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College of Human Sciences AMDA students design adaptable Halloween costumes for children with disabilities

The excitement was hard to contain for 8-year-old Logan McCool the week prior to Halloween—and for good reason. That’s because McCool was anxious to see her finalized My Little Pony Pipp Petals the Pegasus Halloween costume designed by several College of Human Sciences Apparel Merchandising & Design Association (AMDA) students.

Up and down a first-floor hallway inside Spidle Hall, McCool rolled her now customized pink wheelchair that’s specifically catered to her needs while offering her own costume suggestions to students as the modifications will undoubtedly enhance her trick-or-treating experience on Halloween.

Logan McCool wheels her costume down Spidle Hall

Eight-year-old Logan McCool shows off her customized My Little Pony Pipp Petals the Pegasus Halloween costume down a hallway in Spidle Hall that was designed by several College of Human Sciences AMDA students.

McCool won’t be the only child sporting a custom Halloween costume. McCool, along with seven other children who face physical challenges and disabilities, will boast the creative costumes thanks to several AMDA students’ efforts designing adaptable Halloween costumes that will make trick-or-treating more accessible and less stressful for both the children and their parents.

On average, most families involved with this project traveled approximately 2.5 hours to visit Auburn University for the Halloween costume measurements and pick-up. However, the travel was a minor inconvenience considering what this project provides for their children.

“For the non-crafty parent, this costume is everything,” said Candice McCool, mother of Logan. “In years past, we have had to rely on typical, standard costumes that didn’t really incorporate her wheelchair into the design. The Auburn students were great with Logan and listened to all her suggestions and ideas and did their best to implement them all.”

This special project was made possible thanks to funding provided by the Y-H Peggy Hsieh Endowed Fund for Innovation & Research Excellence in the College of Human Sciences, which supports projects addressing individual or social needs in ways that improve quality of life. Children’s Harbor, whose mission is to strengthen families of seriously ill children through refuge, respite and resources, teamed up with AMDA students in the College of Human Sciences who broke off into design teams that worked with eight different children. They then began brainstorming ideas for specific adaptive garment needs that each child might need when it comes to wearing their very own custom Halloween costumes.

After an initial meeting where AMDA students met the children to learn more about their disabilities, take measurements for costume sizes and draw up a plan, the students worked through the month of October on a variety of Halloween costumes centered around wheelchairs or other special medical equipment that the children might wear, such as a tracheostomy tube.

Mai Cooper, a freshman majoring in apparel design and production management, helped design McCool’s Halloween costume and discussed how her team made the garments adjustable to enhance the comfort of the design.

“I was pretty excited to work on this project because I have a lot of experience working on costumes and I thought this would be fun,” said Cooper. “We’ve been trying to make most things on this costume adjustable so when we attach the wings to her wheelchair, we will make it lace-up so if it’s too big or too small it will be adjustable.”

Another team consisting of Grace Zellner, a freshman majoring in apparel design and production management, Lauren Washington, a junior majoring in culinary science and Yarianna Valentina Rangel Gonzalez, a sophomore majoring in apparel merchandising, all worked together to design a Halloween costume for a boy named Jaxon, who loves the movie, “Cars.”

For Jaxon, he chose to be a race car driver for Halloween and as a result, the team of Zellner, Washington and Gonzalez chose to center his costume around Mack, a Super-Liner semi-hauler that serves as Lightning McQueen’s transporter in the movie “Cars.”

As Washington worked on designing the front grille of the semi-hauler for Jackson’s wagon, Zellner worked on other measurements. As a team, they concluded the “Cars” design would work best for Jaxon.

“We met with Jaxon and his family, and he likes “Harry Potter,” “Cars” and “Toy Story” and we picked “Cars” because we had some good ideas from that,” said Zellner. “We’re making him Lightning McQueen with his little racing suit and his wagon will be Mack the semi-hauler. We made the costume accessible from his tracheostomy tube and gastrostomy tube to make things easier for him.”

“It’s been fairly easy, and we haven’t run into many struggles, but we did the majority of the work by putting boxes together and then it’s drawing the details and doing the spray paint after that,” Washington added.

"It’s rare to find people who care so deeply about creating inclusive, joyful experiences for kids, and this group went above and beyond. This entire process has been a bright spot for us. I’m incredibly grateful to these students for making this Halloween unforgettable for Jaxon—and for us as a family.”

Cassie Booth

For Cassie Booth, mother of Jaxon, she described the costume as especially meaningful to her because it lets Jaxon experience Halloween in a way that fits his needs. With his wagon integrated into the costume, he will be able to enjoy every moment of trick-or-treating without getting too tired.

“Working with the Auburn students on this project has been wonderful,” Booth said. “I was genuinely touched by how kind, flexible and attentive they were to our schedule and Jaxon’s needs. They took time to understand what would make Halloween special for him, down to the smallest details. It’s rare to find people who care so deeply about creating inclusive, joyful experiences for kids, and this group went above and beyond. This entire process has been a bright spot for us. I’m incredibly grateful to these students for making this Halloween unforgettable for Jaxon—and for us as a family.”

Dawn Michaelson, an assistant professor of apparel design and production management and the AMDA co-advisor, said the grant funding was beneficial for this project and the hope is the collaboration will continue with Children’s Harbor in the future.

“This is our first time working with Children’s Harbor for this project, but we’ve talked about wanting this to continue and something we might want to do every year with them,” said Michaelson. “The grant funding can be used to solve a community problem, and it ties in really well with this. Our first AMDA meeting, we had an amazing turnout with over 70 members, and we had 21 students involved in this project.”

For more information on the College of Human Sciences Apparel Merchandising, Design and Production Management program, click below.

Apparel Merchandising, Design and Production Management