Halloween | Desert Chica

DIY Star Wars Costume Ideas

byKaren•November 23, 2015

We’ve done the Star Wars Halloween theme before but we couldn’t help repeating it this year with the much-anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens arriving in theaters next month. Everything Star Wars has been in Hyperdrive for months and fun Halloween ideas is no exception. The highlight of our party is always the costumes, this year was no exception. Check out our Star Wars Costume Ideas. I’ve included links for your convenience, but most of the costumes are DIY or semi-homemade with just a few purchased accessories.

Han Solo and Chewbacca are definitely two of my favorite Star Wars characters. My sister-in-law borrowed some of my DIY Han Solo Costume, she wasn’t running a race so she opted for dark blue jeans and also remade my gun belt using felt (I used craft foam). The jeans were a great choice but I’d recommend sticking to craft foam for the gun belt because the felt on her belt kept stretching out as she wore it. Check out my Han Solo Costume Tutorial for all the details including the perfect Han Solo shirt I found on Amazon!

My brother went with an easy Chewbacca look, with a Chewbacca Union Suit and a fun talking Chewbacca mask.

Easy Ewok Costume

My other sister-in-law came up with a super cute, and easy Ewok costume. I think most people think brown and orange for Ewoks but they really were a wide variety of neutral color combinations. Her gray and black ears are actually from a racoon costume kit and worked well with clothes she already had in her closet. Her hood is actually an infinity scarf which worked really well over her ears. They scored a big stick while landscaping her yard!

DIY Yoda Costume

My brother had already invested in a cool Yoda mask years ago. He finished his costume with neutral clothes including a large terrycloth bathrobe and Yoda hands. His walking stick is another one from their yard.

Boba Fett Costume

Peter wanted an easy costume this year, so we bought a Boba Fett costume shirt and paired it with a Boba Fett helmet the boys already had in their costume box. I wanted to make DIY jetpack for him to wear, but I ran out of time.

Darth Vader Costume

Quinn’s costume Darth Vader costume was the easiest, we just added a light saber, and black gloves to to deluxe (but reasonably priced) Darth Vader costume we found online. We also picked up a fun Darth Vader sound effects device, just push a button and it sounds like Darth Vader breathing!

Our Emporer only wore the Emperor mask with a black t-shirt and jeans. I’d suggest all black clothes, black robe and a staff to complete the look. Creepy old hands would also be a fun touch.

My mom loves dressing up to scare the boys, so she asked Elliot who he was most scared of in Star Wars. The “yeti” was his response… also known as the Wampa. She didn’t scare them as much as her Joker costume a few years ago, but Elliot refused to get any closer to her in this picture. 😉

DIY Star Wars Wampa Costume

Wampa knit hat (We bought ours at Star Traders in Disneyland)
White fur coat (An amazing thrift store find)
White jumpsuit (My mom bought a Princess Leia jammie suit and we covered up the few silver details with white duct tape)
Black press on nails for claws (dollar store find)
White face paint
Red solo cup and red duct tape to recreate the bloody limb (after Luke chops off one arm while escaping his ice cave)

DIY Jawa Costume

These Jawa costumes are super impressive, and all DIY! The robes are made from flat brown sheets and a glue gun using a pattern online (I’ll add a link if I can). The glowing eye masks were amazing. They started with hockey masks and covered them with black felt. Then they drilled small holes under their eyes and inserted tea lights. The gun was a just cardboard and a black marker. She used an overhead projector to accurately create it from an image she found online. One of the bandoliers was just a belt they already owned, the other one was made using butcher paper, cardboard, glue and a marker! The easy route would be this Jawa costume but honestly, I LOVE the homemade nature and frugalness of these Jawa costumes!!

Obi-Wan is a neutral clothes paired with a Jedi robe and Light Saber. Easy Peasy! I went as Princess Leia on Hoth again. However, I think this version is much better. The base of the costume is pretty easy to pull off, just off-white pants, shirt and vest. I went ahead and created the patch (using duct tape) for the vest. My hair is pretty long right now, so I was able to make two braids and pin it up similar to how Leia wears it on Hoth. The easy Leia look is the Leia wig though.

