Halloween 2015 - DIY Tutorials - Family Games Themed Halloween Costumes

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We look forward to Halloween every year simply because it gives us an excuse to be creative and silly – well, okay, we need no excuse for that, do we?

Every year, we think of a theme and costumes that aren’t terribly hard to make.

This year I took on an additional challenge. How little could I spend on making our costumes?  The whopping total I spent to make all 4 costumes was $3.23, only having to buy 1 item from the store. Everything else we already had on hand or received from generous friends. I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out. This year’s costumes might be my favorite yet.

DIY Kids Twister Game Halloween Costume Tutorial:

Here's the sweet Twister dress for my sweet little Zoey.

Materials:

• Sweatshirt Fleece White Fabric by The Yard
• Felt (I used blue, green, yellow and red)
• Red Sharpie
• Hot Glue Gun

Instructions:

• I used one of her existing dresses as a template to make the little white dress for this costume.
• To make the dress, cut 2 identical pieces of the white sweatshirt fabric for the front and back.
• Sew top shoulder and side seams together. Since this material does not fray I left the neck and hem a raw edge.
• Cut 2 inch circles out of multi-colored felt and hot glue to dress.
• Use a red Sharpie to draw the word Twister to the bottom of the dress.

This is the front view of the dress.

Back view of the dress.

The Twister spinner is an image found on the web and hot glued to a wristband made out of extra fabric from white fabric. Tip, if you use fabric with stretch, that will work best. This way, it can easily be slipped on as a bracelet or you can add a velcro closure like I did. This is a fun spinner option that actually works. 

DIY Adult Scrabble Game Halloween Costume Tutorial:

Materials:

• Sweatshirt Fleece White Fabric
• Red Felt Fabric
• Tan Felt
• Black Sharpie Marker
• Hot Glue Gun
• Multi Color Sharpies
• Cricut Explorer

Instructions:

I made this white dress pretty much identical to Zoey’s dress above, only in my size and added red felt to the bottom for the logo.

• I used one of my existing dresses as a template to make the dress.
• To make the dress, cut 2 identical pieces of the white sweatshirt fabric for the front and back.
• Sew top shoulder and side seams together. Since this material does not fray I left the neck and hem a raw edge.

• Using the tan felt fabric, cut 1x1 inch square pieces for each letter. For my dress, I thought it would be fun to use all our names. By coincidence, they all connect perfectly.
• Write your letters onto each piece of tan felt with a black permanent marker.
• Apply each game piece to the dress using a hot glue gun.
• To create the empty squares on the board I traced around a 1×1 inch template I made from cardboard.
• I colored some squares in using colored pencils but in hindsight, multi-color permanent markers would offer a better, brighter result.

As a finishing touch, I added the logo to the Scrabble bottom. It was cut using my Cricut Explore and hot glued to the red felt.

DIY Adult Operation Game Halloween Costume Tutorial:

Materials:

• White Felt
• Red Felt
• Tan Felt
• Black Sharpie Marker
• Hot Glue Gun
• Tan Long Sleeve Shirt
• Tan Pants
• Stainless Steel Kitchen Tongs
• Red Light Up Nose
• Cricut Explorer

Instructions:

I searched for a template for game pieces I could print and cut but didn’t have any luck.

• As a result, I hand drew and cut all the pieces out of red and white felt. In hindsight, this would have been much easier using my Cricut Explorer.
• Arrange all the pieces on the tan shirt and tan pants. To save costs, we turned one of my husbands older shirts inside out and used an old pair of khakis he owned as well.
• Use hot glue to apply all the pieces to the clothing.

Using a black permanent marker, write the description of each piece.

Stainless steel kitchen tongs work perfectly as giant tweezers.

To replicate the rubber band game piece I used a long piece of tan felt and hot glued it on its edge.

