Who Will You Be This Halloween? Let Rosie the Riveter Help You Decide.

Post #51 – Rosie’s Daughters: The “First Woman To” Generation Tells Its Story by Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett

There’s a nip in the air. Can you feel it? It’s slight. Ever so slight. But it’s there. We’re still weeks away from frost on the pumpkin, but the dew is heavier. And the nights are cooler. I don’t know about you, but I have a craving for a crisp McIntosh. And I’m looking forward to the smells of cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg filling the house as my first pumpkin pie of the season bakes.

All this can only mean one thing. Halloween is less than 60 days away. It’s time to start thinking costume. Are you in panic mode yet? Well this little video may help you:

Whether your inspiration comes from the pumpkin patch or this video, Rosie the Riveter is always a good choice. Not only is Rosie a powerful icon for women but her costume is very affordable.

All you need is a pair of blue jeans and a blue work shirt (some women go with a pair of blue coveralls instead). You’ll need some boots, loafers or sensible shoes although you could wear canvas hightop sneakers. And one woman decided to spice up her Rosie a bit by wearing red patent leather heels.

And that’s another great thing about Rosie the Riveter. You can personalize your costume in so many ways. We receive so many wonderful photos from women who dress as Rosie for Halloween or other special events; we decided to create another video in order to use some of them:

Rosie the Riveter is in the Accessories

The fun of dressing up like Rosie the Riveter for Halloween (or any event) is in the details…the accessories. Here are a few that you’ll need:

• Bright red lipstick
• Rosie’s red-and-white polka dot bandana
• Rosie’s official employment badge collar pin (she couldn’t get into the factory without it)
• A few rivets to put in your pocket (in case people don’t know what Rosie was famous for)
• A WWII ration book (Rosie never left home without hers)
• The We Can Do It! poster (but without Rosie’s famous portrait…this one let’s you be the center of attention

We created our DIY Rosie Kit to be the ultimate Rosie the Riveter Legacy Portrait Kit. It includes everything you need (except jeans, shirt, shoes and lipstick) for the perfect Rosie the Riveter Halloween costume.

The perfect Rosie the Riveter accessory kit

It even includes a couple fun additions. We created a great zipper pull that looks like Rosie’s employment badge collar pin. You can put it on your favorite jacket or vest to show your connection with Rosie every day. And we wrote a little cookbook that will give you an idea of how people cooked and ate back during WWII when so many things were either rationed or just not available.

So, who will you be this Halloween? Rosie has your answer!

And One More Thing

Actually, make that two. First, we’ve started a Pinterest board for Rosie the Riveter and all the women who enjoy dressing as Rosie. Hope you’ll check it out. We named it Rosie’s Bandana
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And second, we saw a great idea (on Pinterest) for incorporating your We Can Do It poster into your costume. Glue the poster to some heavy cardboard or foam core board, which you can get at the craft store. Then cut four holes toward the bottom and run a ribbon through the two on the right and the another ribbon through the two on the left. Tie the ribbons around your arms (up by your shoulder) and you can wear the sign behind you.