It’s no surprise that my favorite costume of the night is our adorable BB-8 droid. It turned out way better than I expected. Sometimes I get these hairbrained ideas and they actually work out ok. Shocking!! Check out the full BB-8 costume tutorial for details but it’s basically it’s duct tape, a colander, and a paper lantern.

I can’t wait to see the new Star Wars movie next month. How many fun new costume ideas will Star Wars: The Force Awakens generate?!?

Charlie Brown Costume

byKaren•October 12, 2015

I’m sharing a super easy costume today, perfect for any Peanuts gang fan. A Charlie Brown costume made from a sweatshirt would make an easy Halloween costume or fun hoodie to wear when the new Peanuts Movie opens in theaters next month!

All you need is a yellow hoodie and black felt. I printed out a Charlie Brown shirt pattern I found online. There are tons available and you could even draw your own template fairly easily.

I used stich witch and ironed the black felt on to the front of the sweatshirt. You could also hot glue or stich it on.

In fact, I did sew “hair” to the top of the hood. The stitch witch material was wider than the hair so stitching just made sense. Hot glue would also work here. I didn’t use a template for Charlie Brown’s “hair,” I just freehanded the design following a picture of Charlie Brown I found online. I’m pretty happy with the result and given my lack of scissor skills, I am pretty sure anyone can duplicate this design.

Hmm now, do I have time to make Elliot a Snoopy one too?? 😉

More Sweatshirt Costume Ideas:

DIY Star Wars BB-8 Costume

byKaren•October 8, 2015

I’ve been brainstorming for months on how to create a Star Wars BB-8 Costume. Don’t know who he is? He’s the adorable new droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. It’s ok if you don’t know who he is yet, the movie doesn’t open in theaters until December.

BB-8 is a droid that rolls, so the biggest challenge was creating his sphere shaped body. Our Baymax paper lantern caught my eye a few weeks ago and I decided a round paper lantern might be perfect for a BB-8 Costume. Even though I had moments of doubt while making it, I think BB-8 turned out much better than I anticipated.

Ideally a Chinese lantern made from fabric would be sturdier but they are harder to find and much pricier. I settled on a 24″ White Chinese Lantern from Amazon for under $8. We have a 12″ paper lantern in the boys bedroom so I used it to help estimated how big of a lantern I needed. For reference, this costume is for my 5 1/2-year-old (he’s ~43″ tall).

I started by cutting the top and bottom openings slightly larger so that my son could fit into the lantern. I used wire snippers to cut the wire frame and scissors to cut out one or two rings of paper from around the openings. To the keep it top and bottom from ripping, I reinforced the openings with white duct tape.

Paper lanterns are usually held open with a metal or plastic frame, but that won’t work if you want to fit someone inside the lantern too. My solution was to coat the inside of the paper lantern with white duct tape. The duct tape actually serves two purposes, it helps hold the paper lantern open and also makes the overall costume more durable. I went through 2 rolls of white duct tape!

You can take a peek at the process in this time-lapse video!

Once the sphere was prepped, it was time to cut out my BB-8 designs. Finding nice clean pictures to use was actually pretty hard. Hopefully better images will be released as we get closer to release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. I found using images from the Sphero BB-8 Droid to be the best bet since it’s a very popular toy right now.

I enlarged 4 images as consistently as possible (i.e. making them similarly sized). Then I cut out each piece of the design and traced it onto parchment paper. Using the appropriate duct tape color, I covered each design completely before cutting the shape out. Scissors will easily cut through the parchment paper and then the duct tape design will slide right off the parchment paper, ready to be applied to the paper lantern.

I created straps using a long piece of white duct tape folded in half length wise. After Elliot tried it on a few times, I attached the straps to the BB-8 sphere using safety pins. Then I covered the pins with white duct tape.

BB-8 Costume Sphere Materials

24 ” white paper lantern
white duct tape
silver duct tape
orange duct tape
4 safety pins
parchment paper

The base of the BB-8 hat is a white colander from the 99 Cents Only store. I wrapped the entire thing in white duct tape to create a more solid and consistent base. I painted on the BB-8 designs using gray, orange, and black paint if I did it again I might try duct tape instead, but the paint worked well. I created the droids two “eyes” by cutting 2 craft foam balls in 1/2 (one large and one small) and covering both with black duct tape before using a glue gun to attach them to the hat.

