Hey, friends! It's me, Irene. If you've read any of my Brit + Co posts , chances are you already know about my obsession with Disney. I'm literally listening to my Disney orchestra playlist on Spotify right now to get in the zone to talk about my latest DIY… Disney Couples Halloween costumes! Today, I'm showing you (and your boo) four ways to dress up as the cutest Disney couple there is.
I'm not a huge fan of being super literal when doing Disney DIYs , so I made these costumes more like Disneybounding outfits. If you're not familiar with Disneybounding, it's essentially just wearing normal clothing inspired by a Disney character. Not going so literal makes the DIYing easier, and it means you can repurpose the outfits for other occasions (like Disneyland Dapper Day!) Let's have a magical Halloween!
First up is Carl and Ellie from Up. I love everything about Up, even though I sobbed uncontrollably during most of it.
For Ellie’s outfit, I dressed our Brand Partnership Planner, Paige, in a Maggie Tang Yellow Gingham Dress ($40) from Amazon and yellow heels. I added a Paul Jones Dress Petticoat Tutu ($13) underneath to give it more volume.
For Ellie’s Adventure Book clutch, I bought a HDE Leather Envelope Clutch ($9) from Amazon, then traced the letters in Illustrator and ironed them on using dark iron-on transfer paper. You can use this printable to make your own Adventure Book clutch!
For Carl, I found a pair of brown pants, a brown jacket, brown dress shoes, and a blue tie from a thrift store. I bought a pair of moda Clear Lens Eye Glasses ($8) and a yellow H2H Men’s Sweater Vest ($22), both from Amazon. Jon brought his own white button-down and expert modeling chops to the shoot.
Finally, I painted colorful circles on one Luna Bazaar Paper Umbrella ($52 for four) as Carl’s “balloons,” and painted the grape soda pin on another paper umbrella as the “Ellie Badge.” Gosh, I’m choking up just remembering the scene when Carl gives Russell the Ellie Badge in the movie.
Fun Fact: The creators of the movie designed Carl to have a square shape and Ellie to have a round, balloon-shape, to show how Carl was a bit stuck in his ways but Ellie rounded Carl out. So cute and clever, right?
The next one is from the Disney short, Paperman. If you haven’t seen it, it’s truly magical. This one was a special one for Jon and Paige, because Jon asked Paige to marry him with a Paperman-inspired proposal. (I’m not crying, you’re crying!)
These costumes were almost entirely built from thrift store finds! I definitely encourage everyone to visit thrift stores for costumes. You’ll be surprised by what you can find and how cheap they are. Jon brought his own white button-down and black dress shoes and Paige brought her own black heels, and everything else was from Goodwill.
Hair and makeup guru Misty Spinney totally brought the dapper look to the next level. Misty: “It’s all about the pin curl, wingtip liner, bold brow, and that red lip! To prep your hair, follow this glam curl tutorial and get the perfect pin-curl set.
"Let your hair cool in this set while you move onto your makeup. Keep your skin flawless-looking with a high-impact, full-coverage foundation, a brightening concealer, and luminous setting powder. Go bold on your eyes and brows with a wing-tip liner and two coats of mascara, and be sure to fill in those brows baby! For your lip, keep it classic with that bright red matte hue and exaggerate your cupid's bow with a liner.
"Back to your hair — take out the pins and then gently brush through your curls, allowing the shape to take place. You can manipulate the shape of your waves by gently twisting and tousling your curls with your fingers. Spray a medium hairspray to hold your waves in place, and you can even pin anything that you are having trouble with.”
And at last... they found each other.
For this dapper Little Mermaid Halloween costume, I definitely debated between doing Ariel and Eric or Ariel and Flounder. Obviously Ariel and Flounder are not a real couple, but their friendship is pretty darn cute.
For Ariel, I bought a teal VfEmage Mermaid Pencil Skirt ($22) and a
Sarin Mathews Off-the-Shoulder Shirt ($14) from Amazon. I accessorized Paige with a coral fascinator, a pearl necklace, and a shell tumbler to complete the look.
I glued sequin ribbon in a scallop line long the pencil skirt to reference Ariel’s scales. Ariel’s turquoise wedges were from a thrift store.
To put together Flounder’s look, I bought a JC Distro Yellow Short-Sleeve Button-Down ($19), a blue KEYWIN Suspender and Bow Tie set ($10), and an NYFASHION10 Yellow Newsboy Cap ($12). I found a pair of blue pants from a thrift store and spray painted an old pair of loafers blue.
Under the sea, under the sea! Darling it's better, down where it's wetter!
Lastly, is Wall-E and Eve. I love their love story so much. This ensemble was the trickiest to put together because, well, how do you make robots look dapper? The most important thing when doing DIYs inspired by movie characters is to play on their motifs and colors, which is precisely what we did!
For Wall-E, I used the same brown shoes and brown pants from the Up costume. I found a pale yellow shirt and brown vest from Goodwill, and from Amazon, I got a Retreez Striped Bow Tie ($10), a pair of XYZCTEM Aviator Pilot Goggles ($8), and a Wonderful Fashion Brown Herringbone Newsboy Cap ($11).
For the lovely Eve, I repurposed a lot of the same pieces from the Mary Poppins costume I did. I dressed Paige in a MissCynthia White Wide Brim Hat ($16), a pair of Fever White Fingerless Lace Gloves ($9), and a pair of Getmorebeauty White Lace High-Heel Ankle Boots ($37), all from Amazon. Her white drop-waist dress was from Goodwill, and I sewed a green felt patch on it to mimic Eve’s green light. To mimic Eve’s blue light-up eyes, I bought a pair of zeroUV Blue Heart-Shaped Sunglasses ($10) from Amazon.
“Wall-eeeeee” “Eeeeev-aaaahh”
You are my directive.
Which Disney couple will you and your S.O. dress as for Halloween? Share your photos on Instagram using #britstagram.
Which Disney couple will you and your S.O. dress as for Halloween? Share your photos on Instagram using #britstagram.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
Which Disney couple will you and your S.O. dress as for Halloween? Share your photos on Instagram using #britstagram.
Which Disney couple will you and your S.O. dress as for Halloween? Share your photos on Instagram using #britstagram.
Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.
DIY Production and Styling: Irene Lee
Model: Paige and Jon Weber
Hair + Makeup: Misty Spinney
Photography: Brittany Griffin
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
You X Ventures for Unsplash
Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
Kobu Agency for Unsplash
You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures