Coolest Homemade Claw Machine Halloween Costume

We decided on making the Homemade Claw Machine Halloween Costume after seeing it on your website for my 8 yr old son, Michael! We took a few different directions than the original claw machine found on your website.

We started out with two large cardboard boxes, spray painted one black, one red. After the paint dried, we reinforced the edges of the boxes with red duct tape. We cut the windows out of the top box, leaving a wide edge to keep it sturdy.

We covered the windows with clear plastic vinyl, best found at a fabric store (the same stuff you use to cover chairs, etc). I found that heating the vinyl up a little, with a blow dryer, made it more pliable and easy to stretch. We used staples to get the best fit but heavy duty glue or tape would work as well.

We covered the inside roof and back of the top box with aluminum foil. We used a smaller box to attach to the front of the bottom box, where we added a prize drop “window” and change machine. On the top of that box, we found an old joystick and used the top of the spray paint can for the start button. We used an old phone charger cord and found a pirate hook for the claw and attached that with tape and glue as well.

We cut a hole out of the center of the box for my son’s head to peek out of and reinforced the inside bottom box with pool noodles that we cut to size. We also attached a backpack to the inside back of the box to give him more control in holding the box up. We used various foam stickers to decorate the box and filled it with stuffed animals.

We also superglued a battery operated tap light to the inside of the top box in the back to light it up at night. It took us many hours but the finished product was a big hit.