BB-8 Hat Materials

Dollar store colander
wood dowels
white duct tape
black duct tape
white duct tape
grey, orange and black paint
foam or bubble wrap
foam spheres

Buy this Star Wars BB-8 Bike Helmet already made. 😉

I used wood dowels to create the BB-8 antennas, covering them first in duct tape. Using the colander as the hat base made it easy to attach the dowels. I used a pair of scissors to drill/widen two holes in the top, then I was able to push the dowels snuggly into the top. I added bubble wrap to line the inside of the helmet to help it fit more snuggly to Elliot’s head, similar to foam in a bike helmet. A white t-shirt completes the look.

I love this costume, it turned out so much better than I thought possible. I might doubt myself a bit. 😉 It’s light weight because of the paper lantern base but durable because it’s lined with white duct tape. To me it totally screams homemade Halloween costume in a really fun way.

Paper lanterns not your thing? Check out these other BB-8 costume ideas one from Mom Endeavors and one from All for the Boys.

More Star Wars Fun:

Inside Out Bing Bong Costume

byKaren•September 25, 2015

Don’t laugh. Promise you won’t laugh…Bing Bong is heartwarming ridiculous as Riley’s imaginary friend. My Inside Out Bing Bong costume is just as ridiculous. 😉

How To Make a Bing Bong Costume

That’s ok because Halloween is supposed to be silly and fun, right? Check out how I pieced my Bing Bong costume together. Most of my costume was homemade from resale shops or the dollar store! I have included a few amazon affiliate links to make things easier for you if you want to try and recreate it.

Bing Bong Dress & Jacket

Bing Bong is arguably the most loved character from Inside Out. My kids definitely thought he was awesome and so did I. Originally I thought the costume would be too hard to pull off but I honestly brainstorm costume ideas 24-7 most of the time. I just couldn’t shake the idea of a Bing Bong costume.

The project was a go after finding the perfect pink dress at a local resale shop. I needed a dress or a skirt in order to showcase his amazing striped legs. The dress was the right color, fairly comfortable and had pockets. It was perfect! I also found a short brown jacket at a resale shop. Bing Bong wears more of a sports coat but that would be way too hot to pull off in Arizona or for Mickey’s Halloween Party in California which is where I plan on wearing my costume.

Bing Bong Socks

In my attempt to be frugal and also get the “perfect” Bing Bong socks, I tried to make them. It was kind of a fail. Ok, a big fail. 😉 FYI – Fabric paint doesn’t apply or adhere well to tights.

My back up plan was these awesome striped socks from Amazon. They were my biggest splurge for the costume and totally worth it. I spent quite a bit of time searching for the right color combination and I think these socks are perfect!

Bing Bong Flower Pin

I shared my DIY Flower Lapel Pin last month before I committed to making a complete Bing Bong costume. I figured it would be a fun craft project for any Inside Out fan! It just takes an old button and some craft foam! It’s also a perfect addition to my Bing Bong Costume!

Bing Bong Bow Tie

I think my Bing Bong bow tie is the coolest part of the costume. Originally I searched and searched online for the perfect Bing Bong bow tie. Amazon has a big selection of purple polka dot bow ties. I almost bought one online but I found these amazing purple leggings with pink polka dots at the 99 Cents Only store. I figured I could make my own bow tie for much cheaper with them and I was right. Of course, much cheaper is relative and this DIY is also dependent upon finding the right materials. I definitely got lucky with this find.

You can find lots basic bow tie tutorials online but the gist of it is folding up a rectangular piece of material and then wrapping a strip of material around the middle to secure it together. I hand sewed my bow tie but a glue gun could work too. I also found a fabric headband that was the same shade of pink as my polka dots. I decided to make it a bow tie “necklace” by attaching the bow tie to the headband. This made my bow tie so much easier to make and also easy to wear, simply stretching the headband over my head. Both the leggings and headband were only $1 each!

