It’s getting down to the last minute.  If you’re like me and are a procrastinator, you still don’t have a Halloween costume.  Why yesterday, at my work’s Halloween pot-luck lunch, I threw together a great last minute costume.  It wasn’t one of the ones on ABC’s list of great last-minute costumes for kids, but it’d totally work for a kid and the whole thing will cost about $5 at maximum.  I went as Balloon Boy Falcon Heene.

I took a cardboard box and pushed the bottom out.  I stepped into the box and then pulled it up around my chest like a cardboard vest.  I punched two holes in the top flap of the box and strung brown yarn through the holes, and then hung the box around my neck by the flap with my waist coming through the box.  (For greater stability, I recommend making yarn suspenders through both the front and back flaps.)

Since I had to pick up a pie anyway, I was able to swing by the grocery store, where I picked up the shiniest metal foil helium balloon I could find.  I used a Blue’s Clues balloon, since that was most appropriate for a 6-year-old kid.  This I tied to my wrist.  When I got to work, I pulled the box up around my waist, adjusted my yarn neck strap, and stuck a name-tag to my chest that read “Balloon Boy.”

It went over really well, and if I go out on Halloween, I’m going to recycle the costume idea.

Tags: how-to, do it yourself, last minute Halloween costumes, easy Halloween costumes, Halloween costumes, balloon boy costume

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