Magically Impressive Unicorn Halloween Costume

Last summer, I told the two little girls who live on our street that they could choose my Halloween costume. They gleefully encouraged me to be a unicorn—so I had my orders! I pieced together something inexpensive, easy, comfortable and warm.

I wore it to a party and got RAVE reviews; some people even told me multiple times how impressed they were. The four hooves were a last-minute add-on that I made a couple of days before Halloween. It turns out those were people’s favorite part of the costume.

I wore it to the college where I work as an advisor—the students loved it. I even had to hold an important meeting on Halloween; I wonder if being a unicorn increases or decreases one’s credibility.

You can’t imagine how hard it is to find a unicorn costume on-line. The two ready-made costumes I managed to find were either pornographic (and super expensive) or looked like a fur Hefty bag with a hood. It’s harder than you’d think to find buyable costumes of magical creatures…so I made my own.

The “Coolest Homemade Costumes” website provided some good inspiration. I also Googled several images of horses, unicorns, and did a fruitless search for “make your own hooves.”

Here’s how it is pieced together:

Long, white wig: bought on-line, $9
Unicorn ears/horn headband: bought on-line, $12
White, feather wings: bought on-line, $10
White, fake-fur vest: Ebay, $8
Fake ivy vines: bought on-line, $9. I had a hard time keeping them on—I suggest securing them with pins here and there so they can drape more dramatically.
Fur leg-warmers, arm-warmers and tail: bought on-line as a set—costume accessories for an “ice skater girl” costume, $16. (It was actually a set of leg-warmers, a muff and a headband. I cut the muff down the middle to create the two arm-warmers and I cut the headband to use a tail, which was safety-pinned to my waistband.)
White poly-pro running pants and top: bought on-line clearance, $40, will use every winter in Colorado!
Hooves: Fed-Ex boxes cut into semi-circles, painted gold and bend into shape. I added silver reflective tape for effect. I poked two holes in the back of the hooves (one on each end) so, after I shaped the cardboard into an arc, I could use a piece of rope to tie the back ends together around the back sides of my shoes. Hand hooves are cardboard cut into semi-circle shapes with reflective tape, bent into the curved shape. I used stick-on Velcro to secure them after wrapping them around my wrists. It was convenient—I could push them up my arm to type or write; I could lower them to cover my hands completely for photos.

I learned a lot during this process. I learned that I could spend hours searching the internet for “Fake hooves”. I learned that when you use a can of spray paint indoors, your cats get sleepy. I learned that l am easily controlled by toddlers, and that—with inspiration, imagine and ingenuity, you can dress up as pretty much anything. Cardboard helps too.

The girls on my block were very impressed so I achieved the difficult dream of impressing a four year old. Winner!

So as I always say, be yourself. Unless you can be a unicorn. Then always be a unicorn.