Bing Bong Hat

I found tiny hats (with hair clips attached) in the costume section at the 99 Cents Only store. They had several colors but no brown so I made do with a black one. I took off the fancy embellishment and added a blue ribbon and green feather with a glue gun. It’s not perfect but I thought super cute for under $2! This brown one on amazon is also super cute.

Bing Bong Gloves

I already owned a pair of fingerless knit gloves. They aren’t perfect but I dig ‘free’ any day of the week. I think these gloves on amazon are perfect but buying a pair of $1 knit gloves and cutting off the fingertips would be cheaper!

I ALMOST attempted a purple raccoon tail but decided it wasn’t a necessary costume accessory. I didn’t find any purple tails online but you might be able to dye the light stripes of this raccoon tail and make it work. Instead, my tennis shoes bring in a pop of purple to the costume.

DIY Bing Bong Costume Costs

In total, my Bing Bong costume cost about $35 to make. A little pricer than I would have liked but half the items were actually purchased using credit at a resale shop, so really it was under $20 cash.

Dress $9 – Resale shop
Jacket $8 – Resale shop
Socks – $12 – Amazon
Hat – $2 – Dollar store supplies
Flower Pin $2 – Dollar store supplies
Bow Tie $2 – Dollar store supplies
Fingerless Gloves – Mine (because I am that awesome 😉 )
Purple Tennis Shoes – Mine

More Inside Out Costume Ideas:

Have you picked out a Halloween costume yet?

Inside Out Costume Ideas

byKaren•September 13, 2015

I am a big fan of family-themed costume ideas and of course DIY costumes. I think one of this year coolest Halloween costume themes are going to be Inside Out. Dressing up as the latest pop culture sensation is always fun and Inside Out is definitely one of the biggest movies of the year. I’ve already jumped on the idea by making Quinn an Anger costume and Elliot a Fear costume. I’m in the middle of making myself a Bing Bong costume, I’ll be sure to share when I’m done.

I can only put together so many costumes though, so today I am sharing all the fun Inside Out costumes ideas I have swirling around in my head with Amazon affiliate links. Note that I only buy some costume pieces on Amazon, I actually prefer to look at thrift stores, discounts stores and dollar stores for most costume items. Spending as little as possible on a fun costume is part of the thrill for me. 🙂

Inside Out Costume Ideas:

Anger Costume

This homemade Anger costume is definitely one of my easiest ones ever. The mask would be a fun Inside Out party craft all by itself!

With a white button-down shirt base and dark pants, you are already 1/2 done with your Anger costume. Head over to my Inside Out Anger Costume post for instructions on making the tie and mask!

Here’s another ANGER costume from Highlights Along The Way.

Fear Costume

My DIY Fear costume is adorable. And I might be a little biased by my model. 😉 Honestly thought I think it turned out super cute, there is NO SEWING involved and you could easily scale it up for an adult.

Finding a child-size houndstooth vest was the trickiest part and I ended up making one out of houndstooth duct tape. For all the details, head over to my Inside Out Fear Costume post!

Check out details of this Fear costume at Highlights Along The Way.

Disgust Costume

Disgust is one of the more complicated costumes, not hard really just a lot of different elements or make or purchase. And of course you could always go with green body paint as well.

Joy Costume

Joy’s costume is so basic that I didn’t even put together a costume image. All you need is a lime dress and blue pixie wig. You could attempt to DIY the floral designs on a plain lime dress if you want to get crafty. She doesn’t wear shoes so I’d recommend nude sandals or flats.

Check out this adorable DIY Joy from Highlights Along The Way.

Sadness Costume

I think the key pieces for a Sadness costume is blue hair, large round glasses, and a light blue sweater. Additional ideas include dark blue pants or jeans, blue flats and if you want to go all-out blue body paint!

Check out this adorable DIY Sadness Costume from Highlights Along The Way!

Bing Bong Costume

My Bing Bong looks is more Disney Bounding than a straight up costume. If you want to first dress as a pink elephant and add a purple raccoon tail, that’d work too. (And please send me a picture of your complete costume, it would be epic!) The key Bing Bong costume pieces are the hat, purple polka dot bow tie, flower lapel pin and striped socks.

