Amazing Homemade Buzz Lightyear Costume

For my child’s 5th birthday we decided that we wanted a mascot to visit to present the birthday cake, at that time their favorite Disney film was Toy Story. I spent many hours trawling the internet for a decent looking mascot to hire for the event but felt none of them were worth the money they were charging. They looked terrible! So I decided to have a go myself at making one. I started with a fancy dress costume but it was not detailed enough and didn’t come with a mask. After a few hours, days and then weeks in my garage the start of this Buzz costume began to emerge.

Using foam camping mats and Lycra material and a bucket full of hot glue sticks, I was able to make the leg pieces. It was tricky to stretch the Lycra evenly over the foam but with a little patience I managed it. Working up through the legs, waist and body with arm pieces, I was happy with the result. However, I still hadn’t solved the mask problem.

Without going into too much detail, the mask is made of polystyrene, lycra, auto body filler and painted with acrylic paints. It took approx two months to make ontop of the three months to make the body. That was four years ago now and apart from the odd minor repair, it is still going strong. Whenever Buzz goes out to a party now the kids and grown ups love him. He can never move more than two yards before posing for another photo!

Check out the video of Buzz dancing Gangnam Style with some friends!

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