Astros Skeleton Team has a “Thrilling and Chilling” Start

In October 2022, Our Astros headed to the MLB playoffs against Seattle and our skeleton Astros headed to the front yard for their own playoff game (also against Seattle).

Update 2023 – This year our Astros skeleton team is hoping for another playoff run!!!

The below post follows the playoff run in 2022. Stay tuned to this website, for a recap of last year’s games and, hopefully, a great playoff run for the skeletons in 2023!?!?!?!

This is our 3rd year to do skeletons in our front yard for the neighbors to enjoy. We have a wonderful neighborhood, and lots of neighbors who like decorations and/or decorating. Each Halloween, there are more than a few houses that I love – some decorate with amazing inflatables, including dragons, ghosts, and other creatures, then there is the house with fabulous huge spiders made from pvc pipe, we have the 2 lot one I call the “Scary Halloween Extravaganza”, and ours is likely known as the family skeleton house, or the changing skeleton house because we take down our skeletons each week so the yard can be mowed, and we also use that day to set up a new “family scene” for our skeletons. We do 4-5 scenes each year and each year I try to come up with 1-2 scenes I haven’t used before. This week we did one of these brand new scenes. To celebrate the Astros playoff journey we decided to represent their first playoff series games this year. This is probably the most involved scene, I’ve ever done (though my Lake Extravaganza one is a close second). This scene also has the most skeletons I have ever used in my yard at one time (it has 30 skeletons). The planning of this scene began early, and I chose to do the scene with 36″ skeletons as my adults. This is unusual for me (as my adults are usually 5′ tall) but due to the cost of the larger skeletons and the necessity to have a smaller scale adult to be able to fit a whole ballpark into my front yard of a similar scale, this seemed like the best plan. So into the garage storage my 5′ skeletons went, and I ordered some more 36″ skeletons to add to my collection. This ordering was done in August, which I discovered is a much easier time of year to find a quantity of skeletons.

The most challenging part of this scene was the uniforms, as there was nothing commercially available that would fit our skeletons well, except shirts. The skeletons have a torso of an 18″ doll, although their height is 36″, their waistline is almost that of a Barbie doll, and their legs are long and skinny – so saying they have unusual proportions is an understatement. It was obvious right away that these would need to be custom made uniforms. I was fortunate that a close friend of mine – who happens to be an excellent seamstress – volunteered for the project.

We made a guess that we would have home field advantage and decided on white pants for the Astros skeletons. Our original prototype looked like the below.

However as we shopped for Astros props, we found a onesie that was basically the original 1970’s Rainbow Jersey – onesie style, and decided that our skeletons “needed” those. Further research on that Rainbow Uniform showed that the uniform pants had a rainbow type stripes, and thankfully, my friend knew how to make those. So my friend made a pattern for the pants and we started gathering materials for our production.

I will include a list of what items we used for our scene at the end of this post. However, some items were enough of a challenge that they need have their own part in the story.

The most critical prop for this scene was the baseball glove, and finding them was surprisingly difficult. From the “pitcher skeleton” on my door in years past I knew that the size I needed was that of an award baseball glove that holds an autographed ball, usually sold with a collector’s cube. However, to buy it with the cube and ball was not necessary and was cost prohibitive. It took a very involved google search to find a source for just the baseball gloves alone. I was happy to find them at at collectible-supplies.com.

The second most difficult thing to find was a way to make the catcher’s chest guard, mask, and shin guards. Finally, I discovered a sewing pattern for an 18″ doll, that could be adapted and Ipurchased that.

The benches for fans and players, were another interesting item, because if I had purchased an available picnic bench, it would have left the players unable to touch their feet to the ground. My husband volunteered to custom make the benches and that solved the size problem. His creation was so stable that it enabled us to invite neighbors (via Facebook) to feel free to join the players on the bench and elsewhere for “selfies”.

The opposing team uniforms basically followed the design of our prototype Astro, before we switched to the Astros Rainbow Jersey. However, what was difficult about them was that at the time we needed to start making the pants, we still did not know what team the Astros would be playing in the playoff series. For a while it looked like it might be Toronto, or Tampa Bay or Seattle. We picked the gray pants with blue stripe because we thought it would go well with any of the 3. As it worked out, Seattle became the team to play and we found that out on Sunday. By Wednesday we had the emblems made for their shirts.

The most surprising challenge was that of the baseball caps. Having had bad luck with using caps made for humans on the differently proportioned skeleton heads, I opted for using the mini batting helmet/ice cream sundae cups. At first “try on” these seemed to fit perfectly, but within an hour they were popping off. We tried extremely sticky velcro on the hats and skulls in various places with no luck, but eventually realized that two horizontal command strips on the sides of the skull before placing the hat on- would be our key to success. The display has been up for 4 days now, and all the players and fans who had a baseball caps are still wearing them.

As always, in a skeleton scene, one of the bigger problems was finding a way to hold up the skeletons in the poses we wished them to keep. Because our son played baseball into college, and our friends daughter played softball into college, we wanted to stay true to the game in our poses, and stakes, posts, and zip ties enabled us to get the pitching, catching, fielding, and base running players in realistic poses.

With players and fans on the benches, the poses were achieved largely with zip ties, anchoring them to the bench in the position desired. If you have had luck with posing and anchoring skeletons in a different way, please let me know. I would love to hear from you.

We light the skeletons at night, and also set our holiday Orchestra of lights to orange or to Halloween. Unfortunately, it loses its programming sometimes and goes Christmas on us. We continue to work on this.

The night games have a whole different look with the skeletons then daytime. Below is a glance at the “night games” and after that is the list of items used, and their origins.