And here’s my own take on a BING BONG costume!

Head over to my Bing Bong Costume post for details on how I pulled this silly costume together!

More Inside Out Costume Ideas

Rainbow Unicorn Costume

Rainbow Unicorn was a fun character in the movie and with lots of unicorn fans out there, it’s actually pretty easy to pull together with items you can buy. The only DIY part of this costume would be attaching the heart patch to the pants and possibly adding a stripe up up dark pink ribbon up the horn.

Riley Costume

Of course, Riley should be included in the Inside Out costume ideas. There are a couple of different versions you could attempt including Riley as a hockey player or first day of school outfit: rainbow shirt, yellow jacket, and backpack. You might want to splurge on a wig (this is the closest one I found).

Forgetters Costume

The Forgetters aren’t main characters but they are memorable unless they make you forget them. 😉 Start with all blue clothing, then add white safety glasses, white gloves, and a white hard hat. You could even carry around a couple of large bouncy balls in different colors (memories).

Jangles the Clown Costume

Jangles is the one “scary” character in the movie. An exact match for him might be hard to pull off but here are a few ideas: Clown costume t-shirt, blue clown wig (modified for an inverse mohawk), blue pants, red nose, and white face paint. You could also carry a mallet.

Broccoli Pizza Costume

A slice of broccoli pizza should be easy enough to DIY. A large triangle piece of felt/fleece for the dough and green felt for the broccoli would be a great start at this costume. You could also use a huge triangle piece of cardboard as a base as well.

Family dressed in in Inside Out Halloween Costumes

Our Inside Out Family at Mickey’s Halloween Party

Riley’s Imaginary Boyfriend Costume

This one would be pretty easy to pull together. Start with a white t-shirt, dark jeans, black converse, black button-down shirt (worn over the t-shirt but not buttoned) and finish it off with an “I would DIE for Riley” sign. A fun group idea would be a huge group of Riley’s Imaginary Boy Friends, similar to how Joy generated a ton of them in the movie.

I recommend checking out the Inside Out Wiki for more random Inside Out character ideas like Cool Girl, Brazilian Helicopter Pilot and Mind Worker Cop Jake!

Which Inside Out Costume is your favorite?

Top 20 Things to do in Tucson this Fall

byKaren•September 8, 2015

Fall is here which means cooler weather in Southern Arizona and plenty of fun things to do in Tucson!

Here are more than 20 things to do in Southern Arizona this Fall 2015

UA Football Game – September 3rd – November 14th – Bear Down and watch the Wildcats play at home!

Marana Pumpkin Patch & Farm Festival – October 3rd – 31st – We go every year and love picking pumpkins, visiting farm animals and other festive fall activities. We go every year, you can see more from our experience here.

Apple Annie’s Pumpkin Festival – Weekends September 19th – October 31st – Pick your own pumpkins, fall produce and of course apples. Enjoy the largest corn maze in Arizona with 2 levels of difficulty. Arrive early for pumpkin pancakes or stay through lunch for apple burgers!

Buckelew Farm Terror in the Corn Maz – Weekends October 10th – 31st – Older kids and adults may also enjoy Terror in the Corn Fields: Find your way through the corn maze in the dark with flashlights or partake in the haunted version.

Tucson Meet Yourself Festival – October 9th & 11th – Head downtown to enjoy musicians, artisans, dancers, food, special exhibits that celebrate our Southern Arizona.

Mount Lemmon OktoberFest – Weekends September 19th – October 11th – Enjoy the changing fall colors of Mount Lemmon and German food, beer, music and dancing

Tucson Comic Con – November 7th & 8th – Head to the Tucson convention center to experience the world of comic book fun including a costume contest. Expect to see national comic book industry movers and shakers as well as local influencers. It’s a family fun event perfect for all ages, in fact kids 12 and under are free with a paid adult!

Annie Presented by Broadway in Tucson – September 29th – October 4th – This classic family production would make a fabulous introduction to the theater for little kids. Tickets are available through UA Presents.

Disney on Ice Presents FROZEN – October 15th – 18th – Don’t miss the biggest Disney sensation ever now on ice! Sing and dance along with Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Kristoff and the trolls. Disney On Ice FROZEN information here.

