The Wanderlust Librarian | Costumes at Disneyland

Confession time: I am a horrible costume builder. 

In fact, when Halloween time rolls around... I cringe because I can never think of a good costume to pull off! This anxiety was made worse when a few friends wanted to dress up when we went to Disneyland. 

Dress up? With costumes?  *gulp*

Turns out, Disneyland has an official position on wearing a costume: "(one cannot wear) adult costumes or clothing that can be viewed as representative of an actual Disney character". In plain people talk: an adult can't wear something that looks like a legitimate Disney character. The only time an adult can wear a full fledged costume in Disneyland is when there's a special Halloween party that you buy a special ticket for. 

How does one dress like a Disney character but not?  Disneybounding. 

The term was new to me until this year. Disneybounding is taking the color palate and essence of a Disney character and using those items to make a "costume". This means, that ANYone can wear it into a Disney park and represent their favorite character and still stay well within the rules. 

This was something I could definitely get behind! My travel companions and I decided to dress up as a cohesive group. We chose the classic movies, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland. Each of us chose a different character within those movies. 

Clothes are a huge part of Disneybounding. Accessories really push it all over the top. My friend, Taylor, brought bows and hats for us to use and they really made the difference between "It looks good." and "We look AWESOME!". She found things on the cheap. The cost was $1.00 ea for the big bows and $1.00 for a pair of the little bows. She got the shirts at a shirt outlet in Stockton for $3.00 and the pants for $10.00 at K Mart. 

The cartoon Mr. Smee

The Bloggess as Smee (and a hat... I NEVER wear hats)

TinkerScout with green jeans! 

Tinkerbell

                                                                               

 Happy Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
and Pluto!! 

Grumpy Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum

                                                                               

A lot of cast members (people who work at Disneyland) really loved it. It solidified us as a group and it made people smile. At the end of the day... it was just fun. Everyone was comfortable, happy.. and full of Disney spirit! My friends and I are already planning our next Disneybounding adventure. 

What would be yours?

Go out there and find your costumed adventure. 

Happy Halloween! 

Just Because | Thank you to the Friends and Foundation

It bears constant repeating that SSJCPL as an organization and all that staff that work here are incredibly grateful for the amazing contributions made by the various Friends groups throughout San Joaquin County as well as to the continued financial support of the Library & Literacy Foundation for San Joaquin County.

These groups work hard to come up with ways to raise money and then so graciously offer those hard earned dollars right back to the library for a variety of purposes.  A majority of the funds go toward the purchase of materials for our shelves, which end up in the hands of people of all ages.  

Some of those funds also go toward our programming - the day to day book clubs and storytimes as well as the special programming such as Summer Reading and the One Book, One San Joaquin program that is taking place this month.

Shop at your local Friends Book Sale Event!

If you want to help these groups to support the library, it's easy! In addition to shopping your favorite national bookstores, stop by the local Friends of the Stockton Library bookstore in Stockton to check out their best sellers and new releases.  Or, if you are outside of Stockton, when checking out books at a county SSJCPL branch, take a moment and peruse the in-library friends book sales!  Ripon is well know for their book sales, as is Manteca and Linden! The money you spend puts a book in your hand and puts dollars in a fund that will eventually be used to purchase new materials for the library system.

As for the Library & Literacy Foundation, check them out, too!! They are doing all kinds of great things in San Joaquin County that help to promote literacy!  

Thank you to our Friends and patners -- we do what we do better because of you!