Handmade Halloween Costumes for Serious Foodies
Skip messy face paint and itchy wigs this Halloween, and dress up like one of your favorite snacks instead with a little inspiration from Amanda Kibler, the wardrobe whiz from Good Eats with Alton Brown. After years of costume design, Kibler has nailed down the recipe for a successful food-themed costume: It must be eye-catching but comfortable, and it needs to be sturdy enough to endure a long night of door-to-door candy collection. That sounds like a tall order to fill, but Kibler’s life-size designs for pizza, bacon and more are a cinch to pull together at home. Best of all? Each costume relies on thrifty materials like fleece, felt, foam and cardboard.
No ghoulish masks or fake blood here — just some giant golden french fries stuffed inside a life-size carton. Aside from looking adorable, trick-or-treaters will stay plenty warm on the notoriously chilly night of Oct. 31 when they’re surrounded by the soft foam fries.
A few basic items like felt and fleece are all a pizza lover needs in order to become one with his or her favorite slice. Use different colored felts to cut out toppings of your choice.
To make this spray-painted foam bacon strip safe for trick-or-treating, Kibler recommends you hot-glue the front and back pieces together only down to the knees. “Whatever shape you choose, you have to be able to walk around,” she says.
There’s no shame in proudly wearing your love of breakfast food on your sleeve — or, better yet, on your whole body. White foam and yellow felt bring the look together.
Dapper dressers with a serious love of sweets will gravitate toward this adorable cupcake costume topped with pink fleece "frosting." Foam hair curlers make the perfect sprinkles. Who knew?
For details on how to bring these food designs to life, check out Kibler’s detailed instructions here.