Howl-o-Ween at Reid Park Zoo – October 23rd – 25th – Enjoy costumed characters, decorations and trick or treating. Tickets go on sale October 1st and usually sell out.

Henry Porter & The Sorcerer’s Secret – September 3rd – November 8th – All Harry Potter fans should head to the Gaslight Theater to catch their fun take on wizards, witches and muggles.

Helldorado Days – October 16th – 18th – Head down to Tombstone and enjoy their annual Helldorado Days complete with gunfight re-enactment shows, street entertainment, fashion shows and a family oriented carnival. The Annual Helldorado Parade is on Sunday.

All Souls Procession Weekend – November 7th & 8th – The 2 miles, 2 hour procession through downtown Tucson remembers the dead and celebrates the living. More details here.

Nightfall at Old Tucson Studios – October 1st – 31st – Another fun idea for older kids and adults is Nightfall! Scare yourself silly with live shows, walk-thru attractions, tricks and treats, haunts, amusements, and some of your favorite characters! Nightfall admission separate from Old Tucson daytime admission

Nature Connects, Art with LEGO Bricks – September 11th – January 3rd – Visit the newest exhibition at Tucson Botanical Gardens featuring larger than life, nature inspired sculptures made entirely from LEGO bricks. A LEGO playroom will be open on select Saturdays throughout the length of the exhibit.

Of course the cooler weather means we can enjoy more of the fabulous outdoor activities Tucson offers.

Visit the Sonoran Desert Museum
Hike Saguaro National Park
Check out Tohono Chul Park
Explore the Pima Air and Space Museum
Feed the giraffes at the Reid Park Zoo.
Experience the spirit of the Old West at Old Tucson Studios.
Don’t forget the free splash pad fun at the Brandi Fenton and the Marana Splash Pads.

What’s your favorite fall activity in Southern Arizona?

Bing Bong Costume Flower Pin

byKaren•August 20, 2015

I’m on an Inside Out roll after creating homemade Anger and Fear costumes. The boys next request is for Bing Bong. Riley’s imaginary friend, Bing Bong is definitely my favorite character from the movie. I MIGHT be creating a Bing Bong Costume but his crazy colorful attire scares me a little, what if I can’t pull it off?!?

So I’m starting with a simple project, something you would need for a Bing Bong Costume or even for a Bing Bong disneybound. Bing Bong’s flower lapel pin is super easy to make with just a few inexpensive supplies.

Bing Bong Flower Pin Supplies

Small button pin
Foam craft sheets: dark green, light green, yellow, orange, red, pink and light blue
Glue gun
Scissors
Pencil

I started by pulling up an image of Bing Bong on my computer and and zooming in until the flower was the size of the flower pin I wanted to create. Then I created a petal template using the image. Once I had a petal shape I liked, I used it to cut a petal out of each color except dark green. Cut a circle out of the dark green foam for the center of the flower.

Arrange the petals on the pin first, to make sure you like the design before you start hot gluing them on. Note the color order of Bing Bong’s pin as well.

The last step is to hot glue the green circle on the center of the pin.

That’s it. I made two of them in under 10 minutes.

The pin was easy enough to make. Should I try and make a Bing Bong costume? Do you think I am up to the challenge?!?

DIY Anger from Inside Out Costume

byKaren•June 19, 2015

I had fun this week creating a DIY Anger from Inside Out costume. The boys and I watched a screening of the movie on Tuesday and one of their favorite characters from Inside Out is Anger. They also loved Sadness, Fear and Bing Bong too! Don’t miss Elliot’s DIY FEAR costume or my DIY Bing Bong costume!

I was surprised by how easy the costume came together and using fairly basic materials. I only spend $5 total and that included buying a shirt! This costume is fairly easy to put together with a few basic materials. You could even skip the outfit and just make the mask as a fun craft idea!

Anger from Inside Out Costume Materials:

white short sleeve button down shirt
dark slacks
red felt
grey ribbon
glue gun
paper clip
cardboard
red duct tape
Anger face template
tie template
red, orange and yellow construction paper
large craft stick or elastic (if you want to wear the mask)

I love costumes that start with basic clothes, preferably clothes you already own or clothes that you can easily obtain and reuse!

