Coolest Handmade Sam Trick 'r Treat Costume for Halloween

Here’s how this Sam Trick ‘r Treat costume came to life… I wanted to make my son a horror based costume but I wanted it to be realistic. I also wanted it to be a little obscure. Basically I wanted him to not show up and there be six others (Here’s looking at you Black Panthers and Harley Quinn’s).

So I went for a Sam Trick ‘r Treat costume. Not widely known but has a cult following in his own right. My biggest task was making it look right. This couldn’t be thrown together in a day, and I’m certainly a procrastinator.

First I had to start with the head. How do I make a head that big and sturdy? Well obviously I’m papermacheing it. So we went out to find one of them giant plastic balls. We found the biggest one and I then grappled with the idea that I was about to spend $5 to just pop it. Well, to buy an unrealistic version of the mask would be at least $30 so this was a reasonable sacrifice.

I spent days adding layer upon layer, on this giant plastic blue ball. So much glue. I’m pretty sure my husband was pretty peeved because at one point I just gave up and left the supplies out for days so I could just layer as I walked by. I was so paranoid that the paper mache wouldn’t hold up to my 6 year old son gracelessness, so I added extra layers.

Once it was thick enough I then had the very pressured task of cutting it. After popping my $5 giant ball, I had to cut the base of it to fit over his large head and then a hole to see through. I then spent several hours perusing the fabric isles at the craft store. I had to get the right burlap (there’s so many different hole sizes!!) and perfect sized buttons and the perfect thickness of twine. Which twine doesn’t really exist at craft store surprisingly.

I then had to cut my perfect burlap down the middle just to sew it back together. The seam down the middle had to look legit. Then find the perfect eye placement and sew the mouth on. The pjs I cheated a little with and ordered a pair of footie pjs. But they weren’t the right color so I used orange spray fabric dye to get it right and then sewed yellow felt to make the patches. Then I had to sew up a burlap bag And make a lollipop. I used air drying clay Bc its A little more forgiving. I made a circle then used a bottle cap to press out the bite marks. Once it dried I painted it to complete the final detail.

After all this my son then had to take the Sam Trick ‘r Treat costume to school! I panicked. There’s no way he’s gonna get this to school in kindergarten play in it and not break the head. It’s two days before Halloween and this thing needs to live. I do not have time to make another should it meet and untimely fate with the hard school floors. I bubble wrapped it and put in a box with a pleading note to his kindergarten teacher to not let him drop it or do somersaults or what ever little kids do in it. Then it came time for the school parade. So many people loved it but had no idea what he was. It was great. Even better is when he got home that night the head had lived!!

At trick or treat 2 nights later he was the hit of our town. People were taking pictures and videos and some were even taking pictures with him. People even were like dude you’re the coolest. Needless to say it was well worth all the anxiety. I was told I’m the coolest mom. Well earned.

Not to mention this year my company, one of the biggest Halloween retailers has now produce da costume and mask. When last year I couldn’t find anything. Still not as good as our Sam Trick ‘r Treat costume but I secretly think I’m the inspiration

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