Last year, after returning home from Europe the precious was on to figure out what we were going to dress up as for our friends annual Halloween party. I created a list of 25 DIY Couples Costumes for Halloween and shared it with Jon. We narrowed it down and that’s when he decided we were gonna create DIY Lego Costumes. Jon knew if we were gonna do this we were gonna do it right. We scoured the internet and never found a complete tutorial nor could we find real life measurements. So Jon got to sketching while I tried to narrow down which LEGO I wanted to be!
These costumes took us over 40 hours to create and we spent roughly $30! Some would argue go spend the $100+ on buying a costume, but we had fun making them and it was also a race against the clock since we had one week to complete them! By far these were the coolest costumes we’ve ever created in our life! Oh, and did I mention that we might have just taken not one but two categories last year–Best Couples Costume and Funniest.
These costumes were over 7 feet tall and we looked through the mouth portion since where the eyes were was too tall for both of us! We also had a very difficult time getting into our friends house. We couldn’t go through their haunted house because we would have ripped it down and/or knocked something over and getting into their house we practically had to un-assemble our costumes.
Here is the sketch up Jon created. He scaled down the sizes for both himself “J” and myself “K”. He’s 5’11 and I’m 5’1 so that is what the sizes are scaled too. Here is a rough list of supplies we used for our costumes.
Supplies:
- Cardboard
- Foam
- Yard Stick Ruler
- Black Gaffers Tape
- Gorilla Glue
- Hot Glue
- Hand Saw
- Weights
- Poster Tube
- Meat Carving Knife
- Yellow Paint
- Yellow Poster Board
- White Poster Board
- Black Sharpie
- Black Paint
- Blue Paint
- Pink Paint
- Metal Mesh
- White Spray Paint
First up, you need to create the base and body of the LEGO. Jon cut out this portion using cardboard. Some we found from the grocery store and others we purchased. He secured the body with black gaffers tape because its super sticky.
Then, it was time to build the feet. We built the sides out of foam and the fronts and backs out of cardboard. We found using a meat carving knife was easiest to cut the foam!
Then, make the tops of the heads. You know, the LEGO top that makes them stand out and really look like a LEGO! Because I chose a girl LEGO We also had to carve a pony tail (not shown).
Then hands were created by layering multiple pieces of foam together with the thicker purple foam. We cut “c’s” out of the hands and then began cutting the holes where we would put our actual hands through. Jon used Gorilla Glue to secure the foam together (he placed weights on top of the glued together foam over night to ensure that they stuck together. Using a meat carving knife we carefully trimmed around the hands. Little did my mom really know what her meat carving knife was being used for…
While Jon worked on the hands I worked on my maracas! I glued a few pieces of leftover foam together, freehand drew the maracas on to the foam. Carved out as much as possible of the foam using the electric carving knife and then brought my maracas over to the drill press where Jon placed a sanding pad on it. That’s how I was able to shape and get my maracas round! After they were done I painted them brown. Some would argue that they looked like chicken drum sticks, but I knew they were maracas and made my costume complete!
We secured the foam tops and then painted them yellow and black where appropriate for mine. Jon used just cardboard pieces to hold up the tops. Make sure you get all of your cutting done first before painting. Trust me… the last thing you want is foam dust on your freshly painted costume.
Then, we used hot glue and secured white poster board to the bodies and feet. We wanted a smooth surface and found this was the easiest way to achieve the smooth surface. You’ll noticed plastic in the background. Jon originally thought he was going to spray the costumes with our paint sprayer, but it didn’t work out. 
Instead we used acrylic paints we had at home. We painted the poster board yellow for mine. Jon helped me paint on the details to my flower lay. I had found a flower cut out and we used that to go with the body. Jon’s lego was much easier to paint as it was just a vest with buttons! His was mainly light blue.
Jon took on the hard task of freehand drawing the faces on to the legos. He started by securing the yellow poster board on to the lego heads. He pre-cut the mouths out before placing them on the heads and then adhered screens to the mouth. He spray painted the screens white prior to placing on the heads! Jon also made sure that the seams were in the back. He penciled on the faces and then began painting. Jon used a black sharpie marker to draw the thinner details including the lines for the hair.
How to make a Grass Hula Skirt
While he worked on the faces I made my grass hula skirt out of a few pieces of green poster board from the dollar store. I believe 3 to be exact. I cut the skirt fringes 1-inch a part and left a few inches on the top.
Once my costume was complete I tried it on sans the feet. It looked awesome and fit well although to be honest–cardboard is not the most comfortable thing to wear! 
Last minute, like 20 minutes before leaving for our friends party we realized we needed to add the lego logo to the back of our legos. So we printed out the largest logo we could find and glued them on!
