My 3 year old son is obsessed with space. He spouts off all sorts of facts about the solar system and universe. His favorite planet is Saturn. Of course, he requested a Saturn costume for Halloween.
We took a paper lantern and paper mached it for reinforcement. A hole for the head, a wider one for his body, and two arm holes were cut in it so that it slides on him like a shirt. We painted it with tempura paint. For the rings, we cut them out from a card board box and wrapped them in tin foil. Tempura paint was lightly brushed over them so they still sparkled but had a rainbow effect.
He’ll wear black pants and shirt under the costume.
Related costumes:
Great Saturn Boy Homemade Halloween Costume 
Easy Homemade Maternity Saturn Costume 
Coolest Astronaut Homemade Halloween Costume 
Coolest Paper Mache Earth Costume 
Coolest Homemade Solar System Costume 
Cheap and Simple Rocket Costume for a Child 
Homemade Astronaut Costume in Honor of Neil Armstrong 
Coolest Homemade Astronaut Costume
I love original ideas and this is very clever!
That’s adorable! So creative! You could add glow-in-the-dark stars to his shirt and pants if you wanted.
OH MY! I wish I were so creative. My 8 yr old is doing a presentation on Saturn and needed a costume. YOU ROCK GIRL!
neat!!!
Love it, just love it. If you have a large family, you could do the solar system (although that would take a bit of time)!
8-18-09 Wanting to know what size of lantern you used and possibly where you purchased it? My 6 yr old loves this and we would like to copy your idea for him this year for Halloween. How hard was it to re-inforce with the paper mache?
Thank you in advance for any help!!
My son is 10 and is obsessed with the solar system too! His favorite planet is
Jupiter and, you guessed it he wants to be Jupiter for Halloween! I don’t think it’ll look as clever as Saturn (because it doesn’t have rings)but I will give it a shot. Wish me luck!
Thanks for the great idea.
that was such an great idea so great that I thought of that for my child project but just don’t know where to start. Where did you get a lantern that big. Please please let me know
My son wanted to be Jupiter, but I couldn’t figure out how to do it, so he was a penguin (next best thing). He’s 4 now and insists on Mercury (narcissistic first planet boy)
This year we are trying a “strong paper mache technique” on an Ikea paper lantern as well. If it fails, then we will use a large beach ball with resist to release it. There is a recipe from a guy that does armor using paper mache with wood glue. Our friends were afraid it would be too heavy for my 90% kid, but he’s only Mercury!
Our plan is to use egg carton to help with making craters, acrylic paint (silver) with some glitter for pizzaz.
I was surprised to find your beautiful boy in a perfect Saturn costume. What a joy!
This will be the largest planet I’ve made by hand. We counted 14 different solar systems, even plastic fruit becomes a system.
Best wishes from another mother of a planet boy,
Fellow Space Mom Arianne
And then I found your son’s costume to show him. We’d gone back ‘n forth until I did a search for paper lanterns online and stumbled on your posting. Of course I had to call my husband over to take a look. He was eating crow. Last year I sewed a Saturn costume from felt for our son. It turned out okay, people sometimes recognized it, sometimes not.
I picked up the 23.5″ lantern from Ikea; brought out my box of acrylic paints, also picked up a couple of colors on sale from the craft store; tore paper; hung the lantern on the clothesline; used white glue/water first, then for the last coat of papier mache I used Mod Podge; had our 4 yr old paint the base color and then the stripes; for painting we used a large glass bowl to stabilize the costume, and we’ll be putting the final touches today with glitter and a few suspended styrofoam moons he painted (he loves the moons).
Our son is having a blast painting his costume. He can’t wait to get the glitter and moons on. It’s not very heavy, but sturdy and think enough. He was lifting the papier mached lantern with one hand yesterday, from the wire hanger.
I’d post a pic, but don’t know how.
Thanks for sharing your idea.
Sheila
San Diego
He’s so cute.
sorry, but the rings are off place. they are supposed to be at the equator, please fix it.
Love the costume! How clever! Wondering where I find the lantern big enough for an adult?
Thanks for the kind comments! I hadn’t even checked back here last year (we were so busy make our where the wild things are costumes!)…
I used the biggest lantern (I think it was like 23″) from Ikea. Paper mache wasnt too hard– I hung the lantern on my porch from a wire hanger so I could work around it. The paint also helped to stiffen it up.
As for the ring being around his equator… that would depend on the angle of the planet towards the sun, seeing as how the planets tilt towards and away from the sun (see, that’s how we get solstices and equinoxes and other planets do that too!)
My Daughter really wants to be Jupiter for Halloween this year. You totally saved me from making a flat round cardboard planet that she would carry (sad idea, I know – just couldn’t think of anything better)… this is a perfect solution for getting a round costume. thanks again!
This is incredible!!! I love it. How did you attach the rings to the sphere?
What a cool costume, and the little boy is so cute! Great job, very creative!
Hi! I just rested the rings on him and they stayed– there was enough resistance between the crinkled tin fin and papier mâché that it stayed just fine!
Thanks for the idea! My son can’t wait to be Earth for Halloween. I found a large lantern at World Market!
My 3 year old son is also obsessed with space — he loves all the planets and the sun and moon — I was just going to cut out some cardboard, but your planet idea is really cool!
Does the paper mache take a long time to dry? Wondering if I still have time to make it.
I would give the paper mâché at least 12 hours to dry– and use a couple layers
What recipe did you use for the paste?
well im looking for a Saturn costume and that little boy is adorable. But i need it 4 a science costume
I honestly just pour some flour and a bowl and mix it with water to consistency…I’d say 1 part flour to 2 parts water
he looks very cute and funny
Hi there, I’m a mom of another planet-boy, but unfortunately I work too much and also have no patience to make a Halloween costume. I think he’d be a great Earth and his little baby sister the moon.
Any chance you’d be willing to sell me your costume if not in use anymore, or make some and we can arrange for a fee?
If interested, please email jeanleeswagert@gmail.com
World Market had paper lanterns up to 30″ , the one I bought for my 4 y/o is 24″. I’m going to use it for the armature of an Earth (Urf, lol) costume, and it will be covered w/ blue fleece w/ green felt continents. I figured the fleece had enough loft that the wire frame won’t be visible. I’m going to have to be clever to keep it “unfolded” without the middle frame/lamp attachment in it. Probably I can use coat hanger wire or something. I’ll figure it out, and I’ll post a link here when I’m done. Thanks so much for a fabulous idea! I would have never considered using the lamp as the armature had I not seen this! I was preparing to make one from scratch. what a time-saver! and affordable!
My son also loves the planets so we stole your idea for Halloween this year! He was a huge hit!
Thanks so much for the inpsiration!
Wow thats really cool and awesome just some questions:
how do u make that
how do u make it boof out and puffy
how long does it talk to make
thanks if u can anwser these because i have a school project about the solar system and i am doing neptune so i need a costume like that also
what materails do u use to make that
Thanks please anwser these thanks again Plus could u make a neptune one so i can see it
I’m so glad I found your picture, I need to make 2 Saturn costumes.
And to the person that commented the rings weren’t in the right place, seriously??? Get a life.