Tiny Predator Costume

Predator Costume - my 8 year old son Ethan is obsessed with the Predator vs Alien movies and decided mid-september that he wanted to be the Predator. We watched the movies and mama started brainstorming. He was going to be predator no matter what I had to do!

You cannot just go buy this costume, so I had to make it.
the only store bought items for this costume was the Predator mask and the gun.

Body: I had an old ninja turtle body suit that I spray painted silver. I shaded it with different hues of brown and tan spray-paint. I, then, hand-painted designs with a hand-made stencil and shaded out the ribs and muscles to make the body more realistic (and less ninja-turtley).

Head: I contact-cemented (glued) the pre-made mask to a yard-sale pink bike helmet that I painted black to make the face more full. (I tried vinyl glue, hot glue, and super glue to no avail...so I ended up using contact cement and holding the piece until it dried on the helmet!) I got some gray Backer Rod from the hardware store and cut it in 12-14" sections for the dreadlocks. I spray painted it black for and used duct tape for the dreadlock decor. I ended up supergluing it to the outside of the mask for a 3D dreadlock effect, as the dreadlocks on the purchased mask were very disappointing.

Blades: the blade piece was made from an old soccer shin guard that had been spray-painted brown and tan, with hand-painted shading to match the body. I used an old Nokia phone box duct-taped to it (which was too tight for his arm later, so I had to remove the duct tape and secure it with a less tight electrical tape). I painted the box black, and hot-glued several hand-cut foam shapes and odds & ends to it for the designs. I cut out the blades from a cardboard lego box and spray-painted them silver, then hot-glued it to the box. I also painted accents on the top of the box.

Self-Destruct Panel: This was a MUST. I used a thick foam base and cut out designs to make the panel. I used velcro pieces to hold the foam around the wrist. for the red "electronic panel," I dissected red shiny christmas tree confetti and made the graphics for the panel. all of these tiny pieces were either super glued or hot glued to the foam using tweezers (due to the fact that I realized my fingers were too big...and sensitive...to hot glue such tiny pieces).

Shoulder and Leg armor: this was simply black foam sheets cut out from a hand-made cardboard stencil, sliced, diced, and hot-glued back together. I spray-painted them silver to look like metal and used velcro to secure them to the suit.

Accessories: I located an old belt (from what I am assuming is from an old Star Wars costume) and glued pieces of fabric to it. i found a bag of skulls and strung together a chest piece and hung the rest from his belt. Add in a skull necklace and the outfit is complete.

All the adults at our Halloween party knew who he was, and I have had a bazillion pictures taken of it. I am quite proud at the attention it has garnered because this is not just a costume you can go out and purchase. This was hand-made and took about 20 hours of my valuable time (when I am not a full time mom and a full time nurse!) However, a lot of the kids just thought he was scary and had no idea about what Predator is and what generation it represents!

I had pieced a cannon together, but my son's shoulders are not broad enough to hold the canon with the laser light AND keep the dreadlocks in place, so we opted to forego the cannon. However, he was quite excited that he looked like a tiny Predator. He was so impressed with the costume that he wanted to go "into the woods like the real Predator" to take pictures.

Thank you for your consideration! --one proud mama

Cost ~$80 and 20 hours...but it was a LOT of trial and error.
spraypaint ~$2-8/can
helmet $5 at yard sale
contact cement $8
hot glue sticks $5
backer rod $6
duct tape $2
foam $1 per sheet - was $7 for the whole project
velcro was $6 for 2 boxes
mask $13 after shipping
skull accessories $12
string to lace jewelery $4