Coolest Little Shop of Horrors Dog Costumes

Everybody better beware! The Little Shop of Horrors is open for business. Gryphon is playing the part of Seymour, the young florist shop clerk who stumbles upon a very unusual plant, which he names Audrey II.

Phoenix plays Audrey II, the man eating plant from outer space who is out for blood. Seymour is feeding drops of blood from his finger into Audrey II’s gaping toothy mouth. This causes the plant to grow and grow, and it’s tendrils continue to spread until they are taking over the florist shop, and just might take over the world.

These costumes were quite challenging but fun to make. We wanted to recreate the famous characters, but with our own twist on it. We thought recreating these famous roles with an all-dog cast would be quite fun and we had a good time figuring out how to put it all together.

Making Audrey II’s Headpiece

Materials:

Plant Headpiece
White Stiff Felt
Dental Floss
Wire
Glue Gun
Branches
Artificial Leaves

To make the Audrey II headpiece, we started with a plant headpiece intended for a human costume. We weren’t sure exactly how to make it fit a dog, as it was very large and a bit overwhelming. We wound up cutting off some of the hood, and using dental floss and wire to shape it to fit onto a dog’s head.

We added sharp teeth, which we made by cutting triangles out of white stiff felt and gluing them all along the inside of the mouth with a glue gun. We also had a crown of leaves to extend the leafy look, which was branches twisted together with artificial leaves woven into it.

Tendrils, Leaves, and Audrey II’s Pot

Materials:

Green Jumbo Chenille Stems
Artificial Leaves
Glue Gun
Green Felt
Thick Wire
Green Glitter
Large Garden Pot

We needed to make the plant look like it was spreading everywhere with lots of tendrils crawling out of it everywhere. We made the tendrils out of green jumbo chenille stems. These were great to use since they could be bent and shaped into arms and wavy vines so easily.

We cut artificial leaves into a spiky shape, and glued them all along the chenille stems for a thorny look. When we studied the plant in the show, it appeared to have leaves that acted like hands, and we wanted to recreate this. So we added large leaves to be like the hands of the plant.

To make these, we cut green felt into leaf shapes. We then sandwiched pairs of shapes over thick wire, which was bent into the shape and glue gunned in place. Bending the wire was a bit difficult, but we found some pliers useful to aid with this.

We decorated the leaves with green glitter, drawing on veins and lines. For the plant’s pot, we found a garden pot that was very large and light. We cut out the bottom with scissors, which took a little persistence. That was definitely one of the hardest parts, as it was as little difficult to get a scissor through. It was quite a relief when the bottom finally came off.

The pot was then able to slip easily over the dog’s head. We then attached the tendrils we had created, gluing them coming out from the inside of the pot in various spots. We also glued some pieces of green felt cut into a leafy pattern from the bottom of the pot, to hang over and cover the dog’s paws.

Making the Tongue and the Nose Tendrils

Materials:

Red Felt
Fabric Stiffener
Plastic Cups
Paper Clips
Popsicle Stick
Glue
Black Puffy Paint
Elastic
Artificial Leaves
Green Fun Fur Yarn

To make Audrey II’s large and curvy tongue, we started by cutting a very long tongue shape out of red felt. We then painted it with fabric stiffener. To get the wavy shape, we let it dry looped up and down over plastic cups, and secured it with paper clips. This made a fun silly looking tongue.

After it was dry, we attached it to a popsicle stick, to allow the dog to hold it easily in his mouth. We also decorated it by using black puffy paint to outline the tongue and to draw a line down the center of it. In addition, we wanted to add a little more leafiness to the dog’s face, so we created a ring of leaves to go around his snout. We did this by making a circle of thin elastic, which fit very lightly and loosely around his snout. We then glued on bits of leaves and green fun fur yarn.

Stuffing and Attaching Seymour’s Clothing

Materials:

Button Down Shirt
Argyle Sweater Vest
Skin Colored Gloves
Grayish Pants
Stuffing
Boots
Glue
Stapler
Band-Aids
Bandages
Glue Gun
Red Permanent Marker

For the Seymour costume, we had to stuff and attach together clothing to match the type of outfit Seymour wears. We used a man’s button down shirt with an argyle sweater vest over it. We stuffed the arms and shoulders of these pieces, gluing the stuffing in place.

For the hands, we used tannish skin colored gloves, which we stuffed and glued onto the ends of the sleeves. We wanted to make it look as if Seymour had been cutting his fingers to feed the plant drops of blood from his hand, like in the story. So we decorated one of the tan gloves with band-aids and bandages. We also created blood to drip down from one of the fingers.

We squeezed glue from the glue gun into droplet shapes onto tinfoil. When they dried, we peeled them off and colored them red with a permanent marker. We then glued these droplets onto one of the fingers.

For the pants, we used grayish pants, which we stuffed completely. We then attached them to the front side of the shirt, so they would hang down over the dog’s legs. We used old boots and stapled them to the bottom of the pants.

Seymour’s Accessories

Materials:

Short Dark Wig
Tan Baseball Cap
Nerd Glasses

To finish off Seymour’s costume, we found accessories to look like the character. We added a short dark wig for his hair, with a tan baseball cap atop it. Finally we added glasses, which are Seymour’s signature look.

Creating the Little Shop Background

Materials:

Shelves
Plastic Pots
Artificial Flowers
Sturdy Box
Woodgrain Wrapping Paper
Plastic Door Facade
Foamboard
Open/Closed Sign
Cabinet Knob
Small Table
Toy Cash Register

We wanted to create a background to go with this scene, to take pictures and show it off to people. We wanted to create the florist shop where “Little Shop of Horrors” takes place. We found some old shelves, and added plastic pots with artificial flowers.

We made a platform for Seymour to sit on as well. We used a sturdy box, which we covered with wrapping paper with a woodgrain design. We added writing about Potting Soil, which we printed with a fun font off the computer and glued on.

We added a door, which we made by attaching a plastic door facade onto foam board. We hung a real little Open/Closed sign, and attached a cabinet knob for the doorknob, pushing it through the foam board and screwing it on.

We also added a little table with a toy cash register. When it was all finished, everyone seemed to really love the costumes. Everyone was reminded of this classic movie/play and the line “Feed Me, Seymour.” We thought it was a hit!