This Head on Platter Halloween costume was easy, inexpensive and so much fun to put together. The only guidance I had from my 8 yr old son was that he wanted “something scary.”
I had a lot of old cardboard boxes in my garage that I was trying to get rid of, which sparked the idea. Once I had the idea, this website was very helpful in helping me figure out how to make it comfortable to wear and yet still look realistic.
We were stopped by so many people as we trick-or-treated and had many requests for photos! My son felt like a celebrity! In terms of making it here’s some lessons I learned. Number one, take the time to find the right sized box for the wearer. Not too big, not too small. If it’s too big, it’s too cumbersome to wear. If it’s too small, you don’t have enough “table” area to work with.
Once you’ve selected the box you’ll use for the table, cut a hole in the top large enough for the head to fit comfortably through. I also cut a hole to drop the candy into (since his arms were underneath the box). Then I used a hot glue gun to attach a plastic shopping bag underneath the hole and inside the box for the candy to drop into.
I had planned to use an old white hospital sheet I had for the tablecloth. However, I saw in the seasonal aisle of my local grocery store this vinyl “blood covered” table topper for $3. I couldn’t pass it up! It was a little too large, so I just cut it to fit. If you use an old table cloth of some kind, you can use red paint to make it look blood covered. I just used a hot glue gun to attach it to the box. Then I cut out the table cloth where the hole for the head & candy was.
Next, I stopped at the dollar store to try and get as much as I could. I got the tin foil platter, duct tape, rubber spiders and the plastic wine glass there. The rest I had to get at a craft store. Specifically, the plastic grapes & leaves and some stick on Velcro tape.
Once home, I cut the platter in half. I then measured my son’s neck to figure out how big a circle it would make and cut a semi-circle piece from each half of the platter. That way, when you placed each half around his neck, it had a nice fit. Then I covered the cut edges w/ duct tape so that it wouldn’t be sharp. At that point, I had him put the box over his head and held the platter edges up to him to figure out where I should attach the Velcro tape on the table top.
In the end, in order to wear the costume, you always attach the platter to the table (using the Velcro) as the last step, so that it can fit snugly up to their neck and look like their head is really on a platter. At that point, I decorated the platter halves with the grapes & leaves using the hot glue gun.
Then I added the details: wine glass filled with “blood” which was really red tempera paint I had left over from finger painting days, spiders, and tent card telling people where to drop the candy.
As for the knife in the head, I had an old headband that I no longer used. I used some of my left over cardboard to cut out a knife shape using my Henckels knife as a model. I actually had to make two of them. The first one was larger. When I attached it to the headband, it flapped around too much because it wasn’t sturdy enough. So, I took it off and did it again, this time with a smaller version, so that it wouldn’t flap around and fall off. I used tin foil for the blade part and markers to color the handle. I attached it to the headband using my trusty hot glue gun. Then we spiked up his hair with hairspray so that you couldn’t really see the headband.
The last step was face makeup. I just used what I had from previous vampire, skeleton, etc. costumes. I also still had fake blood from previous years. We dripped a little down his chin and a good glob of it on his forehead near the “knife.” The other great thing about this costume is that they can wear whatever comfortable clothes they want underneath. If it’s a cold night, no worries!
I was concerned that wearing a box all night might backfire on me, but it didn’t bother him at all. When he didn’t feel like holding it up, it rested on his shoulders. Since the candy bag was secured on the inside, he didn’t have to carry it in his hands.
It also makes a great two person costume. His friend couldn’t decide what to dress up as, so we suggested he go as the crazy chef who put the head on a platter! That was really easy also. They just got a white apron and chef’s hat, smeared them with “blood” , got him a plastic knife, put some face paint on him to look pale and scary and voila!
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