Halloween: Captured by Frank Costume

Supplies:

• Styrofoam head
• Frankenstein mask
• Frankenstein hands or gloves
• black suit
• Styrofoam sheet
• five to six 1/4 inch dowels
• black and gray spray paint
• turtle neck
• hot glue
• string
• pillow Stuffing
• baby jeans
• baby shoes

Instructions:

This costume was so much fun to make and pretty easy too. All I did was, I bought a Styrofoam head from the local costume shop as well as the Frankenstein mask and green hands. I went to our local thrift shop and bought a small man's suit in black.

I then went to Home Depot and bought a Styrofoam sheet and cut it into 3 equal pieces (around 36 by 41 inches and it is 2 inches thick). I also bought 5 or 6 -1/4 inch dowels and cut them the length I needed to create the bars.

So once you have your Styrofoam sheets cut, take one of them, and cut a circle close to the back of it but not all the way so make sure you do not cut open the back, you want a circle big enough for the child to fit through but still leaving the foam intact.

Once the bottom is complete I used a lot of hot glue and glued on a full piece of Styrofoam to the bottom piece at the back to create an "L" shape.

Once that dried I attached the other Styrofoam piece to create the top. I then took the dowels and cut them the length I needed to create the bars, and I simply pushed them into the Styrofoam with a bit of glue on the ends so they would stay.

You now have the cage complete. I spray painted the entire cage black and grey.

Now for the body, I took one of my husband's old gray turtle necks and tied off the bottom and arm holes with some string. I then stuffed the entire turtle neck arms and all with pillow stuffing (Walmart).

Once stuffed I used probably 3 or 4 glue sticks and hot glued the turtle neck to the back Styrofoam piece of the cage until it was completely stuck on.

I then cut 2 slits in the back Styrofoam piece on either side of the turtle neck about half way up so that I could feed a belt through each side (this will also go around the child so make sure its pretty big depending on the size of the child).

Now take another dowel or paint stick around 12-14 inches long and insert it into the Styrofoam head at the bottom. This will allow the head to be a bit more stable. Now fit the head with the dowel into the neck of the turtle neck and pull the turtle neck up over the base of the head form.

Take more hot glue and glue, generously, the turtle neck to the head form base. Once the head is secured you can put the mask over the head form. Make sure it covers up the any white parts (you can even spray paint the head form black if you want) I also added a scarf for added support.

Now take the arms and hot glue on the green hands or you can use gloves whatever you want, just make sure you glue them on to the arm holes good. Once the hands are on take the suit jacket and put it on the turtle neck and pull the arms up and around the front of the cage to make it look like Frankenstein is carrying the cage. Do this with both arms (see picture).

Have your child put on the pants (you will need a belt to hold them up) now try it on your child by putting it over the head so the child fits into the hole at the bottom. My daughter has on a hat to soften the weight on her head. It's not heavy just feels weird she said.

Take the belt and wrap it around your child's waist/chest as tight as they can handle.This will hold up most of the costume weight. You can dress your child how ever you like, I put a jacket on Courtney and I took a pair of baby jeans and stuffed them creating legs to hang over the front of the cage and I put on a pair of baby shoes to simulate feet. This is all just glued on too.

She won 1st place at our local library Halloween contest. Good luck!

By Lanaya Botbyl from Niagara falls, ON