DIY Claw Machine Halloween Costume Tutorial:

For our little Zander, we made him the ultimate Claw Machine costume. This was by far the most complex costume to make and the one I love the most. I ended up making all the printables myself and I’ll post them below for you to download for your own Claw Machine! Here’s a look into how it was made…

Materials:

• Large Cardboard Box
• Empty Small Tissue Box
• Checkered Duck Tape
• Silver Duck Tape
• Mirror Board
• Large Plastic Straw
• Ping Pong Ball
• 2 Inch Wide Nylon Webbing
• Hot Glue Gun

• Free Printables:
• The Claw sign
• Extras artwork: arrows, grab it button, $1 per play, money slot and prize artwork.
• Toy Background: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

Instructions:

• Find a cardboard box that will fit your child (or you) inside, depending on who you're making this costume for.

• Cut windows on 3 sides.
• Leave the back solid to add backpack straps later.

• Cut about half of the bottom out to slide in/out of the costume.
• Cut a piece of cardboard to act as a tray.
• Use a hot glue gun to apply the tray below the front window. This will be for toys to rest on. (We wanted to minimize the weight of this costume as much as possible so this helps against added weight from extra toys.)

• Cover the entire box using the checkerboard Duck Tape (except for the top and back sides). Using this tape really gives it the added arcade feel and keeps the box sturdy. 

• Print and cut the free printable I made for The Claw sign.
• Use hot glue to apply to the top of the box.

• This claw was made using cardboard, a large straw and mirror board.
• Cut the straw to your desired length and cover with mirror board using hot glue.
• Cut the 3 cardboard pieces that form the claw. Cover each piece with mirror board using hot glue.
• Attach the 3 cardboard pieces to the end of the straw using hot glue.
• Use silver Duck Tape to cover the attached area if it looks messy.

• This box is an empty tissue box covered in checkered Duck tape and attached using hot glue.
• The joystick is made using a large straw and a ping pong ball.
• Cut a circle out of the bottom of the ball and insert the straw. Use hot glue to keep it in place.  Cut the straw to size and glue to the tissue box.
• Print and cut the free printable I created for the arrows, grab it button, $1 per play, money slot and prize artwork.

• For the prize door I used silver Duck tape and outlined it with permanent marker. It’s just for show and doesn’t actually open.
• “Prize” artwork is included in this free printable I created.

• The background image is probably my favorite part of the whole costume because they are actually my son's toys. I searched online for an image of stuffed toys I could use but nothing was high quality enough and was too blurry when blown up to size.  I ended up taking a photo of his toys and tiling that. Worked out perfectly and added that personal touch to make it his own.
• This was 6 pages tiled together and attached using scotch tape. These are the 6 pages if you'd like to use them: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3, Page 4, Page 5, Page 6

• The backpack straps are 2-inch nylon webbing.
• Cut webbing to desired length plus 4 inches extra.
• Cut 2.5 inch horizontal slits in the box (2 on top and 2 on bottom) in the desired location to fit the person inside who is wearing the game.
• Insert the webbing thru the slits. Extend webbing 2 inches on top and 2 inches on bottom. Hot glue and tape the extended pieces of webbing to the back of the cardboard.
• Cover top and back of cardboard box using sliver Duck Tape. Personally, I think this adds to the machine look of the costume.

There you have it. I really enjoyed making our customs this year, hope they inspire you to make something fun for your family!

Now it’s time to…play.

When Twister played The Claw, she won a caterpillar.

When Scrabble played Operation, she got some spare ribs.

Fun announcements:

• we won 2nd place for the best family costume in the annual Costume Works costume contest
• We were mentioned as one of The 15 Best Halloween Costumes for Families by Readers Digest.

If you make your own versions we'd love to see! Be sure to tag #IZZAROOcostumes for a chance to be featured on our website.

Hope this inspires you to #CREATEmore and make lasting memories for your family. I would love to hear what you think of these in the comments section. 

See our past Halloween costumes for more fun ideas.

To see some of our fun video tutorials, check out our YouTube channel.

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