Homemade Halloween Costume - How To Make A Dinosaur Costume
My three year old grandson, Jack, wants to be a dinosaur for Halloween...not just any dinosaur, Jack wants to be a Spinosaurus.
I looked online for ideas, but all I could find were cutesy dinosaurs... sew some triangles down the back of a hoodie and add a tail to the bottom. Jack doesn't want to be "cute"... Jack wants to be scary.
I LOVE creating Halloween costumes and was excited to take on the challenge. A couple of people online suggested using foam to create a dinosaur head...so I bought a 46 x 70 piece of 1 1/4" foam ( I ended up using about 1/2 of it), got an old bike helmet, and got to work.
I couldn't be happier with the results!!
Want to make a dinosaur costume for Halloween? Here's how I did it....
Dinosaur Head
Using scissors or a serrated knife, cut out a 16" x 22" piece of foam.
Round off one end.
Measure down 14" from straight end, and cut a 3" slit on both sides.
Cut two more slits (on rounded end) as shown in picture.
Bending all the pieces and attaching them together forms the top of your dinosaur head.
Start by hand sewing section A to section B. (A should overlap B)
Next, attach section C to section B. (C should overlap B)
Next, attach the remaining side sections (D & E) to the rounded section.
I bought the foam at Jo-Ann Fabric. It was a remnant piece and cost $19.99. I had quite a bit leftover for future projects. It is 1 1/4" thick.
Hot glue the top head section to a bike helmet.
Cut out a 9" x 18" piece of foam for bottom of mouth.
Round off corners at one end.
Cut out a 5" x 7" opening at straight end. (This is where child's neck goes.)
Cut out a 3.5" x 45" piece of foam for side of mouth.
Hand sew the two pieces of foam together. Side piece should be on outside of mouth piece, not on top of it.
SEE COMMENT #102 BELOW: for a suggestion from Laura, who wishes she had covered foam with fabric prior to sewing them together. I don't know if it would work better that way, but it sounds like a good idea.
Hot glue the mouth piece to the top of the head. This gets a little tricky. You have to glue it to both the foam and to the helmet. If you have any glue gun experience at all, you know this is where the cursing begins. After the bottom was glued on, I made a few tucks (See A & B) using needle and thread, to give the head a better shape. I then attached a piece of foam to cover the back. (C)
Time to get really creative and add some detail features.
I added two triangle pieces of foam to shape the eyes and another longer triangle between the eyes.
I attached spikes running down the back of the head and neck.
I used hot glue to attach all the foam pieces.
See Comment #108 below: Laura suggests using Barge Rubber Cement to glue foam to helmet.
You have to press hard and hold in place for a little while for foam to stick to foam.
Expect more cursing!
As if I hadn't been burned enough yet, I then used the glue gun to cover the entire head with green felt.
I added teeth cut from craft foam....one sheet took care of the whole mouth.
I lined the inside of the mouth with brown felt.
I cut a styrofoam egg in half and hot glued a plastic eyeball to each half.
I used brown and silver fabric paint on the entire costume to create more detail.
Dinosaur Tail:
I followed this fabulous "How To Make A Dinosaur Tail" tutorial.
Dinosaur Hands and Feet:
Rather than have Jack wear the dino hands, I chose to make them to sit on top of his hands. I cut pieces from felt, sewed them together and lightly stuffed. I attached a piece of elastic to the palm side to fit around Jack's wrist.
The dino feet are the same pattern as the hands, just a little bigger. I added a "cuff" and pieces of velcro to the top of each foot which will wrap around Jack's ankle. A piece of elastic is attached to the bottom. (The elastic will be under Jack's shoe and hold the dino foot in place.
I used packing peanuts for claws....cut a point at one end and attached with hot glue.
The Dinosaur's Body:
My suggestion would be to use a sweatshirt and sweatpants. I had green felt already glued to the head when I realized I couldn't find green sweats. I had to improvise. I found two matching sweatshirts at The Salvation Army. I used one of the sweatshirts to make the pants. Honestly, I won't even try to write a tutorial for Jack's dino body because I just sort of pieced it together and made it all work.
I recommend determining your body color (finding sweats)
before buying felt for the other parts.
Jack love's his costume!!
If you make your own dinosaur costume, I hope you will come back and let me know. If you send me pics and allow me to share, I will add pics of your dino to this post.
More of My Halloween Costume Ideas:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Shell
UPDATE Oct 2015
Here are some photos shared by others who have made this costume using my tutorial:
Robb Landis (Comment #57)
Adrienne Johnson (See her tips in Comment #80)
Hope Dulac (Comment #83)
March 2016
Received these pics from Mara (Comment #85) in France
Mara also made a Triceratops version for her daughter:
November 1, 2016
I received these pictures today
From Leah Kramer...Her son won 1st place with his costume:
From Heather Hemphill:
January 2017
Kathryn Todd sent these pics of her daughter Tilly. (Lincolnshire, England)
October 2017
Jessica Garrett's 4 year old son won First Place in his dino costume!
Jessica added a t'shirt and headphones for a rock'n good original look!
Nina Elder sent this picture and video of her son:
Melanie Kostopoulos sent these pics of her son:
November 1, 2018
Mary Jo sent these pics of her son:
November 1, 2019
Paige Bartos from North Carolina sent me these pics of her son in his dino costume!
November 5, 2019
Kelly Edmunds from Toronto Canada sent these pics and video of her son in his dino costume.
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