Spicy Homemade Costume Idea: Super Hot Sauce Man from Tapatio

I love food. I love my Mexican-American heritage. But above all, I love humor.  In keeping with my theme of modeling my yearly Halloween costume after an inanimate object, Ipod and a piece a sushi to name a few, I had been searching for a good idea. Then, late last month while in the lunch room at work, my co worker looked over to me and said “We’re out of Tapatio again.”  I promised him I’d pick up a bottle on my way to work the next day and left it at that.  While at the Latino supermarket the next morning, I discovered something I’d never known! Tapatio hot sauce comes in an array of different sized bottles ranging from small (a few ounces) to extra large (nearly a quart)!  It was then that I realized I’d taken mister Tapatio for granted my entire life, having always been a staple on our kitchen table, I had grossly underestimated his popularity. As I walked the extra large bottle to the register, I locked eyes with the goofy, glaze faced male character on the bottle and knew it was destiny. I have attempted to pay homage and recreate that same goofy, glazed smile in my photo.

Materials:

• Foam core poster board
• Thick wire
• Red craft paint
• Black craft paint
• Red strip of fabric (for bow tie)
• Fake mustache
• Clothing items found at thrift shop: Mexican hat & beige coat

HOW TO :

1. I began by printing a picture of the “Tapatio” man brand logo and enlarging to the size I needed on a copy machine.
2. I then traced the lettering and lower ribbon portion (which hangs across my chest) onto foam core poster board.
3. Next, I cut the lettering and ribbon shapes out using an exacto knife.
4. I then painted the lettering and ribbon using craft paint. Here, I mixed black and red to create shadow effects.
5. After the paint dried, I hot glued a medium gauge strip of wire to the back of the “TAPATIO” letters. Additionally, I glued the ends of the strip of the wire and adhered them to the Mexican sombrero hat.
6. I also glued a yellow/beige piece of yard to to the ribbon/ caption portion of the costume to hang around my neck.
7. For the bow tie, I simply took a long strip of red taffeta fabric and gathered in into a loose bow shape, fastened it with a safety pin.
8. Finally, I gathered all the elements of my costume and put them together.  I put on the ! sombrero with attached lettering , hiding my hair in a ponytail bun inside (which I found helped to support the weight of the lettering). I then put in a white blouse I already owned, topped it with the beige coat I purchased at a thrift store and fastened the red bow tie. I hung the the ribbon caption which reads “Salsa Picante” around my neck and last but not least, OLE!… I taped on my fake mustache creating the finished look.  The bottle of Tapatio I am holding is for dramatic effect and comparison.

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