Creative Costume Ideas for Truck-Shaped Costumes
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The creative costume ideas in this section have been graciously submitted by readers like yourself. If you end up with a cool costume, or already have some cool costume photos and tips to share, send them over via this form. You can win a cool prize - but more importantly, you'll be taking part in creating the Web's ultimate homemade costume resource that's ALWAYS FREE for everyone to enjoy!
Truck-Shaped Costume Index:
(Click on an image below to view the enlarged
photo and preparation tips submitted by our readers)
 Truck 09 |
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 Mailman |
 Truck 08 |
 Truck 07 |
 Truck 06 |
 Truck 05 |
 Truck 04 |
 Truck 03 |
 Truck 02 |
 Truck 01 |
Creative costume submitted by:
Erica S.
Plainfield, IL
My son's favorite truck is a cement truck so I decided to try and make a creative costume and put one together for him. In order to do this I got the following supplies: cardboard box (which my husband brought home from work), rope (I found some in the garage), duct tape and blue painters tape (I had on hand), blue spray paint and silver spray paint, yellow, red and black fabric paint (I had on hand), one garden/rose Styrofoam cover (I happened to have one in the garage but they can be found at any nursery).
I first spray painted the box blue. Now normally cement trucks I find are red and white but my son's favorite color is blue so I customized it to his likes. Once the paint was dry I just cut out the back part where my son would be standing in the costume. After cutting I used the blue tape to cover all the exposed edges so he wouldn't get any cardboard cuts. I then used tape to stencil out on the box where I wanted my silver spray paint to go. I used it for the windows in the front and on side and also for the front grill cover and headlights of the truck. I also spray painted the rose cover with silver because this was used as the barrel of the cement truck.
Once everything was dry I used the fabric paints to complete the details. I put a line of yellow in the back and then slanted black lines for the caution symbol. The red was used for the taillights. I used black to outline the windows, headlights and define the front grill cover. I lastly used yellow on the rose cover to make the Tonka logo and then wrote the letters directly over the yellow. I figured putting the logo would help people understand what he was in case they couldn't identify my creative costume!
Once everything was completely dry I attached the rose cover to the back of the cement truck with duct tape. The cover is so light that the duct tape was plenty strong to hold it in place. I then cut two holes in the top of the cement barrel and on top of the truck so that I could attach the rope. The rope was used kind of as a shoulder harness so the costume wouldn't drag on the ground. I also cut out handles on the side of the truck so that my son could hold it up with his hands as well.
To complete the costume my husband brought a hardhat home from work so my son could wear it and I had him put on a red flannel shirt just for effect. I really only bought the spray paint for the costume because I just used things I had around the house. I spent only $5 on the spray paint on this costume but I think you could do it for $10 if you had to go out and buy a couple extra supplies. I had a blast doing this and most importantly my three year old son was overjoyed with his costume!
Total Spent: $5
Jessica M.
Crestone, CO
This costume came about because my son Tristan wanted to be a monster truck for Halloween. I actually tried to talk him out of it because how do you make a monster truck and we only had one week left until Halloween. Then I found this box, it was perfect. So my husband and I, with no knowledge on creative costumes, started this project.
The box was the perfect height so we just cut the top of the box to look like a truck and then got another box and fitted it to be the hood, windshield, and roof and back window. It was one solid piece that we just bent at each bend in the truck. We used a pizza box so the hood flap was just the front of the pizza box. We cut the piece to be about a half inch wider than the truck so we could bend and glue the sides for stability. We also made eight tabs that were about 6" by 2 ". We bent them in half and attached them to the inside of the truck so when we put the hood roof and windows on we could have something to attach them to. Then we folded the extra half inch width down and used Elmer glue and a glue gun to connect them.
Then we took some more pizza boxes to reinforce the box around the tires and any weak spots. We bought nuts and bolt to further attach everything to make it secure. The front bumper was just some old wrapping paper rolls that we had around the house and painted them silver and attached them with nuts and bolts. The tires we were going to make ourselves but we ran out of time so we had an old hot wheels four wheeler that was broken so we took the tires off and used those. We just attached them with some longer bolts. After that it was just too heavy for him to carry so we made some straps and thought that he could just stand inside and push it. if we made the straps long enough but he hated it and would not wear it. So then I was so bummed I thought it was a bust and we were trying to find him a different costume.
We were all so sad because it would have been the coolest costume but then I found this other truck and it fit on there just perfect and he could sit right in it perfectly so we cut a hole in the engine and stapled his candy bag inside and added a string for him to pull so he would say trick or treat and pull the string and all the people could just put the candy under the hood in his candy bag. It turned out amazing, everybody that saw it wanted to stop and take pictures. All the other kids were so jealous. It turned out perfect. We had to push him but he liked that anyway so with a lot of glue, a box, some paint from around the house and some old tires we never thought we would use again, we made a monster truck. The roll bar was a wrapping paper roll with some electrical tape that I got from the dollar tree for a dollar.
