Findler said she's always loved making her costumes for Halloween. This year, she took it to another level to go with the hockey theme in her family.
Findler's husband, Ted, dressed as Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and 6-year-old son, Max, the youngest of their four children, went as a referee.
Caught up in the fever of the Capitals winning the Stanley Cup last season for the first time in their 43-season history, Findler came up with the idea of making the costume. She searched the internet ideas but didn't like any she found.
"Then, I just tried to figure out how can I make it to actually look like it," Findler said. "I started doing a lot of research about the Stanley Cup and the history of it and how many bands are on it and all the names on the Cup. Then, I was like, 'I'm going to actually put all the names on here.'"
Findler said it took her about a week of working multiple hours each day to put the costume together.
"I bought one those bell skirts that kind of goes under a wedding dress to make it poof out and then I cut it myself to narrow it down, so it was more the shape of the actual Cup and didn't look like a big bell skirt," Findler said. "Then, from there I just got shiny silver material off of Amazon and it was really trial and error."
To accentuate the Cup's five bands, Findler used plumber's tape. A stickler for details, she spent hours researching the teams and the players engraved on each of the bands. Then, she printed the teams on fabric stickers and placed them in the proper order.
"I tried to even match the font to be as close to the font that's on the Cup," Findler said. "I have my own business, I'm an accountant and I think that plays into that I don't like to leave details out. I like it to be as accurate as possible."
For the Cup's bowl, she used a silver serving bowl she used to put fruit in. She also detailed that with plumber's tape to make it look like the real thing and attached it to her head with a headband.
When Findler was done, she was a living replica of the most famous trophy in sports.
"Honestly, it really made me appreciate the Caps winning it that much more," she said. "You see a lot of repeat [teams] on there. You see how many times the Maple Leafs won and all these other teams and then you see [the Capitals] at the bottom on their own band and you're like, 'That is super cool.' And it just made it that much more special."
