Post-It Malone Halloween Costume

I always love doing something fun and creative for Halloween and I really wanted to mix things up a bit this year. 2021 produced a fair amount of pop culture references like Squid Game, Bridgerton and the Suez Canal ship (which are all decent material) but after coming across a picture of Post Malone in a Google search one day I thought, "wow...Post is pretty cool and his name rhymes with so many things, so I can really work with this." After considering many zany ideas like Ghost Malone, Goal Post Malone, Toast Malone and Post-It Malone, I figured the latter would be the coolest of the bunch because I could design a giant Post-It that Malone would potentially write himself and then walk around in it with his look. I did some additional searching to see if anyone had done this sort of thing before and noticed that nobody really had (at least from what I could see), so it was right up my creative alley. It was important to me to not only design a cool post-it for this, but to also recreate Malone's look as much as I could because his tattoos and accessories are a very distinctive part of his identity. My wife helped me with a lot of the logistics and the overall look and feel of the costume and thankfully we were able to get the job done in a week or so without too many hiccups.

The costume was really a hit with a lot of the people who saw it and I had a ton of fun wearing it to the NYC Halloween Parade and elsewhere around the city. I even entered it into Webster Hell's infamous $5k costume contest where it got a pretty good reaction from the crowd!

For this project you'll need:

Post-It Note Box:

• A 36" x 36" x 12" cardboard box, or whatever similar size would be a good fit for your height (actual one here, but we needed to modify it a bit. Make sure the height and width are the same)
• A box-cutter (actual one here)
• A cutting mat like this one
• 32 ounces of Acrylic Yellow Paint, though you may need to use less (actual one here)
• A wide paintbrush suitable for painting on cardboard
• A paint tray
• Either some photoshopping skills or a thick black sharpie
• Double-sided tape or Gorilla tape
• A pair of Scissors
• A French curved metal tailor ruler for drawing ovals (like this one)
• A ruler, preferably at least 18 inches long
• Soft shoulder pads (optional, but useful)

Post Malone:

• A Post Malone temporary tattoo kit (actual one here)
• An oversized plaid shirt
• A microphone
• Fake gold teeth (actual set here)
• A gaudy chain or necklace
• Fake cigarettes (actual ones here)
• Extra arm sleeve tattoos (optional, but he has a lot of arm tats. Actual ones used here)
• A Post Malone wig and facial hair kit (optional, and I didn't use one, but something like this could work if you can't use your own hair).
• A hair tie if you're going to bun your own hair
• A razor or electric trimmer

Disclaimer: This step can either be done in Photoshop or you can draw it on a piece of paper with a pen or a sharpie. I did this entirely with the former.

One of the most important parts of this costume is designing a Post-It note that is not only recognizable as an actual Post-It, but also one that Post Malone would write himself. You certainly don't have to do this exactly how I did it, but you'll want to use items or things that pertain to his life in particular and that's what I tried to do for the most part.

Front Side:

The front of this item is the bread and butter of it, so I wanted to make sure to spend a good amount of time on it. Thinking about my own post-its (which I have many of) I often write little boxes for to-do list items to later check off, so I started with 4 of those. Then I did a fair amount of research on Post Malone via some Googling. He likes to make and sing music, he's very accomplished (some of his songs have Diamond status), he's known for his casual but suave dressing, and of course, he has a ton of tattoos. I decided to list those things as "items" for him to do, and then I wanted to add some scribbly stuff as well. It was easy to find his actual signature on Google so I added three of those around the note. I found a cool font to stencil out "Rockstar" - which is one of his most famous songs - and added that to the top right. I added some sunflowers to the bottom right since that's another famous song of his, and I also included a stick figure of someone who kind of resembles him. The last part of this was to add little images next to the to-do list items (the musical note and the diamond), and to cap it off, I put scribbled X's in 3 of the 4 boxes but left the tattoo one blank to make it a cliffhanger. Was Post going to get another tattoo that day? Maybe, maybe not.

Back Side:

For the back of this, I was deciding between two options: 1) The back of an actual post-it note pad, which is what I ended up doing, or 2) The inverse of the front with a lot of transparency, to make it look like you were facing the opposite side of the note. I considered the second choice for a bit, but given how thick the actual box was going to be it seemed more plausible that this would be a stack of post-its rather than just one of them. I found the actual Post-It note backing on Google and rotated it 90 degrees to the left since this is how it actually looks on a real-life stack.

