Coolest No Man Left Behind Illusion Costume

I’ve always been very fascinated by illusion costumes and specifically costumes that look like two people in one. There are many out there. With Halloween coming up I thought I should make my own costume this year. While I was in the process of a move and setting up a garage sale with my fiance, I started my search. Going through old clothes and bins I found the stuff I needed to make this funny illusion costume.

Items used:

Styrofoam mannequin head
Styrofoam fishing cooler box
Styrofoam box packing
Storage bin
Bubble packing
Gloves
Army Uniform
Jeans
Shoes
Screws
Nuts
Box knife
Duck tape
Staple gun
Picture hanging wire

Costume Instructions

I started off by cutting out the back corner of a storage bin large enough to fit my body through.
For the torso of the soldier I cut a fishing cooler box diagonally using the bottom 1/3 of the box. I then screwed the torso to the back of the storage bin.
The arms of the soldier were formed with foam box packing. I cut and duck taped the foam to make arms. Then I attached the arms to the cooler box with picture hanging wire loosely to give it some room to rotate and move. You need the play in the arms to be able to fit the uniform top onto the soldier.
As for the head, I used a cheap styrofoam mannequin head that I painted and drew facial features on with a sharpie. I taped the head and propped it into the torso with a makeshift styrofoam dowel that I cut.
With the top body complete, I dressed the soldier with an army uniform top.
To secure the arms to the box I placed gloves on the end of the styrofoam arms and staple gunned the gloves to the storage bin.
For the fake legs, I used an old pair of jeans and filled it with bubble wrap to form bendable legs.
The shoes were filled with the bubble wrap as well and staple gunned to cuffs of the jeans. This completes the costume.

Now for putting this on. I wore the army uniform pants and slipped in to the storage bin hole from the top and lifted the bin to the level of my waist. I used an old backpack strap looped through the storage bin and around my waist to free up my arms from holding the box up. I grabbed the fake leg jeans and placed them in the box with me. Done and ready to rock this costume for Halloween.

I get a lot of double takes. People will look and stare in amazement wondering whose legs are whose. Laughter usually ensues when they finally get it, and realize it’s not another person carrying me. Many people are stunned to find out that this costume was homemade.

Our local news team Good Day Sacramento got the biggest kick out of the costume. They got a hold of me to feature this costume in a segment on DIY Halloween costumes. This costume is a lot of fun and definitely an eye catcher.

This costume only took me a couple hours to make. It was my first try at making my own costume and I was surprised how easily it was put together. You could make your own. With the basics of the illusion, the variations are endless!

Items used:

Costume Instructions

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