Making Costume Dreams Come True – 4.0

What a tradition we have started! Beit Issie Shapiro just held their “Making Costume Dreams Come True” event for the fourth year in a row! We had about 30 participants this year, each a child with disabilities who uses some kind of mobility device. Each child and their family worked closely with design student volunteers from the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT) to create unique costumes, incorporating the wheelchair or walker into the design.

The idea for this event arose out of conversations with parents and children who shared that, often, the wheelchair or walker hides the child’s costume, taking away some of the magic of dressing-up. With this event the wheelchair or walker becomes an essential element of the costume, creating something unique and fun. This year, for example, one child’s wheelchair turned into an armored car for a ninja turtle and another’s turned into a rocket ship.

The energy in the building was amazing, and the children and their parents shared how significant this yearly event is for them, allowing their wheelchair or walker to be a positive addition to their costume as opposed to a hindrance. Watch the video (English subtitles) to see Roni, Neria, and Avital speak about their costumes and their personal experience with the event.

These costumes were created for the holiday of Purim but of course the ideas here can be used for anytime of year when children need or want to get dressed up.

Here are a few photos from this year’s event for some more costume ideas:

 

Zohar as Minnie Mouse and her special car:

 

Erez as Catboy from PJ Masks

 

Avigail the pirate and her pirate ship

 

Nevo as a famous local basketball star:

 

Avital as a Hatchimal, hatching from her egg:

 

Amit as a deer from her favorite song:

 

Ilay as a Ninja Turtle in his armored car:

 

Roni as the Little Mermaid:

 

Omer as an ice cream vendor:

 

Almog as a bus driver:

 

Roni the astronaut and her rocket ship:

 

Raphael as DJ Marshmallow:

 

Roni the circus acrobat:

 

Omer the Queen of Hearts:

 

Enjoy the costume ideas! Let us know of any similar events in your community. We’d love to hear about them!