It was totally worth the time and effort and just remember if your creative costumes don't come out the way you plan, keep your eyes open around the house, you never know what can end up working better than what you thought in the first place.
Total Spent: $10
Creative costume submitted by:
Sarah D.
Thornton, CO
My son Jeremiah (five years old) loves trucks, semi trucks; pick up trucks and any kind of trucks. His dad and grandpa both drive semi trucks so this year he asked me to make him a Peter built costume. I put his costume together with about five boxes. I glued and taped two together for the main cab then a smaller box on the front for the hood and grill and another smaller on the back for tires.
The last box I cut up for small pieces (tires, mirrors, horns, bumpers and wheel wells.) The wheel wells are just bent cardboard. The horns on top of the truck are cones from the hobby store. And the exhaust pipes are from the hardware store like PVC piping or plumbing piping. I used hot glue and duct tape to secure everything. I bought two push night lights for the head lights and attached with hot glue. And bike reflectors for back lights. I painted everything with spray paint.
This was a fairly easy to medium creative costume to put together. It just takes a little imagination and a picture or toy truck to look at for reference and ideas.
Total Spent: $40
Creative costume submitted by:
Kevin D. & Carson H.
Winter Haven
Our son wanted to be a garbage truck. He was also dressed as a garbage man so that he could pull the truck behind him on his wagon. The materials we used on this creative costume were: cardboard boxes (sizes depends on the size of your trick-or-treater), duct tape, paint, paper fasteners, glitter, black marker signs generated on the computer and silver insulation tape.
| We found a box a little bigger than our six year old son and cut a hole in the top for his body so that his arms could be free. We fastened another smaller box (narrow) in the front for the cab. We also added a hopper with extending arms on top of the cab to hold the loot! We decorated the front with two "tap" lights that work on batteries and in the back with paint and glitter for lights. |  |
This was a fun family project that cost less than $10 to make. It took us about a total of six hours on various days.
Creative costume submitted by:
Kelly P.
El Cajon, CA
My three year old son is very in to monster trucks especially Grave Digger so when he wanted to be a monster truck I got a little nervous about how I was going to make this creative costume work. To my surprise it wasn't bad at all right down to the working headlights. Most of the supplies I had at home so it was pretty cheap.
You will need: two small boxes, paper towel roll, really strong glue, duct tape, suspenders or rope, black, green and silver spray paint, red yellow and purple tempra paint, foam, two small stick on lights we found at Target, Velcro, black shirt, black sweats, green hairspray paint and license plate.
I pulled a picture of Grave digger from one of my son's magazines and went to work on this creative costume. Once you find a box that fits, fold all of the top flaps in and cut the bottom flaps off, poke holes in the inside for your rope to hold the truck on. Take the second box and cut a largo side piece out of it. Start to bend it the way you want the front to look. This will be the longest part of the project; it takes some time to get the cardboard to bend. Once in shape, cut slits in the front of your hood and bend them down, this will be where you glue your lights. Glue this piece to your box.
Get the foam out and cut your tires out. Spray your box black along with the tires and the paper towel roll. Glue your foam tires on. Spray the center of them with the silver paint. The paper towel roll will be the front axle to keep the tires from falling in. cut a small piece of card board for the front bumper. Add the flames and other designs. Glue on and paint the white led lights with red tempra paint. Personalize your license plate and glue it on. Glue or Duct tape the inside flaps of the box down to keep the ones with the rope in them from flipping up. I used little Velcro strips to pull the ropes together at my son's chest and his back to keep the straps from falling down.
Throw on the black clothes; spike the hair and spray it green and you are good to go! In all this took about two to three hours from start to finish. I sprayed the silver and green spray paint on a plastic plate and used small paint brushes to do all of the artwork and flames. It dries really fast and the color stays bright against the black and used tempra paint for all of the other colors.
I hope this helps a lost mom like I was. I could not find any help with how to make this creative costume that is why I want to share it. It stopped people trick or treating they would come over to see my son. The reaction from my son when he wears it is priceless. The few hours it took were worth it!
Total Spent: $25
Amy B.
Harwood, MD
The inspiration for this costume came from my son. His grandfather, father and I all work for BFI. He decided that he wanted to be a garbage truck for Halloween.
I started with a cardboard box. I cut a hole in the top and bottom that my son would fit in to hold up the creative costume. My husband took pictures of a garbage truck at work for design ideas. I used spray paint to paint the cab and the body of the truck. I used regular craft paint to paint the details on the doors of the cab and to paint the windows and front grill of the cab.
My husband got the appropriate company and safety stickers for the sides and rear of the truck. I used black craft foam to create the ladders on the front and back of the creative costume. I used black craft foam and yellow, silver, orange and red glitter glue to create the front and rear lights. I cut pieces of cardboard to form the forks of the truck and used a tack to connect them so that the forks actually worked. I then created a dumpster out of cardboard to fit on the forks. The dumpster sat on the front of the truck and people "dumped" halloween candy into it. I secured grosgrain ribbon onto the truck to act as shoulder harnesses in order for my son to wear this creative costume.
Total Spent: $15
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