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Coolest Where the Wild Things Are Halloween Costumes

MAX:

I purchased adult sized footed-pajamas and made several alterations to recreate Max’s “Wolf Pajamas.” A hole was cut at the back where a black feathered boa was hanging out from. Four large white buttons were sewed onto the front of the pajamas. Two pairs of stretchy white gloves were used – one for pointy wolf hands which had the tips of cheap party-favor “witch fingers” inside, and the other gloves were used for pointy wolf feet which were also filled with “witch fingers” and stuffing before being sewn on.

I wore a hooded sweatshirt underneath and hot glued black pipe cleaners to the sides for the wolf’s whiskers. To create the crown, I built the structure from a roll of wire fencing. Then used masking tape to cover the wire. I then paper-mached the crown, and once it dried, painted it gold. I hot-glued a strip of purchased faux-fur from a fabric store around the bottom of the crown. To complete the costume, I found a toy sceptre and marched around, roaring and showing off Max’s smug, childish grin.

WILD THING:

To create the head, I paper-mached a large paper lantern. Next, I took a sombrero and cut “tabs” close to the brim. (Hot gluing the edges of my cuts prevented the straw from falling apart.) I glued the top of the tabs to the bottom of the paper-mached lantern. Once dried, you could wear the sombrero and it looked like a big ball sat on top of your head. Next step was to build the creature’s facial features and horns using masking tape and newspaper. Then another round of paper-mache.

Using Maurice Sendak’s illustrations as reference, I painted the creatures head. Then started hot gluing black faux-fur to the head and kept cutting the fabric until it neatly covered the round shape. I made teeth from folded vinyl fabric, which were hot glued under the top lip once the paint was dry. Due to the weight of the final product, I bought a football helmet chin strap and attached it to the sombrero by cutting slits through the brim of the straw hat. The straps were fished through one slit and out the other before being fastened. This added great support to the piece.

To create the body, I used an XXL mustard-colored sweatshirt and glued strips of orange faux fur around the body and sleeves. The claws are “Freddy Kruger” gloves with orange fur glued to the back of the hands, and the nails were covered in masking tape before being painted white. The pants are XXL stretchy woman’s pants. I cut long scallop shaped strips out of vinyl fabric, and hot glued rows of them along the legs and hips of the pants to create the creature’s scales. These scallops were glued to store bought “clown shoes” to create big feet. Toe nails were created from a lot of folded masking tape and white paint. A feathered boa sticks out from the waist-bands for the tail.

To make sure the XXL shirt and pants were filled out, a muscle-suit was purchased from a costume store and worn underneath it all, with extra stuffing added to the shoulders.



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13 thoughts on “Coolest Where the Wild Things Are Halloween Costumes”

  1. Ryan H., I can tell your WTWTA costumes are truly one-of-a-kind. Would you consider lending them for a family reading fun night? I’m an AmeriCorps volunteer and am hosting a fun night to promote reading at home for kids and families. I’m thinking this is a long-shot, but wanted to ask!
    Thanks!
    Annie

    Reply
  2. Where did you find adult-sized white footed pajamas?? I’ve been looking online for days. Maybe I’m just not seeing it…

    Reply
  3. great wild thing costume! any chance you would be willing to part with it or rent it out? we are throwing a wild rumpus in Toronto to celebrate the release of the wild things flick! let me know.

    -Rebbecca

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  4. Your wild thing is amazing! I’m confused though. After you hot glue the lantern to the sombrero do you then fill in the empty space with newspaper and then paper mache the entire thing?

    Reply
  5. Hi Everyone!

    I am so sorry that I haven’t checked this site since last year, and now I see all these wonderful comments. Thank you so much for the kind words! I may be too late in responding now. My contact is ryan.huban@gmail.com if you’d like to email me.

    I got the adult sized footed pajamas at http://www.snugasabug.com. They were SO comfortable, and worth the price.

    Regarding the sombrero questions:
    The lantern remains hollow to keep it as light as possible. Once its glued to the sombrero, you build the facial features with newspaper and tape, then paper mache the whole head and underside of the sombrero so it looks like one piece.

    This makes it a helmet mask. You just wear in on your head! If you look closely, you will see his mouth underneath the beard. He can actually see perfectly well. The wild thing’s beard hangs down to help hide the human face. There are more pictures on my Facebook account if you’d like to see. Just search and friend request me!

    I’m sorry to those who were looking to rent the costume, since its probably too late now. If not, get in touch!

    Reply

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