Coolest Homemade Jack Skellington and Sally Costumes

My husband and I love making homemade Halloween costumes. We usually try to come up with something that is unique and works as a couples costume. This year we decided to be Jack Skellington and Sally from “The Nightmare Before Christmas”.

We were so excited about this idea and started trying to figure out the best way to make our costumes awesome! I began with a checklist of stuff to buy for each costume. Here is that checklist:
Jack:
Plaster
Cheesecloth
White Spray Paint
Grey Spray Paint
Black (Pinstripe) Suit
Plastic Bat (for tie)
Black Netting Material (for eyes)
Epoxy
Superglue
Skeleton gloves

Sally:
Fabric
White Long Sleeve Shirt
White Tights
False Eyelashes
White Face Paint
Red Wig
Black Sharpie
Black Yarn
Clear Washable Glue

For Jack, the mask was the most daunting task. I tried using wire fencing to form the head but didn’t have much luck so I tried a different technique. I wadded up a bunch of old newspapers until they were the size of the head shape I wanted. I then put them in a plastic trash bag and used this for the base of my head. I mixed the plaster and dipped the cheesecloth in it and started forming the head over my plastic bag, making sure to leave a space in the bottom big enough to fit over my husband’s head. I used quite a few layers of cheesecloth until it felt sturdy enough. Once that dried, we used a kitchen knife to cut out the holes for the eyes and nose, then used more cheesecloth and plaster to form the eyebrows. We carved into the mask just a little bit in order to make an indent for the mouth that we later painted black with acrylic paint. Once the whole mask was dry we took out the plastic bag and newspaper from inside and used foam to make head rest inside the mask. We then spray painted the outside of the mask to give it more definition. We attached the black netting over the eye holes and it was good to go!
We really wanted to use stilts of some kind to make Jack taller but ended up just going with clogs for a little extra height, put on the black suit, used cheesecloth and a bat for the bow tie and shirt ruffles, put on the skeleton gloves and that completed the Jack costume.

On to Sally, I went to a local fabric store and picked out several different fabrics for the dress and got a simple dress pattern. More time was spent sewing the patchwork pieces together than making the actual dress. I used a black sharpie to make the patchwork lines on my tights and white longsleeve shirt. I used a basic white face paint to color my face, neck and hands. Be sure to find one that dries “Dry”, nothing worse than a greasy face paint! I used a clear washable glue and black yarn to make the sewing marks on my face, this helped to give it a three dimensional look… very cool! I used quite a bit of eye shadow and wore false eyelashes to make my eyes pop better, put on my red wig and we set out on the town!

These Homemade Jack Skellington and Sally Costumes got a lot of attention and were really fun to put together! Hope you enjoy the pics!

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