Giant Oscar the Grouch (≈9 Feet Tall)

Giant Oscar the Grouch costume that stands almost 9 ft tall. Created a custom garbage can and a puppet mouth mechanism so his mouth moves up and down! I have seen a lot of Oscar the Grouch costumes over the years, but never one that was giant-sized, so thought it would be a fun challenge :)

• Olive Green Long Pile Mongolian Faux Fur Fabric - 9 yd
• Heavy Duty cardboard - 10 boxes
• Mylar Tent Tarp - 4 tarps
• SUITUS 12 Inch Plastic Salad Bowls - 2
• Eva Foam - 2 4piece packs
• batting
• black fabric
• pink fabric
• sewing machine
• backpacker's backpack
• 2 1in PVC pipes approx 24 in long
• duct tape
• 2 balsa wood boards
• 2 doors hinges
• wire basket
• large spring
• hot glue gun

In order to make sure the proportions were as accurate as possible, we drew up a large version of Oscar's head. This would allow getting an idea of the amount of fabric needed. In addition, it helped to figure out the head structure.

The frame is made out of 2 boards of lightweight balsa wood boards that were cut with a saw to form the top and bottom lips. The two boards were screwed together with door hinges so that they could open and close. I then drilled a hole through the top and bottom board to fit the spring through. The spring was attached to a wire basket that was attached to the top lip. This allows you to pull the mouth down/open, and once you release the spring brings the mouth closed.

After creating the head frame, the head shape is formed with foam and cardboard around the wood frame. It is a bit of trial and error process, but you will get it. The foam is then glued to the board. I cut out holes for the eyes to be placed as well.

The eyes are made out of plastic bowls I bought on Amazon and then carved down with a knife. Once carved, the plastic bowls are placed into the eyelid holes. They were reinforced with ties to stay in place. Cardboard was then added on top of the foam and plastic bowls in order to better shape his face for later.

Lastly, his famous unibrow was cut out of cardboard and scaled to size.

For fur of Oscar, I wanted it to look as authentic as possible and found a fabric store that sold Mongolian Faux Fur Fabric. The base of the head was then wrapped with the fabric as it went on quite easily like it was skin. Careful detail around the eyes with a hot glue gun to make sure it stayed in place.

The unibrow was wrapped with brown faux fur and secured with a hot glue gun. The eyeballs were wrapped with thin batting and then glued on black fabric for the iris. Once his eyebrow and eyeballs were intact, we cut the fabric to form fit his face.

For the body, I lay on the ground while my Mom traced an outline of my body. From here the arms were sewn and the hands as well. The fingers were elongated to better match the size of his head.

Lastly, a long piece of remaining Mongolian faux fur was attached to the neck to conceal where I was in the costume

The head is attached to 2 PVC pipes that hold up the head above my head. They are attached to a backpacker's backpack for stability. This allows me to be animated and move freely as possible.

The body suit described above then conceals me inside Oscar.

Since this costume was very oversized, I needed to create my own trashcan. I used 7 boxes of heavy-duty cardboard and duct-taped them together. I used the remaining cardboard to create a lid to complete the can.

From here, the cardboard was covered with a Mylar tarp to give it a more beat-up look to it. This was glued on with a hot glue gun and duct tape.

Once done with the can, we cleaned him up and he was ready to hit the town in all his grouchy glory. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did making it and seeing him come to life. I have a video of him if anyone is interested. :)