Deceased Couple from Beetlejuice Costumes

After finding out about a Halloween costume party at the last minute, my boyfriend and I knew we had to make awesome costumes. We decided on the married couple, Barbara and Adam Maitland from the movie Beetlejuice.

1. We started with making rough shapes of the masks with cardboard. His was easier than mine, but I really just cut and taped until I got the shape I was looking for. His mask also needed a rubber glove blown up and attached to the top. We cut out the eyes and made sure the cardboard pieces fit our faces (note: once finished some of the extra cardboard on the underside may need to be cut away).

2. Then we took a 50/50 glue and water mixture, as well as newspaper strips and covered both masks (including the rubber glove), building up in places that needed more depth. For example, the tongue needed to have a distinct shape.

3. We weren’t totally happy with the depth and texture so we covered the masks in spackle. Once it was dry we were able to sand and create grooves and make it less flat (we rushed the drying process by leaving the masks in front of a fan for a few hours).

4. After they were completely dry we gave them a base coat with a fleshtone spray paint. We then took a variety of red, pink, and brown paint to shade.

5. I made each tooth individually with oven-bake clay. I molded them by making a square of clay and pushing a small wooden dowel on top in each direction. The front teeth were a little easier since they were just rectangles. I fit them all in place to make sure there were enough teeth, and arranged them on a cookie sheet the same way so I could remember the order. Once they were cool I hot glued them in place.

6. My boyfriend took cheap ping pong balls and cut out holes in them to fit his fingers. We drew the eyes on with permanent marker, and two extra ping pong balls were glued on the top of the tongue.

7. We bought 99 cent stockings from Walgreens and cut/stretched them to fit on the inside of both masks so we could still see.

8. Very carefully we cut into the sides of our masks and attached elastic, so the masks would stay on our heads.

9. Lastly, we did some resale shopping and found my dress ($6.99), and his shirt ($3.99). The rest of the clothes were ours.

We managed to pull off these costumes in about a day and a half. Since we had most of what we needed on hand, we only spent about $30 total on both costumes. The best part is we received compliments all night, got our pictures taken with tons of random people, and went home with 2nd prize for the costume contest – which was a 32″ Samsung TV. It was great!