Note: It's important to have a box with dimensions like the following to mimic the look of an actual Post-It note (Height x Width x Depth):

• 24" x 24" x 12"
• 30" x 30" x 12"
• 36" x 36" x 12"

The depth does not have to be 12" exactly but you need to be able to fit inside it and comfortably walk, so you probably don't want to go less than 10" on that. I opted for 36" for the length and width but I have long arms, so you may want to stick with 30" (or 24" for kids).

Regardless of your box size, you'll need to be able to move your legs and walk with it on, so you'll need to cut the entire bottom flaps of the box to do so. With the box flat on the floor and the bottom flaps extended out, use a box cutter to cut along the seam on the bottom until the bottom flaps are completely removed. Make sure to place a cutting mat under the box so that the cutter doesn't scrape through your floor when you do this because I learned that lesson the hard way.

Notes: If you are photoshopping the front and the back of this and printing out posters to stick on them, you do not need to paint the front and back squares since they will be covered anyway. This will save you some time and energy. If you are not photoshopping this and are drawing the Post-It with a sharpie, then you'll need to at least paint the front square yellow. Since we're working with cardboard, a thick and wide paintbrush will help for this step since we'll need to apply a fair amount of paint and multiple coats.

The following sides of our box need to be painted:

• Both side panels - which measure Height x Depth (e.g. 36" x 12") when the box is standing upright
• One of the top flaps, measuring Width x Depth. You'll only need to paint one of these since the other will be tucked underneath it.
• The front and/or back squares measuring Height x Width contingent on the note above. I did not paint these because I had posters taped on them.

With the box folded flat on the floor, using smooth, consistent strokes, apply a generous amount of yellow paint to the exposed side panel and the top flap. I used acrylic paint for this since I've used it in the past and liked it, but most paint types should suffice on cardboard. When both of those have dried, flip the box over and repeat the process to the other side panel that is now exposed. You will not need to paint the newly exposed (unpainted) top flap since that one is getting tucked under the one that we just painted.

Repeat the painting steps above with 1 or 2 more coats, or as many as it takes to cover the cardboard and show a nice yellow finish. I needed 3 coats of paint for each of the flaps and that many should at least cover all of the brown of the box. Fortunately the paint dries pretty quickly and it shouldn't take more than an hour or two to complete this step.

Now that our box is painted, we need to cut some holes in it so that we're able to actually wear it. The first hole that we'll need to cut is the one for our head to pop out of in the top flaps. The pictures above will give you a frame of reference for this, and the third one in particular will show you the measurements that I used for my own (an oval with 11" x 9"). Whatever your box size is, this hole size should suffice.

The first step in doing this is to take a long ruler and find the center of your top flap. If your flap is 36" x 12" like mine was, then the middle point will be at 18" long and 6" high. Once you have this exact point, you'll then want to measure 4.5" above and below it and mark those points with a pencil. Then you'll want to do the same with points that are 5.5" to the left and right of the midpoint. With these 4 reference points, we can now use our French curved metal tailor ruler to trace an oval that passes through all of them. It's a bit of an art to use this type of ruler correctly, so if it's a bit advanced you can always just sketch the oval by hand as well, and erase as needed. The exact shape of this isn't very important since nobody will have a top-down view of your box.

With the oval lines drawn, you can now use the same box cutter from Step 2 to remove the piece from both top flaps (which should be one on top of the other here). Since you have two layers to cut through you'll need to push a little harder with the blade, and keep in mind that there's no reason to rush this step. Try to stay as much on your traced line as you can, and when the blade has cut through all of it simply remove the circular cardboard piece and discard it.

With the hole now secured, try the box on and make sure that the hole is big enough for your head to fit through. This is also a good point to check if the box can rest comfortably on your shoulders since those are going to be its main supports. You may need to make the hole a little bigger depending on how this feels and you can adjust accordingly.

Now that we have the head hole in place, we need to make some arm holes as well. This isn't going to be quite as generic as the 11" x 9" head hole that we just made since it'll largely depend on your height and where your arms comfortably touch the sides of the box, but since it doesn't matter how large these holes are (and they're on the side), they don't really have to be too precise.

Try the box on by putting your head through the hole in Step 4 and letting the box rest on your shoulders. Make sure that the box is straight and not tilted to one side or the other since this could skew where the arm holes will be. Now - ideally with somebody else helping you - tap the box on both sides so that either you or the helper can get a general sense of where your arms will generally go when you're wearing this. If you have a helper, they can mark these spots with a pencil, but if you don't then you might want to make little divots in the cardboard with your fingers.

