Homemade train costume!

Train Costume!

My youngest son (5) is really into trains,,, I mean obsessed with them! So when my daughter suggested he be a train for Halloween he was thrilled with the idea.
When making a costume I try to scrounge as much materials as I can from around the house. This one is mostly cardboard with some suspenders borrowed from my husband.

 Two cardboard boxes and a cardboard tube (you know, the ones used for concrete footings) were assembled into the basic train shape. I hot glued them together first and then went over each seam with paper mache. (a typical homemade recipe, 3C flour, 3C water) After than dried I was still concerned about the boxes falling apart so I reinforced the joints with duct tape, on the underside and inside, where it wouldn't be seen. Three holes were cut out for windows.

I cut two holes for the chimney and headlight before painted. The chimney is a scrap piece of vent pipe and the headlight is the top of a Pringles can. I used spray paint to give it a nice even coat.

Here's a closer look at the headlight. When the cap is removed a light can be put inside during Trick-or-Treating. We used a head lamp but a small flashlight or glow sticks would work too.




An essential of this costume was that candy be able to go down the chimney...

....by cutting an extra hole the candy can go down the chimney and into the box below. My son really loved this part!




My biggest dilemma with this costume was how to attach the suspenders to the inside of the costume. I was concerned that any holes I made would weaken the boxes and cause tearing while he was wearing it. What I came up with was this...

With my duct tape I created flaps on the inside of the box that the suspenders could be attached too. This held really well!

 Some cardboard wheels and Paper accents and this is the end result! We did have to add a small block of wood to the back of the costume since it's so front heavy.

 He loved it!! We got three uses out of it before a rainy Halloween started turning the cardboard into mush. But it lasted as long as we needed to so I'd say it was a success, and we got complimented on it everywhere we went!!