This was the aftermath! Paper and scraps everywhere… we had just a little bit of time to spare until we had to get to our friends party!
And the final product.
EPIC!
All of our friends were amazed and no one could tell who was inside the costumes. It took us 20+ minutes to get dressed into our costumes. Had we had extra time we could have done a test run. This photo was taken at the end of the night and at that point we decided to remove our feet. All of our final photos were taken by Christy Buonomo Photography. She also has a pretty cool blog where she mainly shares Halloween tutorials and other artsy photos she’s done, head on over and check out here blog Through My Looking Glass.
I loved how my costume turned out including my maracas. Even though everyone thought I was carrying around chicken drumsticks! I loved how my skirt actually moved!
And Jon’s costume was super scary because of that face! Our friend set up a photo booth like we were in jail. It was so difficult for us to get under the tent to take photos!
I dyed a white long sleeve shirt from Walmart with Yellow dye. It blended in perfect to the costume! Best of all I was able to wear it after Halloween!
Here is both of us sans feet crammed into the tent with our trophies on our shoulders!
I leave you with scary LEGO face. I’m not sure if it was the face or the fact that the costume was over 7 foot tall that made it scary. On Halloween night as we passed out candy to the kids Jon dressed up in his lego costume and stood at the foot of the driveway. He made kids SCREAM… and cry. And some may have thrown their princess wands on the ground and ran away. Who would have thought a 7 foot tall lego that came to life would scare so many kids! Even the smarty-pants teenagers were screaming like little girls. It was hilarious to say the least.
I can honestly say, I don’t think we will ever make costumes that out top these ones. They were a labor of love and came out amazing! If you have any questions feel free to leave them in the comments below or email us.
Now, on to start brainstorming what we will be this year!
Love all things LEGO?
Since making these costumes and having kids we have shared our love for LEGO’s with them! If your planning a trip to Florida and want to learn all about LEGOLAND you can find more here:
Andrea says
This is, quite possibly, the COOLEST costume ever!! WOW. I am totally amazed by you guys. You’re awesome!
Katie says
Thank you so much Andrea and thanks for having us at your handmade costume party!!!
Rachel @ R & R Workshop says
Wow! I love these costumes!! Way to go!
I’m a new follower 🙂
Rachel @ R & R Workshop
Katie says
Thanks Rachel!
Max says
So awesome! And I’m laughing so hard that it made children cry! I mean it’s LEGO! aha
Katie says
Thanks!
Linda Lee Steaples says
WOW, this is by far the coolest costumes I have EVERY seen. Most definitely a GREAT LABOR OF LOVE !!!!!
SUPERIOR JOB, WELL DONE !!!!!!!! In my book you WON the best of the best awards for every category there has ever been….. Thanks for sharing!!!!! 😀
I Pinned it to my board and I am sharing on all social networking sites!!!!!!!
Katie says
Thank you so much Linda! I still can’t believe we made these costumes!
gail says
I think I would be scared of that face too! 🙂 Knowing jon is really so kind-hearted… the face doesn’t suit him at all. That’s a lot of work guys, but you really knocked it out of the park!
great costumes!
did you keep ’em?
gail
Katie says
haha thanks Gail! He loved scaring the neighborhood kids! Yes, we did keep them… we’ve talked up revamping the outfits at a later date! lol.
Laura / The Shed by Pet Scribbles says
Best DIY costumes EVER!!!! Love!!!
Katie says
Thanks Laura!!!!
Malia says
I just love these. You two are so creative and I love the sense of fun and joy that these costumes convey! xo
Mallie says
EPIC. That is all 🙂
Katie says
Thanks Mallie–we think so, too!
Bonnie @ Uncommon Designs says
Ok you guys are adorable and those costumes rock!
Katie says
Thanks Bonnie!
Sharlyn says
These are sooooooo cool, I’m a little afraid to show my son, he will want me to build one for him! Awesome job!
Katie says
ha ha thanks Sharlyn!
Sara says
Hi,
Awesome costumes! Where did you purchase your foam, and what kind of foam is it?
thanks
Katie says
Hi Sara–sorry for the delayed response. We bought one sheet of foam from The Home Depot. 2″ insulation foam and then we used the high density foam (purple) to help support the hands.
Felt With Love Designs says
Hi! We LOVE Legos in our house, I can’t let my husband see this or he will try to convince me to make one for our whole family!! Love the costumes so much! We included your lego costumes in a round-up we did on no-sew costume ideas! Thank you for sharing!
http://www.feltwithlovedesigns.com/2013/10/04/links-with-love-no-sew-diy-halloween-costume-ideas/
Katie says
Thank you! They were so much work and totally were worth all of it!
