Coolest Homemade Optical Illusion Costume: Roller Coaster!

This roller coaster costume was one of my best yet! First, I went to a local theme park to take pictures of an actual child’s roller coaster so that I could have inspiration in approaching this costume. Then, I enlisted the help of an amazing friend, someone that I didn’t mind being side to side with all night. I used foam board to create the seat of the costume.

To start, I painted the white foam a bright red color. Then, I glued several pieces of foam together to make the seating structure appear like a roller coaster cart. I even put fake fire decals on the outside of the cart like some kids rides have. I then cut two holes in the seat because the costume has fake legs in front, but is actually a costume where you are standing the whole time.

To create the ride “constraints”, I used discounted pool noodles from after summer sales. The noodles served two purposes – they appear to be ride constraints, but they also allow the wearer to support the entire costume with almost no effort. This is because heavy duty rope is strung throughout the inside of the noodle and tied to the seating structure. The fake legs are very lightweight, made of old clothes and stuffed with newspaper.

I used hair gel to get my hair to stand up straight so that it looked like we were on a rollercoaster. I made cotton candy to compliment the outfit by spray painting some cotton bright pink and created a paper cone to hold the cotton candy. I then found the shiny metallic looking piece of plastic in the front at the craft store and used gorilla glue to attach it to the bottom of the seat. I then draped a black cloth around the back of the cart so that no one could see our real legs.

We won a costume contest and the whole night we would go “Weeee….ohhhh…aahhhh” and move around like we were in a roller coaster. People loved it!

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