Homemade Slimer Costume

After watching the film with my six year old son I knew we had to attempt Slimer for Halloween. When making this costume I aimed to include some basic rules- the costume should be light enough for him to wear comfortably, easy to take off quickly if needed and make it easy for him to see out of it.

My initial idea was to use green expanding foam and sculpt the shape but I couldn't face the mess. Next option was papier mache but I didn't think I would have enough time for the multiple layers that would have been needed. In the end I went with the cardboard/ bubble wrap/ masking tape combo to keep the weight down. Carboard is easily cut into shape and forms a good lightweight base structure. Bubble wrap is easy to bend and shape by popping the bubbles as required and covering in masking tape holds it all together nicely with the added bonus of being easily paintable.

Slimer Costume:

Cardboard boxes

Roll of bubble wrap

Masking tape

PVA Glue

Hot Glue

Cable ties

Green spray paint

Pink poster paint

Start by cutting a head hole in the top of the cardboard box. Make cuts of various length and angles and fold over securing with tape. Keep going until you have molded the box into a rounded body shape.

In a similar fashion shape/ stick together a cardboard hood and attach securely to the body with plenty of tape

Tear off pieces of bubble wrap, shape as desired to start building up the face around the attached hood. Bit by bit I formed the nose, cheeks, eyes and mouth. Cover everything with tape to hold in place

Roll the bubble wrap into tubes of different thickness and drape around the body to recreate Slimer's fat rolls. At this stage the costume was getting very large so I added some cardboard to give it a sloped back instead of Slimer's big bum otherwise it mightn't have fit through the door! Everything was covered in masking tape.

The costume was given a coating of PVA glue to make it a bit more waterproof

Wrap bubble wrap around cardboard form the arms. Slightly bend for the elbows and wrap in tape. For the hands, I traced around my own hands on cardboard, cut out and covered in wrap and tape to shape. Attach to arms with more tape.

I used a few coats of green spray paint and left to dry overnight

I attached the arms using cable ties. For the eyes I printed off an image I found in a google search, cut out and glued on. For the teeth I sketched the template on paper first to see how it would fit, then repeated with stronger cardboard. The teeth were shaped from small pieces of bubble wrap covered in masking tape and painted with PVA glue which gave an off white coulour so no futher painting was required . The gums were built up using layers of hot glue and painted with pink poster paint when dry. the whole thing was stuck in place with hot glue. Originally I had planned to have both sets of teeth but they didn't look right when in place so I made a tongue to replace the bottom set.

We had lots of great feedback going door to door trick or treating :)