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Coolest DIY Vending Machine Adult and Kids Halloween Costumes

Take a look at these cool homemade Vending Machine costumes shared with us by costume enthusiasts from around the world. Along with the adult and kids Halloween costumes here, you’ll also find loads of homemade costume ideas and DIY Halloween costume inspiration for your next costume project. Enjoy!

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Costume by Sherry B., Lincoln Park, MI

Coolest Homemade Adult and Kids Halloween Costumes

I came up with the idea for this kids Halloween costume after helping fill the vending machine at my work. I used one large box. First thing was to cut arm holes and an opening for her head. I then made a back panel in the box so you could not see my daughter inside the box.

I measured and centered the front to figure out where to put the front of the vending machine window, leave enough room on one side for the buttons and coin slot and leave enough room at the bottom for the drawer. I took contact paper and covered the outside of the box. I then used mirrored poster board and lined the inside of the box.

To make the racks to hold the candy I used small square wooden dowels. I hot glued them to the side of the box measuring up from the bottom to get it even on both sides. I then laid another piece of the wooden dowel across the front and back, hot gluing it in place making a support rack to hold the rotary piece. I did this for all three rows.

For the rotary parts that hold the candy I used a plastic slinky, stretched it out, cut it and hot glued it to another piece of wooden dowel. I then hot glued each rotary piece centering it on the rack pieces that were already hot glued inside the box. For the candy I had to use the “Fun Size” bars. I carefully cut open each package and ate the candy inside (this was the best part of making this costume). Then I filled each candy wrapper with polyester fiber fill, cotton balls would probably work also. Then tape the wrappers shut. Hot glue the stuffed candy wrappers inside the slinky slots. On the front of each slinky row I used key tags and put a Letter – Number for each row.

I then measured the opening of the front window and went to the local hardware store and got the cheapest piece of plastic for the front of the window. Do not glue in the plastic window until everything else is completed, it makes it easier to work with out the window there.

For the drawer where the candy should fall I took a shoe box and cut it down to the desired size and glued it to the front of the box. For the flap or door covering, the catch box, I only cut the flap on three sides and folded it back. I then covered the flap with a piece of solid black craft foam; the word “push” was also cut from the craft foam and glued on. The word “snacks” was also cut from craft foam and glued across the top.

Now you have to make the side where the buttons are. I first glued on a large piece of black craft foam. For the number / letter buttons I found very sturdy craft Styrofoam which I cut into the desired button size. I then used sticky letters / numbers decals or you could use a sharpie to label each button then glue them on in order. I put the letters on the top and numbers on the bottom. At the top of the buttons I glued another small piece of craft foam in a contrasting color. I then cut a slot for the coins to be deposited and labeled it as such “EXACT AMOUNT 50$”. Behind the slot I glued in a paper towel tube with a hole in the tube, even with the coin slot in the vending machine at the bottom of the paper towel tube I glued a small butter dish. This allowed real money to be able to be dropped in the slot and caught (which we had a lot of people (Grandparents) doing). This was an extra bonus to the candy she received. The box that was glued in for the candy to “Drop” down to can all so be used for people to put the “Trick or Treat candy into.

At the bottom of the buttons I cut another small flap and once again covered it with craft foam. I glued a small jewelry box on the inside for the coin return box and labeled it as such. For the full effect at night time I taped in three (one on each side and one at the top) white light up sticks. With the mirrored poster board used it will help reflect the light and show off the inside of the vending machine.

This kids Halloween project took me about two weeks, working on it at night after work. It was a lot of fun and easy to do, a lot of the stuff used I had at home most was purchased at the local Dollar store.

Total Spent: $25

Thanks to all the adult and kids Halloween costumes being shared on this site!

Costume by Lisa K., Bonne Terre, MO

Vending Machine Costume

While out shopping one day my son and I were trying to come up with original ideas for kids Halloween costumes. We stopped at a vending machine to get a soda and my son thought a vending machine would be one of those original kids Halloween costumes to create.

We found a large box and a smaller box. The smaller box must be wider so you can fold part of the sides to connect it to the inside of the larger box (the chips and candy will be placed on the inside box.)

We painted them both red (make all cuts first).

Original Halloween costumes backside: I painted a rectangle and made six slices across to make it look like a vent (don’t forget the armholes like I did). My husband gave me an old electric cord he cut off an old appliance. I used it for my electric cord on the back. I just made a hole and poked it through and taped it down along with the bottom flaps of the box. Original Halloween costumes are a blast!

Original Halloween costumes front: cut out a hole in front for the window. Leave a 1 1/2″ strip and below it cut across and fold back to make the slot where the chips are meant to fall. Also cut out a circle on top for the head.

I looked on the Internet to get ideas for the push button, money slot, door handle and the strips inside that tell the number and price of items. I made these up using print artist on my computer.

I glued the handle and push button paper onto the box. I bought a variety package of small chips, a bag of M&M’s, a package gum and a package of mints. I took the small box (that’s meant to go inside the larger box later on.), hot glued 6 bags of chips and candy to it and glued the black strips with numbers and prices just underneath the foods.

I then took black pipe cleaners, poked them in through the cardboard just below chips and above the strip to look like the round springs that push out the foods.

Vending Machine Costume

I purchased some clear gift wrap, glued this to the back of the large window stopping at the strip in between the window and food drop on the front to look like glass. I then taped around the window some battery-operated Christmas lights so there would be light inside.

After getting this all together, I carefully inserted the small box with foods on it into the larger box and fastened it in using glue and tape to make sure it would hold up when getting in and out of box. I taped a package of chips just inside the food drop as if it had just been purchased.

Good Luck with your own kids Halloween costumes.

Total Spent: $10

Vending Machine Costume

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