Legotastic Halloween!

Despite the month of October's best attempts at passing me by, I was ready with this year's handcrafted Halloween costume the weekend before the big day. For a while I was having a creative costume block, no pun intended, but after a little inspiration from the interwebs I decided it was time to give another go at creating a Lego person costume.  This would be my second attempt at being a Lego and I was confident I could pull off the construction this time around.



Always helpful Sydney

 First came the body. Luck would have it we had recently purchased a new couch, which gave me ideal access to ample cardboard including a box large enough to fit over my body. I first cut away and bent in enough cardboard to create the Lego top slope, or Lego shoulders.  Then I created a top piece that would help stabilize the shape of the body, cover my shoulders and give the costume enough structure to rest on my shoulders rather than my arms.  Next, I cut out arm holes, and a hole just large enough to get my head through. Finally I covered nearly every inch of cardboard in yellow poster board and contemplated the start of the head piece.

 
Still a little timid about creating the head from scratch I started a quest for existing containers. One suggestion that looked not only easy but cheap was the container that holds a 2 year supply of cheesy poofs. You know the one, ubiquitous at big box stores, office break rooms and football parties. However ,my hopes for an easy, cheezy way out of crafting we're soon dashed after not one, nor two, but four different stores said they no longer carried the product.  No worries, Costco to the rescue in the form of way too many sourdough pretzels. The container shape was ideal!

Having returned home, it was time to test my newly purchased option. Seconds before I opened the container it hit me, just maybe, before it deal with this many pretzels I measure my head to see of the container will fit. Confidently I bagged the contents of the container, then rinsed it out and  shortly thereafter experienced my next "duh" moment. So, the container might fit around my head, but how the hell was I going to get it over my head.  After some hazardous, jagged plastic cutting I was able to pry apart the container and wrap it around my head only to quickly realize I'd neglected to include my nose in my measurement. I had to laugh at the silliness of it all as my nose squished against the walls of the container.

Later that day I made my way to the craft store and found exactly what we (Jonathan would be joining me with his own Lego costume) would need to create the classic cylindrical shape. 4 rounded, 12 inch in diameter wreath rings and a few foam disks later it was time to build.  I used bamboo kabob skewers and glue to secure the rings together in a tall enough cylinder that the top of my head wouldn't hit the top of the Lego head. I glued a piece of cardboard to the top circle, enabling me to glue on the top foam disks to create the iconic Lego connector.
 

Lots of tape, glue and and spray paint later the costume really came together. I created a little bikini top complete with a little tie in back and would later construct my skirt from hand cut palm frowns from our very own palm trees (Jonathan's creative idea). To finish up the head I smoothed over some rough edges with a little paper mâché action, which made me smile in appreciation of the various childhood projects involving plenty of paper strips and water/flour glue.

 The final element of our costumes were the Lego hands/arms. Jonathan chopped some extra large PVC pipe and I painted some flexible dryer tubing.  I wrapped the sharp C-hands in yellow duct tape then secured them to the tube arms with zip ties.

Our costumes were big hits at our Halloween block party, loved by kids and adults alike!  At one point Jonathan and I entertained the crowd by Lego-couple dancing to the music provided by the live band. Fun, fun,fun!

 


                                





Proof I wore it at work

On Thursday morning, Halloween, I had to drive Jonathan's car to work just to fit my Lego body in the trunk.  Just before I opened the door to exit the parking garage I had a moment of nervousness, but remembered, it's Halloween, and I was going to wear my Lego costume with pride!  I got a few "Awesome" shout outs and a friendly, impressed elevator companion. Seeing that I could not sit in my costume I stood behind my desk, typing on a raised keyboard stand and answering calls via headset inside my Lego head.  After the office costume contest I had to call it quits and set the costume aside until it was time to hand out candy.

Was this years costume a little more work, sure? Do I now have a scar on my arm from a hot glue gun incident, yup. Was it worth it, without a doubt!!  Less than a year till next Halloween!!