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Boo Costume
by Julie
Boo from Monsters Inc. Costume
by Amanda
Boo Monsters Inc. Costume
by Ariel

Boo from Monsters Inc. Costume

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49 votes
19 comments  ·  add a comment 
Boo from Monsters Inc. Costume

Trying the whole thing on for the first time!

More views: (click to enlarge)
Photo #1 - Trying the whole thing on for the first time! Photo #2 - Here's her costume to wear under the costume. Photo #3 - Thank's for the mockup mom! Photo #4 - This fabric isn't going to make itself you know.
Costume type:  Costumes for Babies
Categories:Halloween Costumes, Movie and TV Show Costumes

This homemade costume for babies entered our 2013 Halloween Costume Contest.

A word from Jason, the 'Boo from Monsters Inc.' costume creator:

This was our youngest daughter's first Halloween where she was old enough to understand what was going on and to fully participate so we really wanted her costume to be special. We Decided on Boo from Monster's Inc. It was a good choice for her for a number of reasons: she was the right age to pull it off, it's an iconic character that people recognize, and it's really two costumes in one. Under the purple monster costume we dressed her in the pink nightshirt, purple leggings and white shoes that Boo is wearing when she's first seen in the movie. This gave us an option if she got too hot or tired and wanted out of the monster costume. We could still say she was dressed as Boo!

The purple monster a deceptively simple looking costume. We did a lot of research into the film and the official, Disney walk-around character and other attempts at the costume and concluded that there were really two major elements that determined the success of this costume: the shape of the head and the fabric choice.

For the monster head, we needed something that was significantly larger than our daughter's head. It also had to be light-weight, comfortable and easy to secure so it would stay in place. We experimented with a number of options. Much to my wife's chagrin, the best choice ended up being a pair of her plastic mixing bowls. We cut a hole in one so it could rest on her shoulders and then to the second attached a child-sized baseball cap (brim removed) with a chin strap so it would stay in place. Finally the two were help together with glue and into a clamshell shape to make the monster's mouth. It worked very well but was still a little odd feeling for Misha so we quickly attached some scrap fabric to the base so she could wear the mockup playing around the house to get used to it. We found that playing her with pieces of fortune cookies worked well to get used to, and enjoy wearing the rig.

While Misha was getting used to the structure, we turned our attention to the outer fabrics of the monster. We looked all over for the purple fabric with a fish scale pattern on it and came up blank so we ended up making our own with a stencil and fabric paint. This was quilted slightly before attaching it to the head piece to give it a little more puff. We were much luckier with the tentacles, and found a great fabric with a pattern of dimensional puffs, which looked fantastic.

The other elements came together pretty quickly. The mop hair was a couple of mop heads (duh) and for the eyes we went with a pair of styrofoam balls on the end of semi-flexible, pvc pipe which we then wrapped in grey felt and gaff tape. These were secured to the head piece by drilling a couple of pipe fittings into the top of the bowl.

Lastly we glued some black felt to the inside of the bowls and attached for craft-foam teeth and that was that. It was a little awkward to walk around in at first but with practice, she did great!

Rating: 4.3 of 5. Votes: 49

49 votes

Comments

#1 comment by Sharon October 27, 2013

AMAZING!!!!

#2 comment by Karskar August 13, 2014

This is totally brilliant! The best I've seen! I'm going to try to replicate it for my Boo-obsessed 2 year old this year, but I'm sure I won't come close to your masterpiece. Thanks so much for sharing!!!

#3 comment by Brandie May 11, 2015

This Halloween costume is amazing! If you still have it, would you be willing to sell it?

#4 comment by Jason May 28, 2015

We do still have it but only because we can't bring ourselves to part with them. We've got like 3 years worth of old costumes taking up space in the garage!

#5 comment by Nahall August 21, 2015

Wow! It's amazing! My family and I are planning to dress up as Monsters Inc characters and I only wish I was crafty enough to make this costume for my little girl. Would you consider making another one and selling it? I would happily pay you generously for your time and for the material.

#6 comment by MJ August 31, 2015

Do you still have this? My daughter is 2 and half and she wants to be boo for the halloween. This is the most amazing costume I have seen. I would pay good $$. Please let me know! Thanks :)

#7 comment by Matthew September 13, 2015

This is probably the best Boo costume to date! Our daughter is a spitting image of Boo. We would love to pay you if you were willing to construct another or sell this one. Our daughter turns 2 right before Halloween! Feel free to contact us! [at]NaagyCheese [at]NaturalMamaInTheCity

#8 comment by Wendy September 5, 2016

This is beautiful!!!! Would you be willing to make another one, if you were paid?

#9 comment by Melissa September 6, 2016

Omg it's so good! Trying to figure out how to replicate the idea for my daughter this year and I can't figure out what to use for the head portion and hood so it stays up and off her shoulders but also isn't just a floppy hood! I'm very much about replicating costumes to a tee! Please tell me what that contraption is! Is it a plastic bowl or a garbage bin? And how do you attach it to her shoulders so it doesn't fall down. I appreciate your help!

#10 comment by Jason September 6, 2016

Wendy, Sorry to say that we're not really in the business of making these costumes for sale. It's all we can do to get each year's costumes ready for our own kiddos!

#11 comment by Jason September 7, 2016

Melissa, I'm glad you like it! the head portion is a pair of matching plastic mixing bowls. If you look at the third picture you can see how they fit together. we cut a hole in the bottom one so her head would fit and sit over her shoulders. the upper bowl has a little baseball cap with a chinstrap glued to the inside. the two bowls we then glued together at the angle to form the mouth.

#12 comment by Vanessa September 8, 2016

Hi are you willing to sell?

#13 comment by Jackie September 17, 2016

How did you make the stencils?

#14 comment by Jason September 18, 2016

Jackie, the stencil was cut from a Manila file folder. The scale pattern was just a hand-drawn shape, eyeballed for size that we traced onto the file folder. We poured a couple colors of craft paint onto a paper plate and sponged it onto the fabric using the stencil.

#15 comment by Cassie September 30, 2016

Do you have anymore pics of inside the head of the costume? This is the best one I have seen since I have been searching the last few days!

#16 comment by Carmen October 9, 2016

This is incredible! How did you attach the body portion to the head???

#17 comment by Jason October 10, 2016

It's been a while so I don't recall for sure but we tend to use an adhesive called Fabri-Tac. It bonds to almost everything, drys quickly, and remains a little flexible after setting. My wife calls it her "cold, hot glue."

#18 comment by Monica Bravo November 1, 2016

If you are selling this costume, please let me know. and for how much. Love it!

#19 comment by k brown August 9, 2019

hi i know its been awhile so i hope you receive this. how did you attach the fabric to the bowls and how thick was it. im worried that it may be too heavy if i use the idea in my head haha. please if you could get back to me that would be greaty appreciated! thank you

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