If they say ‘you are what you eat,’ does that mean I’m going to be getting a lot of candy this year?! I’m back with my first costume of the year and it’s one that I’ve had on my list since I started making costumes. I always thought it would be fun to do a costume based on one of Halloween’s favorite icons; the pumpkin candy bucket!
Supplies
Newsprint or newspaper
White glue
Foam core board
24″ balloon
Spray paint (orange for the pumpkin and whatever colors you want for the lollipops)
Black adhesive vinyl
Foam spheres in various sizes
Foam triangle
Clear plastic wrapping
Large gumball machine capsules (I got mine at Party City)
Wooden dowels
Acrylic paint in various colors
Black flexible molding (I got a strip from Lowes)
Orange ribbon
How-To
You can watch a little step-by-step video here of me making the costume.
1. Inflate your 24″ balloon to its full capacity. In a large bowl, mix together equal parts water and white glue until smooth. Cut long strips out of newspaper 1″-1 1/2″ wide. These will be used to papier-mâché the foundation of your pumpkin bucket.
2. Place the strips of newspaper in the glue mixture, removing any excess glue with your fingers. One by one, cover the balloon with papier-mâché strips until the balloon is covered. Allow the first layer to dry completely before placing a second layer. We did three layers of papier-mâché to make sure our bowl was sturdy.
3. Dry the papier-mâché overnight before carefully deflating the balloon and removing it from your structure. Once the balloon has been completely removed, level off the top of the bucket by cutting it with scissors and cut a hole in the base large enough to fit it around your waist.
4. With your spray paint, paint the entire bucket orange. Using a large sheet of foam core, cut out a circle the same diameter as the top of your bowl. Cut a hole out of the middle of the foam core circle large enough to fit around your waist. Hot glue the foam board to the top of the bucket. This will help keep the costume sturdy on top.
5. Cut a jack-‘o-lantern face out of black adhesive vinyl and stick it to the front of your bucket. Use black molding for the handle and hot glue it into place on the top of the bucket. Cut and hot glue orange ribbon to the top of the bucket. These will be the straps that will hold your bucket on you.
6. To make the gumball candies, paint foam balls with acrylic paint. Allow them to dry completely and wrap with plastic wrapping to look like candy.
7. For the candy corn, round the edges of a foam triangle and use acrylic paint to paint it with yellow, orange, and white.
8. To make the chocolate bar, cut and layer foam squares on top of a foam rectangle and paint the whole bar brown with acrylic paint. Wrap the chocolate bar in aluminum foil and bend down the top.
9. For the lollipops, spray paint large gumball capsules whatever color you’d like. Cut a whole in the bottom of them and stick a dowel into the hole. Hot glue the dowel in place to make sure it stays.
10. When all of the candy is complete, use wooden skewers to keep them in place on the pumpkin bucket. Hot glue the skewers where needed so they don’t shift at all when the costume is on.
I loved figuring out how to make all of these candies (the lollipops definitely steal the show), and I hope you all love this one too. Stay tuned for more, I have a really fun drink themed one coming soon!
One Response
Omg! I love the detail on the candy. The costume in general is just so cute and happy. ☺