Take the box off and fold it flat on the floor so that you can work with one of the side panels that was just marked. Again - this doesn't have to be exact - but for reference, the holes in the pictures above are 7.5" wide, and 11" from top to bottom, which was a good fit for me. You'll notice that we decided to cut arch-shaped holes for this, but rectangles should work just as well, and it's really a matter of preference and comfort at that point.

Using a ruler, find the midpoint of the depth of the side panel (e.g. a 12" depth means the midpoint is at 6") to make sure that we're cutting this in the middle of the panel. Once you have the midpoint, measure 2-3 inches above that and mark that with a pencil, as this will be the top edge of our hole. Then measure 7-8 inches below the midpoint hole and mark that as well. This height will determine how much your arms can move up and down once they're inside the box. Repeat the process 3.5" to the left of the midpoint and to the right of the midpoint to establish the width of the hole. With these 4 reference marks, you'll now be able to draw a rectangle (or arch) through these points with a pencil. Once that's done, place your cutting mat under side flap and cut along the line you just traced with your box cutter so that it goes through both layers of the flap. When the hole is completely cut and the piece is discarded, use a ruler to determine how high the hole is from the bottom of the side flap so that you can draw a symmetrical hole on the other side (the left side, if you already did the right one, or vice versa) and repeat this process for the second hole.

Once both holes are cut, try the box on again with your head through the top hole and your arms through the side holes, and make sure that it's comfortable. This is a slightly difficult costume to move around in since it's so bulky, so it's crucial that it feels good on you and that your arms are able to move around when you need them to.

Since we have our holes now, we want to make sure that the box is placed exactly where we want it on our body. I wanted my box in particular to hang lower than my collarbone so that people could see my plaid shirt and my neck tattoo, but you can move it even lower if you'd like. Note that the lower the box is, the less of your lower legs that people will see.

The Head Hole:

The wider that you cut the head hole on top of that box, the lower that the box is going to hang on your shoulders, and you can expand this distance as needed. Initially we tried making this distance 10" but expanded to 11" after discovering that the box was a little high. If you're going to do this, just be mindful of the following:

• If you cut the oval too wide it may become uncomfortable on your shoulders at some point
• If you're going to expand the length, do it equally on both sides of the oval. For example, if you want to expand its length by an inch, you would add half an inch on both sides.

The Arm Holes:

As I mentioned earlier, the arm holes can be less precise than the head hole, so if you need to make them bigger then it shouldn't be that big of a deal. You may discover that you'd like to move your arms up and down more than they're currently able to, in which case you'd want to cut the holes even lower than they already are. Just make sure to measure any expansions that you make on one side so that you can mimic it on the other side.

Before going to step 7, the box should be at a desirable height on your body and it should also rest on your arms and shoulders without feeling uncomfortable. I know that I've repeated this word a few times now but it's important!

Now that we have our measurements done, we can finally secure the box so that it stands upright on its own. We used Gorilla Tape to do this since it's one of the strongest Duct Tapes around and it's durable (which is important for a costume that you'll be wearing multiple hours in a row), but you can use another brand of Duct Tape as well if you're not able to grab that particular brand.

Since the box doesn't have a bottom any more (cut off in Step 2), we'll just need to fortify the top of this. We did this by taping the outside of the box length-wise and width-wise (picture 3) and also the inside corners (picture 4). Nobody will see the tape on the inside, but since the tape is probably not going to be yellow you'll want to paint over any that is used on the outside, and this should blend in nicely with the same paint that you've already used on the top and sides of the box. One coat should be enough for this but you may want to add a second if the first one isn't doing the trick for whatever reason.

Make sure that the box is sturdy and not shifting around at all. It will likely bump into random things throughout the night and the last thing you'll want to deal with is re-taping it if it falls apart.

Photoshopped Posters:

If you photoshopped the posters like we did and printed them out, this step shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes, but it's an important one so you'll want to get it right. It doesn't matter which side you do first, but you'll want to lay the box flat on one of its wide sides (a poster side) so that you'll have maximum leverage here when taping. Take one of the printed posters and lay it face down on the box, and carefully place 3" pieces of double-sided tape around the perimeter of the poster, leaving little gaps in between the pieces so that the poster doesn't get too taut and have bubbles. Once you have a full "dotted line" of tape around the perimeter make sure to carefully align the edges of the poster to the edges of the box and slowly lay it face up, making sure to press on the edges to secure it to the box. This should be enough to hold it for a day or two, but just to be safe I also placed some double-sided (thicker) Gorilla tape to the four corners so that the posters had some reinforcement there. Once this is done, flip the box on its other side and repeat the process for the other poster.

