Man, when my kid’s school announced Wonderland Day, she latched onto wanting the perfect White Rabbit look. No Alice for her – she wanted the flustered bunny with the watch. Sounded cool, but wow, the hunt got real.
Hitting the Wall Online
First instinct? Jump on the laptop, obviously. Typed in “White Rabbit costume women” and went nuts scrolling. Found tons of “sexy bunny” stuff – useless. Or cheap Halloween versions falling apart in the pictures. Tried adding “vintage” and “classic.” Mostly still weird, off-white suits that screamed cheap party store, not Wonderland. Felt like I was chasing my own tail. Why is this so hard?!
Dragging Feet to Actual Shops
Gave up online. Figured maybe seeing things in person would help. Wrong. Hit every costume shop in town and then some big department stores. Either they had:
- Cartoony pink bunny costumes for toddlers – way too babyish.
- Basic white leotards with ears – looked like workout gear gone wrong.
- Rabbit masks that were just terrifying. Kid would traumatize her classmates.
Checked thrift stores too, hoping for a cool vintage coat or waistcoat. Found lots of plaid. Not useful. Nearly started believing in vanishing rabbits myself.
Giving Up & Doing It Anyway
Finally admitted defeat on ready-made. Time to piece it together. Took a deep breath and went at it like a scavenger hunt.
Started digging through her own wardrobe. Found her old dress slacks – tan, not white, but close enough. Clean lines, actually fitted decently. Okay, pants base: check.
Needed a waistcoat. Scoured women’s blazers at thrift stores again. Found a soft, worn-in cream-colored cropped blazer. It looked kinda dusty, perfect! Cut off the sleeves roughly with heavy scissors. Raw edges? Add character. Waistcoat vibe achieved.
The shirt underneath was tricky. Needed something proper but fancy. Found a basic puffy-sleeve white blouse at a discount store. Looked stupidly blue in the changing room light but under the blazer-waistcoat, it passed.
The Rabbit Details
Ears were easy, sorta. Big box store had a basic white headband with ears. Cheap fluff. Fixed it by hot-gluing some extra white fleece scraps I had around the base to bulk them up.
The watch? Found a slightly oversized plastic pocket watch necklace with a chain in the jewelry section. Not accurate at all, but from 10 feet away in the school hall? Good enough.
Fake fur tail proved impossible. Ended up cutting a circle from some fuzzy white socks and safety-pinning it to the back of the pants. Shh, don’t tell anyone. Made some mismatched gloves work by dying one slightly bluer to look like she’d dipped it in paint.
Patchwork Victory
Put it all on her the morning of. Tan pants, puffy blouse, slightly frayed cropped blazer buttoned up tight, bulkier ears, wonky necklace watch pinned to the lapel, sock tail pinned to her bum.
Honestly? It looked weirdly perfect. Not fancy. But distinctly, messily, wonderfully Wonderland. Like the White Rabbit after a rough night running errands. She grinned like crazy, which was the real win. Learned my lesson: sometimes you gotta grow your own mushrooms and make the costume.
