Coolest Jack Skellington Costume for a Boy

My son is obsessed with the Nightmare before Christmas movie. Obsessed!! It has been his favourite movie since he was 3. So when I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, I should not have been surprised when he announced Jack Skellington. Little did I know this costume would become my obsession over the course of several weeks.

I started with a basketball. Something not so thick would have been a better option here, but the size was perfect for a 4 year olds head. I papier mache’d several layers (by several I mean I spent a couple hours every evening for a week adding additional layers). I then cut out the basketball. Cut holes for the eyes. I then molded the brow with paper towels and masking tape and then continued to add more papier mache layers. I then painted the whole head with white paint. I glued black nylons to complete the eyes. Ideally I would have liked to have sealed it inside and out, but was worried about the fumes so just left as was. It held up amazingly well apart from the inside being a little soggy from the condensation of his breath etc.

For the neck tie I used a Styrofoam ball for the bat head and cut out wings out of construction paper and painted them black. Found a pin stripe suit at the thrift store and voila….mini Jack.

All the effort in making this Homemade Jack Skellington Costume was worth it to see how happy he was to be the pumpkin king for a day!