Cow Appreciation Day Prep

If you know me then you definitely know what Cow Appreciation Day is!!  This year it falls on Tuesday, July 14th.  I thought with just a few weeks to go I would give you some simple costume ideas that we have done over the years.  It is really fun to see my cows grow up!

1.  Look and see what materials you have on hand.  Good things to start with are basic black or white apparel such as shirts, pants, shorts, dresses, etc.  I also always look to see if I have anything that is already cow print.  And I love using markers and felt.  You can purchase black and white felt fairly cheap and it works extremely well.

2.  After gathering what you have at home, start thinking of how you can put it together to make an outfit for Cow Appreciation Day.  Our family likes to dress head to hoof to get a free meal!

3.  We have several cow costumes that we use every year.  My Mom found a body size cow costume for me one year after Halloween 90% off - that is a great time to stock up on actual costumes and accessories but I love making costumes as well.

Ideas from Our Past

Here is a younger A and B dressed up!  

Having fun!

B is wearing our baby cow outfit, which we use for all our younger children.  A is dressed in black pants, a white shirt and a cow print bandanna around her neck and hair tie to pull it all together.

Here we are in the front yard.

I too have a bandanna.  This year I used a little face make-up and made black spots on our face.  Remember, you can also use brown.  Not all cows are black and white!

Here you see D in the same baby cow costume with B and C.

A at Chick-fil-A.

This year the older kids wore jeans and white/gray shirts that we already had on hand.  I used a black sharpie and make spots on the girls shirts and I made black felt spots for C's shirt.  We also used a little black face make-up for spots.

I put a white base on my face this year to have the make-up stand out even more.

Then I made some felt signs.  I used a white piece of felt, a little string/rope and a black and red sharpie - really simple yet effective.

Here are my signs!  They just give an outfit that extra oomph!

All ready to go!

Baby E is wearing the baby cow costume and D is sporting another one that we bought.  This year A and B are wearing black pants with white spray paint spots and black shirts with homemade white felt cow spot hearts.  C is wearing cow print chaps, black shirt with our homemade sign and his cowboy hat to tie it all together.

Another photo of them at Chick-fil-A.

 Baby E

All of us at Chick-fil-A

 Here we are with the older girls wearing white shirts with black felt spots and our homemade signs.

 With the sign

 This is what it looks like the night before Cow Appreciation Day in our house, Cow Eve.

Here you can see D is wearing a checkered black and white dress.  You really can tie in what you have.

We used headbands this year to make cow ears, and white visors with black sharpie spots added.  I also put together a few cowbells.  The older girls are wearing cow print felt spots.

Lots of fun

I haven't quite decided how our cow attire will be finalized this year but I know it will be good.  Stay tuned for more as we get closer to the day!  And I would love to hear your ideas.