Handmade Jack Skellington Toddler Costume - Halloween DIY

After I played it once a few weeks ago, my toddler has decided that Nightmare Before Christmas should be played on repeat as often as possible. Granted, he's detoured a little bit now to Finding Nemo, but he's still asking for NBC at least a few times a week. He's three, and I love it, so of course I can't ever deny it. I thought I'd get sick of it, as it so happens with many other movies that he wants to watch over and over again, but after what seems like the millionth viewing, my love for NBC is as strong as ever. What can I say? I've always been a Burton fan, even after having been exposed to Edward Scissorhands much too young (hey, it's scary to a five year old!), and regardless of what my mother did to keep me from watching his movies. She did keep me from seeing NBC until I was a teenager, though, and James & The Giant Peach, because reasons (I'm assuming...). But I was hooked on Burton from the first time.

So, naturally I'm passing that love onto my offspring, and turning him into Jack Skellington for Halloween. Most years, I betray my craftiness and buy costumes. This year, I could not, for the life of me, find a 3T or 4T sized Jack Skellington/Pumpkin King costume. I have, however, recently started offering a Jack Skellington beanie on Etsy and have the prototype on hand. So, why not just make the whole thing my damn self? I know how to use fabric paint! And I've got some foam-sheets sitting around from when my best friend was Princess Bubblegum for Comic Con.

She bought a 10 pack of foam sheets to make the crown and only used the two yellow ones. So, I've got black and green and blue and red left. What better use to put them to than an oversized Jack Skellington bow tie?

If I had it all to do over again, I would have looked at Pinterest for a reference photo BEFORE doing my initial cutting. Also, I resorted to using wood glue to bind two layers of foam together and attach the cat head because apparently we're out of regular Elmer's glue. Oh well. It's holding. And I was smart enough to leave enough excess after the first cut to have room for improvement before the paint was applied. All in all, I think it turned out okay! And it's pretty big, so it's over-sized-ness will make it ridiculously cute while he's wearing it. Oh, and I bought bar pins for attaching it to the rest of the costume.

So, with the bow tie figured out, I ventured to the thrift store to find black pants and a jacket that I could paint pinstripes onto. I was hoping for a suit, but the Savers didn't have one even close to his size. I did find a pair of black jeans for $5, however, and bonus! They were already pinstriped. No suit jacket, though, so I resorted to a black button-up shirt for $2.50, which I will finagle into looking like a jacket using the paint.

With the existing pinstripes, painting the jeans was a breeze. And, as luck would have it, Grandma sent the boy a pair of skeleton gloves a few weeks ago.

With the hat, we're all set! And for just about $20, too. I can't wait until I can put it on him in full. It's going to be awesome.

Thanks for looking, Loves!
Always Yours,
The NWB