Integrating my daughter’s wheelchair into her Halloween costume has been a fun project with the kids. While it’s great to see stores carrying and advertising wheelchair costumes, they’re never quite what we’re looking for, and it’s always more fun to make your own… even if it’s the night before…
2022 – Skeleton
This year’s costume was to be a skeleton. We were limited on time so after a quick Pinterest browse, I decided to add a tombstone to her chair to give the illusion of a skeleton rising from the grave.
Materials:
- cardboard
- acrylic paint
- glue sticks
2021 – Cocomelon Wolf’s Revenge
If you aren’t a student of cocomelon then you may not know that the wolf plays a tricks on the other characters. But they also play a lot of tricks on him. What if this children’s show’s character finally had enough of their tricks and did what a wolf does, eat all of the babies!
As she went to elementary school, I think that maybe I had gone too far. The bloody claw slashes and Xs over the beloved character’s eyes may traumatize those first graders… but too late.
This costume did play on the darker games my daughter likes to play (Bergens eating the trolls, capturing babies and eating them, etc.) and she likes animals with real power at the zoo – wolves, lions, gorillas.
This year I decided to DIY the whole costume by making a 3D cardboard mask based on a design I found online. It was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but happy with the results. But it wasn’t as “ferocious” as she wanted and lacked a certain something as a Halloween costume. So we imagined a true cocomelon horror story where the wolf gets his revenge and eats everybody.
Materials:
- Cardboard, paint, elastic strap, hot glue for the mask
- Character printouts
- Posterboard for the wheel covers
2020 – Nothing
This year didn’t really exist. We dressed up in super hero costumes, watched movies, ate candy.
2019 – Minnie Mouse Racer
Materials
- Foamboard
- Zip Ties
- Velcro strips
- Sticky vinyl sheets + Vinyl cutter
- Tap Lights
- Minnie Mouse Racer costume
2018 – Totoro and Catbus
Materials:
- PVC pipes for the bus frame
- Zip ties to attach the cloth
- Orange felt
- Velcro strips to attach the frame to the wheelchair arm rests
- Circuit Playground + Battery pack for the headlights. Overkill for this, but they were bright and on-hand.
- Cardboard + Tempra paint for the leg wheelcovers. Velcro to attach to spokes
- Totoro onesie pajama for the costume and some facepaint