Easy Homemade Bowser Costume for Adults

In order to take a little pressure off of Halloween this year with the pandemic roaring on, my pod and I decided to pick a theme for our costumes, so that we could be inspired to impress one another without wasting one of our top tier costume ideas. The theme was villains, and for some reason I was immediately struck with the desire to be Bowser.

I’m not a huge video game person so this was slightly out of character, but no matter how many Top 100 Villains listicles I scrolled through, I kept coming back to Bowser. Almost all of the Bowser costumes I found online were of the mask/head topper variety but I wanted to do something a little more interpretive. It came together surprisingly easily and it ended up being one of my favorite costumes yet!

So much for taking it easy this year.

As a base, I bought a weird yellow suit from Amazon which I highly recommend because it is super comfy and allowed me to use the restroom without taking the whole costume off (it zips from neck to back). I also already owned a red wig and a strange reptilian bodice from a local theatre costume sale a few years back that I’d never found a use for.

The bulk of the work was putting together the shell and tail, which required a few hours of making cones out of tape and paper (fancy) and wrapping foam in some sparkly green fabric. I did a baste stitch to keep the white lining around the shell affixed, but everything else was made with a combination of tape, fabric glue, and safety pins. It all miraculously stayed together throughout the festivities!

The Bowser costume tail was made of foam stuffed with tissue paper and the horns were made of wire stuffed with tissue paper and wrapped with packing tape, which I then painted over. I purchased a spiked collar/bracelet/armband set from a punk seller on Etsy (my only splurge, but now I have them for everyday use).

The final touches were simple foam monster feet (a la preschool birthday parties), green face paint, and eyebrows made from cut off pieces of wig rolled in fabric glue.

It was a big hit and didn’t have me feeling like an overgrown child despite the subject matter

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