My son was in a Halloween parade with his Cub Scout pack and they were to dress up as something from a specific part of the US. Our den had “North East” and since my son is a huge coin collector we figured that a New York state Quarter Coin Costume would be perfect (and of course the Philadelphia mint is in the North East as well).
I found some high res images of quarters online and set my printer to print them at a huge size (it staggered the image onto several sheets of paper). I then put it together like a puzzle and taped it onto a big round piece of cardboard. I then covered the whole thing in clear shelf liner paper and attached the two halves with clear packing tape (two pieces put together – both sticky sides together to make a strap.)
Everyone loved it!
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Very nice job! It looks so realistic.
I was actually going on doing something similar for Halloween this year but didn’t know where I could find huge, round pieces of cardboard. Do actually buy them like that or did you have to find cardboard pieces and cut them out yourself?
Thanks!
My daughter has been wanting to be a quarter for Halloween for 2 years now, and this year I promised I would make her this costume. I love the one you did! It looks great! Where did you find big pieces of cardboard? Also, can you tell me what site you used for printing out the picture of the quarter?
Thanks so much!
I have a Dollar store called The Four Quarter Store and more. I would love this costume for marketing purposes. Would you make one for us? We would be interested in buying one. eugenehidalgo@yahoo.com
Thank you for your kind compliments on my sons costume. I didn’t realize I had comments here waiting so I apologize to those who wrote to me last year.
For the cardboard I just cut circles out of a large cardboard box. I can’t remember where I got it, but I just found something that seemed large enough and cut out circles.
I don’t remember which site I found the quarter images, but most likely I just googled ‘quarter’ and then clicked ‘view images’ at the top of the google search and then clicked ‘large’. That will take you to many higher res images of quarters. I just looked for the prettiest, shiniest one I could find.
I’m sorry, but with 3 young kids I have my hands full making costumes so I wouldn’t be able to make any extras. Honestly it wasn’t very hard to make. You could even take a simpler route and have a local print shop (Staples etc) print out one large image (instead of piecing together smaller prints from your home printer). Then just spray glue it onto cardboard.
Good luck everyone!
I found the exact image you used – which I loved – except I used Gettsburg for the backside since we are from PA! I tried the contact paper – I wanted it protected because she is going to wear it to a Girl Scouts party, as well as a school party, and then Trick or Treating and wanted it protected – but I was surprised at how fuzzy it made it. So I took it off. Even though the contact paper says clear, it really isn’t. Yours looks great – did you use a special kind of Contact paper?
BTW…I did originally print it out on 4 sheets of paper wide by 4 sheets of paper tall and attempted to cut and glue them together, but it was harder than I thought, not to mention it took alot of printer ink!! So I took the image on a flashdrive to Staples and they printed it out about 35″ wide for $5 each side. Can’t be beat!!
Also, the cardboard I used to glue the printout on I purchased from Uhaul for $7. It’s a “large mirror” box.
Would you mind sharing the URL to the front of the quarter? I can’t seem to find a hi-res version of the front. I have the file for the back.
Thanks!
So glad that so many of you are making this quarter. Yes, having it printed at Staples would be much easier. Mine was just a ‘fly by the seat of my pants’ experiment and just printed it out at home. Surprisingly you can’t tell that it’s printed on multiple pieces.
As for the clear contact paper, it’s just regular contact paper from Walmart. I guess it might have toned it down some, but I wouldn’t really say it was fuzzy or anything. It had kind of a matte finish. Maybe it depends on the brand?
When I pieced together the multiple images I left plenty of room for the images to overlap (I didn’t cut them each off at the exact point of matching up to each other). I had a few inches of overlap for each piece so that I could move them around as need and still have “wiggle room”.
As far as applying the image to the cardboard, I used Spray Mount. It’s a spray adhesive that comes in a can. It can be purchased at craft and art stores. You simply spray the paper and then every inch of it is covered so that you don’t have to worry about corners and edges coming up.
Good luck everyone!
OMG! I So need such a costume for my son!!!! He’s been asking to be a quarter for the better part of a month! He loves quarters and collects them and he’s 3, and can think of nothing better to be than a quarter!
I first used Con-tack paper to try to laminate it, but didn’t like the results. So I took it off and found another product at Wal-Mart – Laminate paper that comes in a roll made by Duck. It worked great! Very clear, duarable, and made it shiny!
I don’t remember what site I used for the images (front and back), but they look like the same as the one on this page – except I used Pennsylvania for the back instead of New York. I will happily email you the file if anyone wants it. My email is Kathryn102@aol.com