckles onto my face to complete the look. Next up, disappearing teeth! To ensure I had a wide enough gap, I painted two of my teeth with black ToothFX from Mehron Makeup. It covered well and thankfully didn’t rub off through the evening, but I didn’t love the cooling / tingling feeling it had. For as well as it stayed put, I was glad that it was so easy to remove with a q-tip dipped in alcohol (or coconut oil)!

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE!

Ellie’s adventure book was one she didn’t mind sharing with her friend turned husband and its contents became a nostalgic guide for Carl within the movie. In real life, you too can find your own adventure book for you and yours! While you can source them at different places online (and even at Disney World), I bought ours on Amazon. It came with blank (and refillable) pages and it was the perfect excuse to have a craft day with my mom. I had wanted to buy one for awhile, and aside from needing it as a prop for our costumes, we enjoy displaying it in our living room. While it may not hold every single adventure, I love being able to add to it when the feeling hits.

CARL

I tried. I headed to the men’s section of the thrift store. What did I find? A cream colored polo, which was such a simple part of young Carl’s costume—and that’s it. At this point, no one should be surprised that the men’s section of thrift stores generally fail me most of the time. Back to the women’s section I went! As per usual, my backtracking proved successful and I found a stretchy, woven short sleeve sweater (that could be cut into a vest) and plaid pants that I could shorten to capri length. Craig pulled boots from his own closet and his “socks” were actually clean garage cloths that he wrapped and pinned around his ankles.

THE EXTRAS

Carl met Ellie wearing her own aviator hat and goggles, but I wanted to save those accessories for Craig’s costume. After all, we’re not up in the attic of an old abandoned house daily flying our imaginary dirigible. One aviator hat and goggles is enough for the Halloween dress up closet. I also tried my best to thrift a pair black square glasses like Carl wore throughout the movie, but ended up finding and purchasing a pair on Amazon instead.

As for his grape soda badge? We didn’t need to look far for such a treasure. Read on to the closing paragraph below to see why it was so perfectly easy to source!

SPIRIT OF ADVENTURE

The balloons were such a fun addition this year! We originally wanted to tie a bunch to the post of our front porch, but we figured that most people wouldn’t be able to see them in the dark and brought them inside. Besides, they were much better suited for our annual picture taking! Referencing the font on the balloon from the movie, I chose the blue balloon that Craig would be holding and used a black Sharpie to write out the famous name of Charles Muntz’s dirigible. We were ready! It was time to grab our candy bowl, open the front door, and cue Michael Giacchino’s “Spirit of Adventure”!

FUN FACT

From that very first night of noticing his bare feet to then dating and now being married for over 11 years, we have always made it a priority to celebrate our “Up-iversary” every May 30th by having a date night and re-watching the movie—and yes, we’re usually barefoot.

As many adventures as marriage in itself may hold and as much traveling as we have enjoyed planning and taking (including eating ice cream outside of Fenton’s Creamery in Oakland, CA), I believe it’s safe to say that we have bestowed upon ourselves the Ellie badge of continual adventure. We even made it official years ago by purchasing our very own Grape Soda and Wilderness Explorer pins! They’ve traveled with us on our many adventures and continue to be displayed in our home as sweet reminders. They’ve now made their debut into this year’s Halloween season, and while they may not re-surface in the costume category again anytime soon, they are the badges and the spirit of adventure behind each and every Halloween costume that we create and document—a costume club of our very own.