Howdy to Homemade Costumes!

Everyone wants their kid to look cute on Halloween, but no one wants to buy an expensive costume for them to wear just once (especially nowadays).  Here is a NO SEWING homemade costume that can be done the night before, even though I do not recommend waiting until that close.  Say “Howdy” to my bull rider!

What you will need for this project:

1 large box – that your child could easily fit around himself

1 small box – like a shoebox

paint

2 yards of elastic

Hot glue gun and glue

1 pair of jeans

Belt

Cowboy hat

Shirt – does not have to be a western shirt, can be just a t-shirt

1 old pair of tube socks and a stray sock (white, brown, or black)

To start, take the large box and cut off all flaps off the bottom and KEEP them.  Cut a hole large enough for your child to fit in with a 2 inch allowance added on all the way around.  You do NOT want to cut this hole in the middle,  It needs to be closer to one side (see picture below left).  Take the flaps that you cut off and use one of the longer ones to cut bull horns.  You can cut one long piece like I did, or two separate horns.  With the 2 smaller flaps, you will need to cut out the lower foot part of a boot (see picture below left).  Use the last flap to cut an oval out.  This oval when sideways should be about the same width as your small box.

Next, you will want to hot glue the horns to the small box (your bull’s head).  Then hot glue the oval to the lower front of the bull’s head (see picture above right).  Now you are going to hot glue the bull’s head to the big box (the body).  Hot glue the head to the end that is the closest to the hole.  Believe it or not, you are practically done!

Paint your cowboy boots whatever color you want, I chose red.  Now just paint the bull the colors you want.  My husband said that black would have looked the best (and he is probably right), but black and trick or treating and night do not go well together.  I spray painted this bull and it took less than 5 minutes to do the whole thing and cover any words that were on the box.  Make sure to paint the entire outside, head and body.  When the spray paint dries, paint spots in brown or black on the body and paint the horns.  This is a great time to paint spots on your tube socks as well.  Draw the eyes and nostrils.  If you believe it is going to rain, you may want to put a coat of clear spray paint to seal in the acrylic paint you are brushing on.  Take your hot glue gun and glue your stray sock to the back for a tail (I cut the end into little strands to look more like a tail).  Hot glue 2 straps of elastic to the inside of the hole.  Glue each end of elastic to the hole, so the straps will go over each shoulder.  You’re done with your bull!

Now to get your cowboy set up.  Put on his shirt and a pair of pants (or shorts depending on where you live).  Try not to put jeans on him.  Cut the toes off of the tube socks and put them on over the pants like leggings from the 80’s.  Now press the jeans against the front of your cowboy (like you would at the store to see if they would fit).  Thread the belt through the front loops that you can see, then wrap the belt around your cowboy’s waist and thread through the other side’s front loops.  Fasten your belt and the jeans should stay up just laying flat against your little man.  Staple the cowboy boots in each leg, don’t worry these come out easily without damaging the jeans.  Have your cowboy step into the bull and pull the straps onto each shoulder.  Drape the legs of the jeans on either side to give the appearance of him “riding” the bull.  You are all done!  Have him raise his arm and strike a pose for Mommy to start taking pictures!

***The cutest twist is that the elastic straps allow the bull to bounce when he is walking.***

So it looks like the bull is bucking as he is walking!  It is TOO CUTE!!

If you like this and want to see another NO-SEW costume, click here to see a Red-Eyed Tree Frog on Mom Tried It.