DIY 12ft Grimacing Pumpkin Monster Halloween Prop /Decoration

I promise you, this is a super easy project. And it's pretty fun with a cool result. Create a cheap but cool 12 ft Halloween Prop for less than $80!

• Drill
• Screws
• 10 Pool Noodles
• 2,10ft, 2 inch pvc pipe to create skeleton
• Several pvc connectors, 2 T's, 4 elbows
• Pipe cutter
• Dollar store plastic wrap, about 8 of them
• 4 cans of spray paint ,I like the 2x Rustoleum for plastic
• Heat Gun
• Plastic pumpkin , I had an old Home depot Grimacing pumpkin that i gutted the electronics out of. A new one cost $39
• Weatherproof led rope lights from $5 from 5 below
• Razor Blade or long sharp knife
• A few random foam pieces you can get from packaging. Best way to recycle Styrofoam
• Zip ties
• 1 old wire hanger
• craft wire
• Bubble wrap left over from packing
• 2 Green U posts
• Work gloves
• Duck tape
• Ladder
• Dollar store creepy cloth

Gather your pool noodles, long sharp knife or razor blade and cut your pool noodle in quarters (4 long pieces, or 3. We will be making pool noodle vines. Cut them into having pointed ends. Wrap a generous amount of plastic wrap around each vine. Once you have your pile of wrapped noodles, wear protective gloves for this part. Grab your heat gun and kind of melt the plastic to pool noodle.Don't stay too long in each place, you don't wanted to melt it to death, just enough for plastic to bond to it . Try curling ends by bending ending and melting it a little. Don't forget to make feet and hands. I took one noodle cut it in half then cut half way up into 3 toes, 5 for fingers. ( it's not necessary but when I made the hands I wrapped craft wire from dollar store , around the fingers so i could bend them . I also then wrapped them in plastic wrap.

Once you're done corpsing (melting and shaping your noodles) use black spray paint as a base color.

*Important*

You cannot spray paint directly onto pool noodles because the spray paint will melt them. Only spray paint after the plastic is bonded to it.

Grab your U post stakes, (depending how big you want your prop the size of your U post may vary), you will use these to support your prop. I wanted my monster to look like he was mid walking. There are many skeleton frames online you can follow to get the desired pose you want. I used my friend as my model and we cut the pipe to that pose. I didn't want to use pvc glue because I wanted to be able to store it after Halloween so we used screws in the pvc joints.

After you have your pose, spray paint the entire thing black as base color.

Wrap the painted pool noodle vines that you made earlier and zip tie them into place.Leave the neck noodle free,except for the base of neck. wrap apiece of pool noodle with duck tape to create a neck for the pumpkin head to fit.Twist it on there. That way it doesn't fly off. I had made wing-ish wings for him by taking two skinny noodles and corpsing them with plastic wrap. I purposely made holes in its flesh, then took a piece of a metal hanger and pierced it from behind to give it stability. I wrapped the rest of the wire around his neck, spray painting it black too. Once everything is zipped tied spray paint everything black as base.

Add lights. I use weatherproof led lights , that came with a remote control. I wrapped it from where the belly would be, all the way up to his head. I zipped tied it in place. I also used duct tape and used left over clear bubble wrap , wrapped it around the led light strip. Shape the belly with skinny strips of pool noodles to form an upper torso, then wrap it several times with plastic wrap. We then proceed to wrap entire body with plastic wrap again.

*BEWARE* of the parts you want to keep clear from the corpsing method so that you can take it apart later.

Once you're done wrapping entire skeleton again, use the heat gun to bond to it and make some fleshy holes .for a cool affect. Then Use desired color spray paint the entire thing

Place the head back onto skeleton. add creep cloth as a cape . I added extra flare by cutting tiny foam pumpkins that I got from old amazon packaging and hot glued it to some parts of it's body. I then used hemp string that I got in the crochet section at Michaels in the clearance aisle. I also used a glue gun and added drool and painted it red.I also dry brushed the creases and darkened around the eyes. Also painted the stem a more realistic green color to match it's new body. Add it to your scene and Done.