Quinn already had a pair of slacks to use but didn’t have a white button down shirt. I hit up our local consignment store and found a long sleeve one for $4. I easily converted it to a short sleeve shirt by cutting of the sleeves and using fabric fusion to hem up the cuffs.

Anger’s tie is very distinct, red with grey zig zags. Luckily the design is simple enough to recreate with red felt and grey ribbon. I had plenty of red felt leftover from my no-sew Price Charming costume, so I made use of that. I made a tie template from one of their existing ties and use it to cute out the costume tie. The shape is pretty basic but I’ve included my template here in case you need it too!

Download Simple Tie Template

I used 5/8″ wide grey ribbon (from my local dollar store) and hot glued it onto the felt in a zig zag pattern. Just glue one section at a time and it’s fairly easily. I used hot glue to attach a paper clip to back to create the “tie clip”.

DIY Anger Mask for Inside Out Costume

I LOVED how the mask turned out and it was quite easy to make. All you need is red duct tape, an ANGER face print out (see below), and cardboard. I recommend using a soda box because the cardboard is thinner and easier to cut.

Start by printing an enlarged copy of the ANGER face ( 165% worked great for me). Then cut out the general shape of his face to use as a template for the cardboard. I kept the shape a rounded rectangle as you can see in the picture below.

Download Anger Face Template

Once you cut the face out of cardboard, cover it with red duct tape. Then cut the eyes and mouth out of the print out and attach it to the cardboard with double-sided tape. My flames are a variety of triangles cut from red, orange and yellow construction paper. I attached them to the back of the mask using more red duct tape.

I wavered back and forth on whether to attach elastic to wear the mask or just tape on a large craft stick. In the end I kept it simple and went with the craft stick. If you do wear it as a mask, you’ll want to cut out eye holes out too.

What do you think? Pretty easy, huh? Two simple crafts to make, the mask and tie, and then just add a white button down shirt and dark pants. Done.

I think making the mask by itself would be a fun Inside Out party idea too! Speaking of fun ideas, don’t miss these posts:

DIY Han Solo Run Disney Star Wars Costume

byKaren•May 15, 2015

Running may not be fun but running in fun costumes can be! If you’re a regular reader than you know I love making DIY costumes, usually for my boys but sometimes for me too. I was super excited to hear a fun run would be happening at the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration again this year. This year we started at the Yacht Club and made our way into Epcot just before sunrise. I joined forces (good and evil) with some blogging friends to form a fun Star Wars theme running group. I could have taken the easy route and reused my Boba Fett costume but decided a new run deserved a new costume. This time I made a DIY Han Solo costume! (Affilate links included below.)

Han Solo Costume Materials:

Black Vest (I made out of a basic t-shirt)
Blue Running Shorts or Pants
Blue Duct Tape
Red Duct Tape Pen
Off White 70’s style shirt
Han Solo Belt and Gun Tutorial

Han’s vest is sort of tactical with a few pockets on it. I was concerned with overheating in my costume, so I made a simple black vest out of a black t-shirt. It’s easy and lightweight and can be made for any size. There are lots of tutorials online to make a vest out of t-shirt, I kept my design very simple.

If you know a fishermen, you could always borrow a black fishing vest. It would look authentic with all the pockets and zippers on it. Personally I think it would add more bulk and weight than I’d want in a running costume though. It would work great for a Halloween costume though.

I’m a pretty big fan of using duct tape on costumes, it’s the perfect way to make things temporary costumes. Originally I planned on borrowing a pair of blue capris, so I wanted to temporarily add the Corellian Bloodstripes to each pant leg. Duct tape and duct tape paint marker was the perfect answer. After adding a strip of duct tape down the side of each leg, carefully paint stripes using a duct tape marker. It’s no-sew and easy to redo if you don’t like your first attempt.

I found the perfect shirt on Amazon. It’s “70’s” looking with a v-neck and collar. I have no idea what the odds are but it’s weirdly perfect for this costume. You could just go with an off white v-neck t-shirt too.