This has been a really fun scene to do. It’s been fun to see many neighbors respond to the invitation to take pictures with the skeletons. So from our neighborhood to yours – “Happy Halloween” and “Go Astros!!!!”

Origins of Props, uniforms, etc.

Props, etc.

Benches – homemade to fit the size of the skeletons. We made these will screws rather than nails so that we can disassemble the base if we need to store them more compactly. We were happy to invest the time and money in these, as we think that we will be doing many team sports where they will be needed in future years.

Pitchers mound – I traced a kiddie pool on brown landscaping cloth and cut it out. I used the clips designed for Landscaping cloth to anchor it in the field

Lights – I used Philips LED lights from Home Depot to have bulbs that stay cooler, and used Bell fixtures from Lowes – check voltage of your bulbs and compatibility with this fixture before using, and also that it says LED use, and Outdoor

Astros #1 foam hand- Academy

Astros license plate type sign – Academy

Astros avenue sign – Academy

Zip ties 14″ Lowes

Zip ties 18″ Lowes

Tent Stakes Walmart

Command Strips for attaching hats

Powder coated steel garden fence u post – Support Posts for 36″ skeletons – from Lowes

Astros Uniforms

pants – homemade

jersey – Majestic Astros jersey- onesie (Rainbow jersey) purchased at Academy is 12 month size

Belt – homemade

shoe/socks – from Amazon

baseball caps – MLB 8 oz ice cream bowls from Party City and Collectible-supplies.com

baseball glove – from Collectible-supplies.com

catcher’s gear – homemade, pattern was adapted from pattern for 18″ doll

Seattle Mariners uniforms

pants – homemade

shoe/socks – from Amazon

baseball cap – MLB 8 oz ice cream bowls from Collectible-supplies.com

baseball glove – from Collectible-supplies.com https://www.collectible-supplies.com/mini-baseball-glove-mitt-no-display-case-mini-mitt-only/

jerseys – Toddler t-shirts from Hobby Lobby, and logo made from Seattle Mariners fabric. (all MLB fabric was purchased at Amazon, Hobby Lobby and Joann’s – in stores for local teams, online for other teams)

Umpires Uniform

pants – homemade

shirt – Amazon

MLB logo sticker – Amazon

black cap – from Amazon

shoe/socks – Amazon

Fans outfits

shirts – T-shirts and onesies from Hobby Lobby, Astros fan’s shirt with heart from Academy

logo from Astros fabric from Joann’s

T-shirt dresses from Amazon and Hobby Lobby onsies

skirts, shorts, and sun dress – homemade from Astros fabric, and other cotton fabric.

tennis shoe socks – for the “adult” 36″ skeletons Amazon

Tiny Tennis shoes – for the baby/toddler 24″ skeletons

In This Post…

Scroll down to find, a “Coming Soon” section, a “Posts I Hope You Will Enjoy” section, and a “Link Parties and Blog Hops” section that will introduce you to some of my favorite bloggers. Beneath that is a “Comments” Section where I would love to hear any comments on questions on this post, and I would also love to hear about any of your Halloween celebrations or decorations!

Coming Soon…

My posts to come include a Skeleton Tablescape, a Mickey and Minnie Halloween Tablescape, a World Series Win post of our Skeleton Astros team and a Pumpkin and Ghost Tablescape.

Posts I Hope You Will Enjoy!!

Link Parties and Blog Hops

I often participate in Tablescape Thursday at betweennapsontheporch.net, Please click on the link to see this website of one of my favorite bloggers – I especially love her “Tablescape Thursday posts” which are all about tablescapes and her tablescape post is followed by photos and links for many other wonderful tablescapers.  Her “Metamorphosis Monday” posts, which are all about “Befores and Afters” – is another favorite of mine. 

I also often participate in Marty’s “Inspire me Tuesday” link party at “A Stroll Thru life” I hope you can check out her website and her Tuesday link party which is followed by photos and links for many other ideas from her followers.

Recently I started following Katherinescorner.com. I frequently join her TFT blog party. The TFT – Thursday Favorite Things blog hop contains links on many topics with lots of great ideas. To get there click on the preceding link and go to her website and they check out her most recent Thursday – TFT post. At the bottom of the post, you will find many of her followers’ ideas. 

Recently I discovered the Imparting Grace blog, and I am really enjoying it. To get to this website click the preceding link and look for the “Grace At Home Blog party” which begins some weeks on Thursdays.

I have also started following SouthernSunflowers.com and recently joined their “Home Matters Link Party”. It begins each week on Thursdays. I hope you can check it out.

Very Recently, I started following KarinsKottage.com, and I am loving her blog as well, and can’t wait to see her Italian Castle remodel! I often participate in her Linky Party on Wednesdays . 

I have also started following EclecticRedBarn.com and am loving the “Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop” and I am sharing on it on Wednesdays.  I also love her You’re the Star Blog Hop, and share on it

In addition I really enjoy Lifeasaleowife.com and share on the “Crafty Creators Link Party” on Thursdays, the “Happiness Is Homemade” link party on Mondays, and the “You’re the Star” Blog Hop on Tuesdays.

This year, for my first time, I have joined the “Home Imagined Link Party” at Masterpiecesofmylife.com. I love this website, and the hostesses and other contributors have some great ideas! To get to the home page, use the above link and then scroll down to “Home Imagined Link Party” and click on it to get to the Link Party page. A new link party is posted every other week. 

I have also shared recently on EsmeSalon.com. The following link, Senior Salon Pit Stop will get you to the link party on Esme’s site.

I hope you will enjoy visiting these wonderful bloggers on the above websites as much as I do!

Comments

Thanks so much for visiting my website! I would love to have you leave a comment and also share your Halloween memories!