Coolest Homemade Headless Lady Costume

Headless Mell was inspired by all the other Headless costumes on this site. It was a challenge to figure out how to create it but with all the tips from all the others – I had a “head” start.

I started this Homemade Headless Lady Costume out with a toddler’s rolling backpack ($7), which was a bit too small. I needed something taller than the retractable handle it came with. I hit the jackpot at the Salvation Army store. I found wooden crutches ($1.99), which I cut to the perfect length and also provided me with my shoulder base because of the armpit pad. To give me broader shoulders I also found a pair of children’s shin pads ($.99) for soccer, I attached to the crutch pad with plastic electrical ties we had on hand.

I cut off everything except the backpack straps and the wheel section to make it lighter and thinner. I used electrical ties to attach the crutch to the retractable handle after figuring out the correct height I needed my future neck to be. For the neck I taped a wooden pants hanger to the center of my new shoulders and put a 2 cup plastic bowl from my cabinet over the hanger part and taped it on using wide beige masking tape. Then I bubble wrapped the shoulders to give them a little softer look and also the backpack pack area that I would be wearing all night to make it more comfortable. I then covered the shoulders with a flesh colored ace bandage right up to the neck to look like skin.

Also at the Salvation Army store I found my beautiful black dress ($10.99), matching skirt ($2.50) to lengthen my look, and the perfect shoe boots ($7.99) I could not resist even though they were at least two sizes to big. We sliced the dress vertically in the front just enough for me to slip my head through. The arms are stuffed with an unraveled coat hanger that I taped together to form a long rectangular shape, then wrapped in bubble wrap and inserted into the sleeves of the dress. This filled the arms out nicely and allowed me to bend the arms, which is very important to keep your hands under your chin. The hands were a pair of my mother’s beige evening gloves I found in the attic. I filled each finger with a bubble wrapped piece of pipe cleaner and then stuffed a longer piece covered in more wrap in the hand section so that all parts of the hand and fingers would also bend. This looked really cool because I found some some fake blood gel clingy thing that was in the shape of a handprint ($1.99) and had it tied to the top hand with a piece of fishing line to make it look like blood dripping out of my hand. I used a few pieces of stick on Velcro to keep the hands together but allowed me to take them apart to take the dress off easier.

The neck gore was created by spraying the bowl with spray foam insulation ($4.00). This worked perfectly. It needs to dry overnight to be hard enough to paint. I also stuck a white bottle cap on the top rear of the bowl before I sprayed the insulation, to make it look like the spinal chord. I used craft store acrylic paint I had on hand to gently paint the guts and used a black sharpie to draw in a few veins over the red when it was dry. Then I sprayed it all with acrylic to protect it and give it a high gloss.

I wore all black underneath my dress including black evening gloves (Mom’s) so when I used my hands it didn’t take away too much from the outfit.

I painted my face using zombie instructions off another website and used gray hair spray to complete my Headless Mell look. I was the Headless hit of the party. Most people had a hard time talking with me without laughing or being grossed out. Although I did not accept the winning prize (I was in charge of the prizes), I did receive most of the votes for Best Costume and Most Creative. It was a blast – thanks for the idea and tips!

I was an Oompa Loompa last year that I also got off this website and that was also a winner.