Scissors, duct tape and Amazon took care of most of my costume. My Han Solo belt and gun holster required the most work. I detailed out how I made it in a separate post but it mostly just requires simple stitching, a hot glue gun and brown craft foam.

The costume was easy to put together and really fun to wear with my friends.

We’re home Chewie! #gogofunrun #DisneySMMC #starwars

A photo posted by Karen (@karenheffren) on May 10, 2015 at 3:31am PDT

Don’t miss the whole Star Wars Run Disney crew!

Han Solo Costume <– See above 😉

Chewbacca Running Costume

Stormtrooper Running Costume

Darth Vadar Running Costume

R2D2 Running Costume

BB-8 Running Costume

Save on Disney Tickets & Packages

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Run Disney events are the perfect excuse for making DIY costumes!

DIY Han Solo Belt and Gun

byKaren•May 15, 2015

I decided to detail out my DIY Han Solo Belt and Gun Holster for anyone that wants to make their own. Don’t miss my other post detailing out the rest of the Han Solo Costume.

I started off using this tutorial and modified it to simplify the design and keep the belt lightweight since I was running in it. It was also very inexpensive. The only thing I had to purchase was the craft foam.

Han Solo Belt Materials:

2 sheets of brown craft foam
glue gun
brown thread and needle
thin Cardboard (I used soda 12 pack box)
black and silver duct tape
paper coin wrappers (could substitute something else if necessary)

I started by cutting three 1 1/2″ – 2″ strips from a sheet of foam. I needed a little more than 2 strips to create the main part of the belt. Han wears his belt low slung on his hips, so keep that in mind when you’re making the belt. I connected the strips together using hot glue along the edges and then sewed brown foam squares over each connection. This hid the glue, made the connection more secure and also created a more rugged look.

It took a few attempts to get the right shape and size for the belt buckle. I started by tracing the shape and “eyeballing” the design next to the belt. Once I had the right design, I cut it out of a piece of spare craft foam and then covered it with silver duct tape.

I attached the buckle to the end of one side of the belt using my hot glue gun. To keep the belt lightweight I used velcro instead of snaps or actual buckles on the belt. Hot glue helped adhere the velcro to the belt. Once the belt was on, the velcro wasn’t visible.

I added a few more details to the belt but kept the design simple. In addition to a few more square pieces of foam, I attached a few bullets to the belt. I cut a paper coin wrapper in half and then covered each side with silver duct tape. I used more brown craft foam and hot glue to attach my bullets to the belt. This added a little more detail without too much weight.

In the interest of minimizing weight, I made my own cardboard gun. You could get more accurate with this but I just found a simple gun profile online and used it to cut a gun shape out of a soda box (extra thin cardboard ;-)). Then I covered it with brown foam, and silver and black duct tape. I used leftover brown foam to create the holster. Be sure to trace the holster on paper first to make sure it’s big enough for your own “gun.” I used a rough stitch to finish off the holster and attach it to my belt.

There you have it, a fairly easy, and lightweight Han Solo belt and gun holster. It’s perfect for a Star Wars costume or a Run Disney Event!

Don’t mis the rest of my Han Solo costume details!

More Star Wars Fun:

DIY Superhero Costume Ideas

byKaren•March 1, 2015

We are in superhero overload over here between all the Big Hero 6 fun and heading to Phoenix next weekend for Marvel Universe Live! The boys haven’t decided what super hero costume they want to wear for the show, they have too many favorites! Just in case they pick a super hero costume we don’t have in our dress up box, I decided to round up a few fun DIY superhero costume ideas!

DIY Captain America and Thor Costumes

DIY Wonder Woman and Thor Costumes

Batman and Robin Costumes

Superhero Masks

Wonder Woman Tank Top

Batman Hoodie

Dish Towl Cape

No Sew Capes

Baymax Hoodie Costume

Duct Tape Baymax Costume

Hiro Hamada Costume

Have you ever dressed up as superhero for Halloween?

Disney Costumes For Girls Of All Ages!

byKaren•February 16, 2015

Do you need some ideas for DIY Disney costumes for girls? We have found some for you! We linked to instructions when we could find them, but some links are just to pictures.