Real Monsters Costume

Full costume!

Originally I wanted to do a couple’s costume with my boyfriend and be the Maitlands from Beetlejuice (which I found a sweet how-to on this site.) He got foam insulation to start the masks, but realized there was no way he’d get them done in time for Halloween parties. I had a week to come up with a costume and put it together. (If anyone knows me, they know I refuse to be anything from a bag.) I thought of awesome cartoons I liked when I was younger, and decided on Oblina from Aaahh! Real Monsters costume because she’s cute and creepy. Since my boyfriend, Joe, had all that foam, I asked him if he could make Oblina’s lips for me so they’d be spot-on and in 3D.

While he was doing that, I got all my black and white clothes to tear apart and put back together (Cheapo shirts from Walmart, leggings, socks, gloves, and winter hats, 2 of each, 1 black and 1 white.). I cut the shirts and leggings apart and hem taped them together to form Oblina’s stripes (hem tape is amazing when you don’t have a sewing machine). I had a pair of black Toms-knock-offs that I hate because they make my feet sweat, so I painted one white and left the other one alone. I got 2 styrofoam balls and painted them to look like her eyes and used black pipe cleaners for her eyelashes. Since I needed more forehead than I have, I stuffed the white winter hat with newspaper and sewed it to the black one so I’d have some head extension. I put pipe cleaners through the top of the hat for her 3 little hairs.

Joe made the lips perfectly. We stapled a black pantyhose over the mouth opening for me to see out of, but still cover my actual eyes, nose, and mouth. Putting the whole face together was the hardest part (Thank God Joe made my shih tzu, Tucker, an Ewok costume in the meantime to help with my frustration. Yep…just whipped it up real quick). For the eyes, we bent and taped a wire clothes hanger around a headband, left the ends extended to hold the eyes out where they needed to go, put weather foam over the hanger, and wrapped it with hockey tape. We painted my face black, cut slits in the hat for the eyes, and used Velcro to attach the lips to the front brim of the hat (this way I could take them off if I felt like it). Putting and keeping everything in place on my head sucked, but we did it!

Everyone at the Halloween party thought I looked amazing and couldn’t believe Joe didn’t go to school for making props and costumes. Obviously, I got a big ego because I won the costume contest at the party. Of course I had to show off on Facebook, and got likes and comments galore. All the stress was well worth it for my amazing costume!