Talking Apple Tree from the Wizard of Oz Costume

My costume is 100% homemade. I came up with the idea for the costume when a friend asked me to go to a Wizard of Oz sing-a-long with her. I thought dressing up as Dorothy or the witch would be boring. I wanted something a little different. The trunk of the tree is made from duck cloth (it’s like canvas). My friend helped me get started on creating the tree trunk by suggesting that I alter a pattern I had for an oriental robe and make it straight instead of tapered. I looked at You Tube videos of the talking trees from the movie to help draw the face of the tree. I drew everything on the trunk freehand with a sharpie. The head piece of the costume I made up as I went along. The base of the headpiece is made from 2 pieces of floral styrofoam glued together. I didn’t use a pattern. I had an idea in my head of what I wanted it to look like. I wasn’t sure if it would work out. The branches of the tree are made of high density foam cut in various sizes. When I made this costume I did not know that there was such a thing as foam glue. I used several different types of glue, none of which worked, so instead I used bamboo skewers to connect the branches. Also, because of the porous nature of the foam, it took 2 full cans of brown spray paint to cover the entire headpiece. Then I created the leaves by attaching pieces of tulle to the branches and trunk using head pins and found some plastic apples on clearance and hung them from the tree. The overall cost of the costume was $90. This is pretty cheap since I saw just the tree trunk for sale on costume websites for $90.

The first time I wore it, I was the belle of the ball. It was crazy! I was the center of attention at the sing-a-long. It was truly the most bizarre experience of my life. Little kids thought I worked at the theater and wanted to get their picture taken with me. The friend whose idea it was to go to the sing-a-long and dress up planned on making a flying monkey costume but she was a tax preparer and, unfortunately, it was tax season. She ended up not wearing a costume. The whole night she kept telling people “I’m with the tree.” She was so funny. The response I get when I put this costume on is amazing! The first reaction I get is laughter. I love how this costume makes people laugh. I don’t mind that they’re laughing at me. I also get a lot of “That’s so cool!”, “That’s amazing!” and “Did you make that yourself?” I also get a lot of requests for pictures and a lot of funny looks…especially if I’m walking down the street by myself. The reaction I get to this costume was completely unexpected. It was not my intention to make a crazy over-the-top costume but it’s a lot of fun.