Groovy Lava Lamp Halloween Costume

Do you hear that? It’s the 90’s calling and they’ve got an awesome costume idea for you: a totally rad lava lamp! If you didn’t know, I am a 90’s kid through and through, and like every other 90’s child, I had a lava lamp in my bedroom (or two or three :P). Whether it’s an orange, yellow, green, red or purple lava lamp, every true 90’s kid had one, and as an homage to that, we came up with this costume.

Hopefully, you haven’t been waiting too long for this tutorial to come out, but if you have, don’t worry, this costume is very easy to pull together in a hurry, so you’ll have your costume ready in time for all the Halloween costume contests and parties.

White dress 
Gray skirt 
Gray chef’s beanie 
Gray cotton fabric to match skirt
Thick iron-on interfacing
1 bottle of your choice of Rit Dye (we used Sunshine Orange)
Spray paint in your choice of color (we used orange), black, and silver
Upholstery foam sheet (we got it from Joann Fabrics)
Velcro strips
Hot glue gun
Large black pipe cleaner
Black duct tape
Foam board
Utility knife
Iron
Gray thread + needle

1. To begin, we are going to dye our dress orange. Following the instructions on the Rit Dye bottle, dye your dress your color of choice, and run through a cycle in your washing machine when it’s reached your desired shade. If you aren’t getting the color you want, you can dye it on the stove top in a large pot.

2. While the dress is washing, straighten out your pipe cleaner and wrap it in black duct tape.

3. Next cut out two prongs, a large base plate, and a rectangular prism for the plug. Spray paint the rectangles and base black and the prongs silver. Hot glue everything together to make a plug.

4. Cut a small x in the back of the assembled plug and put your cord in, hot gluing to keep it from falling out.

5. While your dress is drying, iron your interfacing to your cotton using the instructions on the interfacing. Cut a cone shape out of the fabric and hand sew it to the bottom of your skirt. Sew the plug to the back of your skirt as well.

6. To make the “liquid” in your lava lamps, cut out shapes from the upholstery foam that resemble ava lamp bubbles. Spray paint them a similar or complementary color to that of your dress.

7. Put on your costume and attach the foam to your dress using velcro strips. Accessorize with a gray chef’s beanie for the top of your lava lamp!

Now that you are living in the 90’s again, maybe it’s time to play some classics from that era, and jam out with your friends. Spice Girls or Backstreet Boys?! Don’t forget, if you end up making any of our costumes, share it on Instagram with the hashtag #awwsamcostumeparty and it may even end up on my stories! Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a date with Clueless, a bean bag chair, and my own 90’s heartthrob, Paul Rudd!

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