DIY Car Costume

Hello everyone!! I came up with this idea of making a car costume for my son this year as he says "Car" a lot and it is the second word he said after "Amma"(Mom). Whenever we read "Mickey/Minnie mouse" books, he points to the car and says "Ammmmaa....Car". So, I thought I will make him a Mickey mouse car for Halloween. Let's see how

• Cardboard box
• Painters tape
• Hot glue sticks & glue gun
• Wooden dowel (optional)
• Styrofoam (optional)
• Acrylic paint & brushes
• Ribbon
• Duct tape
• Utility knife
• Page protector

Cut the top and bottom flaps of the cardboard box leaving only the front flap(The side which you want to be the front of the car). The cardboard box I used is 15.5" in length and 11.5" in width

Cut the sides of the front part in order to fold the cardboard to form the car hood part. Cut the extra cardboard based on the length car hood. Use hot glue and glue the hood to the sides to make it stay in the place. Trim the extras on the side. Cover the sides with painter's tape or masking tape to hide the glue marks.

To make the windshield, measure the base width from the previous step and draw it on the piece of cardboard. Cut it twice. Use glue to add a layer of the screen protector as a windshield between two layers of cardboard. Cover the edges with painter's tape to hide the corrugated edges. Add the windshield using hot glue to the hood as shown below.

Cut the wheels, steering wheel, and a seat. Measurements I used are 4" diameter for wheels and steering wheel. Draw the inner parts for the steering wheel and cut accordingly. The seat measurement is 6" in height and 7.5" in width.

This is a totally optional step. I wanted to add some kind of an interactive element to the car costume. So, I did a rotating steering wheel. For this, I glued around 7 wooden dowels from the dollar store to form a rod for the wheel and used electrical tape to cover it. I then glued the rod to the center of the steering wheel. To make it rotate, I took piece styrofoam and cut it at an angle. Covered it with duct tape and glued it to the inside of the cardboard as shown. To avoid it from sinking into the styrofoam, stuff the empty area with styrofoam pieces. Take a piece of cardboard to act as a dashboard and make a hole in the center to insert the steering wheel rod. Glue the cardboard on top of the styrofoam piece. Insert the steering wheel.

If you are skipping the previous step, you can simply glue the steering wheel on to a big bead or a piece of cardboard rolled. Then paint the whole car as you desire. As my son likes the Mickey car I painted it red and added Mickey mouse details all over. I painted the whole car in white and then did two coats of red paint. I primed it to mask the wordings on the cardboard box as I thought it would be difficult to do with red paint alone. Once the paint is dry, glue two strips of ribbon from the underside of the hood to the back of the car. Use a piece of duct tape at the back to hold the car in place. That's it. The car costume is now done.

I love how this turned out. Share what you think in the comments below and vote for me in the Halloween contest and Book Character Costume Challenge. As always I would love to hear from you. Initially, when I tried to test the fit on him, he refused to wear the costume, I was telling everyone at home that this is going to be a total flop and I am going to save this costume for next year. To everyone's surprise, he silently wore the costume once he saw all the children in the costume trick-or-treating in the mall. I literally did a happy dance. 😉