Hand Drawn Art:

If you're more of an artist and want to draw the post-it directly onto the painted yellow surface of the box, go for it! It should work just as effectively as the posters will and since it's being drawn directly on the box, it'll actually look pretty authentic too. Just make sure to take your time with this because you only have one canvas to play with on each side, and if you want to "redo" it then you'll need to cover it with posters.

A sharpie should suffice for this step, and depending on the thickness of it you may need to re-draw the lines once or twice to make the items more visible. It's also worth noting at this point that if you're not satisfied with your front yellow coat of paint, you can always add another layer of it before drawing on it.

Now that the box is done, it's time to establish the true Post Malone look to complement his Post-It. His tattoos are certainly front and center and probably what he is known for best, so you'll want to buy a good kit like this one in order to cover all the main ones on his face and hands. I couldn't find a replica of his full arm sleeve tattoos so I bought these as an alternative, and they turned out to be really great quality so I was pleased with those as well.

All of these are temporary tattoos that can be applied with a little bit of water on a cloth or towel, with each one taking around 15-20 seconds to do. Given how many he has, it might take a little longer than you think, so make sure you have a lot of time to devote to this step. Also be sure to clean any surfaces that you are applying tattoos to since they'll show and stick better that way.

Note: For some of these you may also need to shave on the left and right sides of your face since the hair would cover them otherwise, and there's no reason for us to show less of this than we want to.

The main tattoos from the above kit that you'll definitely want to apply are:

Neck:

• A cow skull on the middle of his neck

Face:

• Horizontal barbed wire at the top of his forehead
• "Stay Away" and Blackjack cards above his right eyebrow
• A vertical sword down the right side of his face
• An armor-clad arm holding a ball and chain at the very right side of his face, from his ear to his chin
• "Always Tired" spanning his face right to left under his eyes
• A little playboy bunny and smiley face to the right of "Always"
• A bloody buzzsaw to the left of "Tired"
• A skull with horns to the left of the buzzsaw
• Tree etching coming out from the top left of his face

Hands:

• An image of JFK on the top of his left hand
• Barbed wire in he middle of his left and right hand
• A bear on his right hand
• "Rest Easy" spelled right to left across his fingers
• Little images of Elvis Presley, Kurt Kobain, John Lennon, George Harrison, Dimebag Darrel, Bankroll Fresh, and Stevie Ray Vaughan towards the top of his fingers.

This article shows exactly where 77 of his tattoos are if you're looking for some precise placements.

For the arms, you can simply apply the arm sleeve tattoos that I referenced above, and since people won't see most of your arms in this costume they are less important than the others.

Another very distinct feature of Post Malone is his mustache shape, and that's why I included a picture of him above for reference. I tried to mimic this as best I could with an electric trimmer and then a thin blade, and you're going to need a pretty small one to achieve the exact look that he has (or somewhat close to it). If you can't get it exact that's ok, and you may even want to buy a fake mustache and cut it with scissors so that you can make it more precise.

If you're going the fake mustache route, make sure to buy some sticky gum so that you're able to stick it on your face for multiple hours, and carry some backup on you just in case it falls off.

The great thing about Post's hair is that it tends to be greasy, curly and generally all over the place, so there's a lot of room for creativity here. I was considering buying a wig for this, but since my hair is already long I figured I'd just go for broke and work with what I had. My wife helped splay it all over the place and achieve a really wild look, and then she gave me a bun in the back as well. Malone's bun tends to be higher on the top of his head when he uses one and you'll need a little more hair for that (or a wig), but I was happy just to go with this.

It's worth noting here that Malone has had a variety of hairstyles, including a new buzz cut look, so the possibilities are really endless for this step. The look that I chose was a combination of his long hair from a few years ago + his buzzed look where his beard isn't quite as thick and some newer tattoos are showing because of it.

Here's a pretty good article on some of his styles over the years.

After you've got the tattoos and hair figured out, it's time to add some key Post Malone accessories that will really complete the look.

Some things you can add:

• Plaid Shirt (any color, but he wears a decent amount of red and green)
• Gold Teeth
• Fake cigarette - I recommend buying a plastic one that will last you all night
• A gaudy chain
• A microphone
• Post-Its!

And that's it!

You may also want to add some padding on your shoulders if you'll be wearing this for a few hours. It's a decent amount of pressure to put on them and a plaid shirt by itself is not going to protect them from being sore the next day.

Have an awesome time wearing this around and looking like the Post-It Malone that you were meant to be!