Two years ago during the Animethon 2013, Myla was 9 months old, and we cosplayed together for the first time! Studio Ghibli’s “My Neighbor Totoro” is one of our favourite movies, and I decided to cosplay as Mei using items that were easily purchased at the mall (see where all the items are from in this blog post HERE). I added a touch of crochet to this costume by crocheting the cherry balls for my hair and the red rim around my hat. We purchased Myla’s Totoro onesie and Ryan and Corey’s Totoro t-shirts from Redbubble and made a leaf headband and a big leaf as Totoro’s accessories!
Last year we took a family trip to California in the summer and excitedly attended Anime Expo 2014 in Los Angeles! It was amazing seeing so many cosplayers as it is the largest anime convention in North America. We reused our Mei and Totoro costume, but this time Myla was 21 months old, so she could walk! We attended three days of the convention, so the next day we dressed up as Misty and Togepi from Pokemon! Similarly, my Misty costume was very easy to put together using items from the mall, and we added red and blue felt triangles to a white dress that we found for Myla. I also crocheted a Pokeball as an accessory! You can read about our Anime Expo experience HERE!
On the last day of Anime Expo, Myla wore this intricate “Attack on Titan” costume that we made for her! We spent many hours working on this costume and we were delighted with how it turned out! People were squealing when they saw our cute and tiny Mikasa with her 3D maneuver gear and cropped trench complete with the Survey Corps emblem! You can read all about how we made this toddler Attack on Titan costume HERE!
I was actually 4 months pregnant with baby Brielle when we attended Anime Expo! This year we weren’t sure what to cosplay as for Animethon 2015, but we wanted to dress up together as a family since it would be Brielle’s first time cosplaying. We did not have much time to prepare anything as we were busy helping with a friend’s wedding for much of the summer, but we had the idea to go with the Totoro theme again (Myla watches this movie on repeat haha), this time incorporating the three different-sized Totoros!
As you can see in the picture above, there are three different Totoros: the large grey one, the medium blue one and the little white one. We looked on Amazon and purchased these “My Neighbor Totoro Kigurumi Pajamas” for Ryan so that he could be the large grey one! These pajamas are amazingly soft…hehe I think I might wear them as pajamas in the future since they’re so comfy! Check them out HERE!
For Myla’s medium Totoro, we were looking for a clothing item with the perfect shade of blue. Looking in stores can be difficult as they have set stock for each season- we recommend going to a gently used clothing store as they usually have a wider range of options of many colours and styles and it’s typically cheaper. We were so happy when we found this simple blue dress originally from baby Gap!
Ryan cut out the Totoro belly shape from white felt! I then sewed it onto the dress- easy peasy!
Instead of having to add those blue “v’s” ontop of the white belly, we simply cut that shape out of the white felt so that the blue underneath would be visible!
The middle blue Totoro has an acorn sack that he carries (with a hole in it so that Mei is chasing him as he drops his acorns). We found this burlap sack, removed the original ribbon inside, and then added this twine so that it could be carried!
We purchased a headband from the dollar store, added wiring in the shape of Totoro’s ears, and then sewed matching navy blue fabric around the ears. Ryan then wrapped and glued the fabric around the headband.
Ryan sketched Brie’s costume out as the little white Totoro- isn’t it hilarious, hehe?
We found this perfect bunny hoodie at the second hand store and began modifying it!
We removed the pink buttons and switched them out with white buttons. Ryan then cut a slit in the ears and added wiring inside so that they would stick up straight at all times. Lastly, he made felt eyes and sewed them onto the top of the hood!
Here is our family Totoro cosplay! Myla did not want to wear her ears or carry her sack of acorns haha…such is often the case when cosplaying with toddlers 😛 We got this massive leaf from Ikea as it’s the perfect Totoro leaf! I can’t believe I was able to reuse my Mei costume again but this time with three cute Totoros as my friends!
The three Totoros! Ryan was such a good sport about wearing these pajamas, especially on a hot summer day! We joked that he shouldn’t stray too far from us so that people always knew that he was part of our group costume….otherwise he might get funny looks!
Out and about at the Animethon 2015! Just look at how big Myla is now! She is 33 months old and such a little lady! Brielle is 7 months old here and growing quickly as well 🙂 I can’t believe we have two little girls now!
How adorable is Brie with her sweet smile? It was so cute how her ears were sticking straight up the whole time! I think she found her little white Totoro costume very comfy 🙂
Myla was excited to wear her Totoro dress! Comfort is key when dressing up toddlers and babies as they are likely to rip or take off any extraneous accessories (Myla only stayed in her “Attack on Titan” costume for 15 mins before we changed her into a comfy dress last year haha). Both girls were comfortable in their outfits the whole time we were at the Animethon, and Myla LOVED hugging Ryan since his Totoro pajamas were so fuffy and soft. He was like a giant stuffed animal for Myla to hug!
We had fun dressing up as a family this year and cosplaying with Brielle for the first time! Dressing up is extra fun when you’re a part of a group costume, and we always enjoy doing these things together as a family 🙂 The girls’ costumes were very easy to put together and very affordable, so I hope you got some inspiration for future cosplaying or for Halloween as well! If you like the idea of sticking with the Totoro theme for cosplay, you could always dress up as Satsuki the older sister (putting together her costume would be more difficult, so you’d probably have to sew it or buy it), Kanta the boy, or the Dad and Mom! You could also include a Soot Sprite, a husk of corn, the present that Totoro gives to the girls (the acorns wrapped in leaves) and of course the Catbus as other accessories! Who knows what we’ll cosplay as next! If you have any ideas, send them our way!
