Coolest Marvin the Martian Costume

We have been going to the same Halloween party for years and over time, a competition has started among a few of us to see who can come up with the best costume. Although my 2010 Peter Pan costume was OK, I was told it didn’t live up to my previous costumes so I decided to put some extra effort into the 2011 costume. I was inspired by the “Coolest Homemade Marvin the Martian 2” outfit on this site so I decided to make one similar.

I used the same ideas for the for the basic construction of the head and feet. I duct taped cardboard pieces to some old sneakers and used stuffing and white fabric (held together with hot glue) to make the feet. I then used colored duct tape to add the black and red details to the feet. The main outfit consisted of red leggings, a red turtleneck, and white gloves. I made his skirt out of a foam camping pad. I cut out pieces of foam (2 layers glued together to get the correct thickness), covered them in green felt and then glued a strip of yellow felt around the outside edge.

The inside edge of each piece was not glued to the foam which allowed me to slide them onto an old belt. I cut a couple holes in each end of the belt and used a zip tie to hold it in place. The gun was made out of foam pieces and PVC pipe covered in duct tape. Now for the hard part… the head. I didn’t realize how long it would take to make when I started, but once I did, I was determined to finish. I used a large balloon as a mold and covered it in paper mache. I put on two layers at a time and then let it dry. It took six layers to get it to the point where it was rigid.

The whole paper mache process took about seven hours. I cut a hole in the bottom for my head. I attached strips of duct tape to the inside of an old baseball cap and let the strips hang down while I put the head on. I then got my wife to take the strips and attach stick them to the outside of the head. I also used some tape inside of the head to hold the cap in place. This allowed me to wear the head and it was very stable (at least for the moment). The back edge and top visor part of the head were made out of the foam camping pad. I made them the same way as the skirt. I realized I couldn’t just glue them on so I lined everything up and drilled a hole through both pieces and the paper mache head on each side.

I used a nut and bolt on each side to hold it in place. I covered the head of each bolt with a small piece of green felt. The rest of the head was then covered in felt. I also cut a small slot to look through and put a piece of black screen in it to make it blend in. Overall, it cost about $100 and took about 20-30 hours. The costume was a big hit wherever I went, but I must say, I really needed my wife’s assistance when we were at a party at a bar downtown. Between the big feet and very limited visibility, it was pretty challenging to get around in a crowd. I’ll definitely be wearing this one again in the future.

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