Hi, friends! So, I know it’s January and NO ONE is thinking about Halloween (no one normal at least). But I realized I never shared my DIY House Plant Costume! I shared it on my social media (follow me HERE, HERE, and HERE please! I beg you!), but never on the blog!
I was on a DIY Halloween Costume spree in 2022. I was cutting, gluing, and painting all month long making fun DIY costumes for no real reason at all (haha) other than to share with you guys! I created posts for the DIY Stick Figure Costume, the DIY Minion Costume, the DIY Fred Flinstone Costume, and the DIY PacMan Costume.
What’s funny is that I made all these Halloween costumes for my kids and they still wanted to go with store-bought costumes for their official costumes. I think the costumes I made were way better, but whatever!
I am so stinkin’ proud of the DIY House Plant costume I made for myself. I wore it to 3 different Halloween events and got SO MANY compliments! Not going to lie, this is not a project for the beginner DIY’er. It was super frustrating to make, but it was a labor of love. I desperately wanted to be this house plant, so failure was not an option!
I was so busy trying to get the house plant costume to come together that I didn’t really document the process, however, I am going to do my best to give you an overview of the process. I’m sharing what materials I used, what worked, and what didn’t – I am sharing it all!
DIY House Plant Costume
Materials Used
- Cardboard – lots and lots of cardboard
- Scissors/Box Cutter – or both actually
- Wire Cutters
- Hot Glue – lots of hot glue sticks!
- Paint – Terra Cotta (HERE) color for the pot and Green (HERE) for the plant leaves.
- Green Shirt – a basic green shirt.
- Aluminum 9 Gauge Wire (HERE)
- Poster Board
- Crepe Paper
- Box Tape
- Rope
Assembly Process
Create the terracotta pot.
- Grab a large piece of cardboard and cut out a large circular frame. Make sure the circle is large enough for you to stand inside
- Hot glue a large piece of cardboard along the inside of the frame to create the walls of the pot. Bending and rolling cardboard make it more pliable and easier to work with.
- Continue adding cardboard until you have the exact shape you want for your house plant costume. Switch back and forth between hot glue and box tape – whatever works best for you!
- Apply coats of terracotta paint until you reach the desired look.
Create the plant leaves
- Each leaf was created by sandwiching a wire and some crepe paper between two pieces of painted poster board.
- The leaves don’t need to be perfect because they aren’t perfect in nature. Vary the shapes, sizes, and lengths to give a more natural look.
Attach everything together
- Use box tape to attach the leaves to the pot. It takes a good amount of tape to secure the leaves, so be prepared.
- Keep in mind where your arms are going to go when attaching. You want to have room to move your arms and carry things.
- Pop 4 holes in the pot. Two in the front and two in the back. String a rope through these holes to create straps to wear your adorable DIY House Plant Costume.
Things To Note
- Really working the cardboard, bending back and forth, makes the cardboard more pliable.
- Box tape held better than hot glue for me, but there is a definite need for both.
- Humidity causes the cardboard to tear more easily. Nothing you can do about it, just be aware of it.
- I used light green crepe paper and painted poster board strips to create the leaves. If I was to do this again I would use painted poster board for both parts and forget the crepe paper altogether.
- Try using wire hangers instead of buying aluminum wire as a way to cut costs.
- Mixing baking soda with terracotta paint can give a unique terracotta look.