Amy says
I absolutely love these. I DID make the mistake of showing my 6 year old son and now he wants to be a Lego guy for Halloween.
I have a question for you… How did you figure out the measurements and how do you get the legs on?? Oh yeah and the “arms” that went into the “C” styrofoam… Is that poster board too? I think I might try and make one for him… Maybe myself too while I’m at it 🙂
amy says
I absolutely love these! I DID make the mistake of showing my 6 year old son and now……. I’m making a lego man costume!!
I have a couple questions for you though. 🙂
How did you figure the measurements?
How do you get the legs on? Did they fit well, or did they move around a bit? Did you have to glue them together once your legs were in them? lol
Great Job! Thank you!!!
Katie says
Thanks Amy–we sent you an email in hopes to answer some of your questions!
Janel says
OMG! These are awesome! My son loves Lego and wants me to make him a Lego costume. I found your site through pinterest and might use your guide to help me make one!
Any thoughts to help make it smaller? He is 4. Also, how do the feet stay on? Do the hands go inside of the ‘c’? Also, is it easy to paint the foam? I would think it would absorb it.
This is amazing!
Thanks
Katie says
Hi Janel,
You would need to scale down the size based on his height. If you look at our photo (sketches of the lego) you’ll see the size we made ours and then scale down from their. We zip tied the legs on to us… not ideal for a 4 year old… maybe forgo the legs? Yes, your hands go inside the “c”. We used an acrylic paint, so it doesn’t eat the foam. Let us know if you have any other questions. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Janel says
Thank you so much for answering my questions! I am going to try to work on this this weekend. We don’t need it until March, but I want to make sure I have enough time to get it done. I’m excited! He is going to love it!
Mark Urso-Cale says
Hi there
Really, really love this, these are great. One question, how did you shape the curve for the top and bottom of the head and smooth off the edges of all the polystyrene/styrfoam? I’ve been able to cut the discs to shape for the head, but really struggling to get the curve to really make the head look good.
Also, with the legs/feet, how did they stay on? I notice you said you took them off so wondeing if you actualy wore them like very big shoes.
Many thanks,
Mark, Oxfordshire, England
Jon says
Hey Mark, Sorry it took so long to reply but a new baby makes everything take longer to do. As far as smoothing out the edges I used my orbital sander with a high grit and quickly and softly ran over the edge to give that smooth appearance. If I had more time on the build I probably would of used and old pair of shoes and fixed them into the big boots because they were flopping around to much making it hard to walk. Or since they go so high up on the leg you could probably put some velcro strap through the sides to strap around your leg leaving the actual big boot roughly an inch or so off the ground. Hope this helps, please send some pics when your done.
Jon
amy says
hi! these are amazing!! thank you soooo much for the tutorial! we are going to be a lego family this year, and the wagon (for hauling my preschoolers) is going to be a lego bucket. thank you for the inspiration and the practical advice! i was worried i couldn’t top last year’s costume, but now I believe i can!
Katie says
Amy glad we could be of assistance. Please send pictures our way! We would love to share with our readers what other readers are building! 🙂
Pat K says
I cannot get a side view of the lego costume for dimensions. Can you please send me the side view dimensions of your lego costume. Thanks.
Katie says
Hi Pat–unfortunately, all we have is that sketch up photo.
shannon says
Hi there! All I can say is… these are AMAZING! I’m totally inspired to do this for my 9 year old. My only questions is how you strapped on the legs? About how long did these take you to complete? And where can I find a big foam sheet like that? Do they sell those at craft stores? Thanks so much for sharing!!!
Katie says
Hi Shannon. Glad we could inspire you. The two costumes took us 40 hours to complete. We used zip ties for the legs… not really ideal for walking around all night. You can find the foam sheet at The Home Depot! Good luck and send us a picture if you decide to make it!
Heather says
Hi there!
Do you have any advice for keeping the legs on/in place? I’m having a hard time figuring out what I could use to help secure the legs so they’re not flopping around all night.
Thanks!
Katie says
Hi Heather, we zip tied the legs to our own legs–NOT PRACTICAL. In hind sight had we had more time we would have added elastic to the inside to wear the legs. Still–a little challenging to walk around with. Hope you figure something out and please feel free to send us photos of your finished costumes! We would love to share with our readers.
Heather says
Hi Katie!
What is the best e-mail to contact you? I would love to send you photos of my costume!
Thanks!
Heather
Pierre-Olivier says
can you please tell me the ”side mesure” we dont see on your picture…. thanks a lot !
Katie says
Hi–sorry I no longer have the costumes nor our scrap piece of paper we scribbled on for the measurements. Good luck!