Well, here we are—the moment you’ve all been waiting for! This year’s family Halloween costume reveal had to be good since it’s Felix’s first Halloween. We decided to go with a classic favorite, something that would be recognizable, fun, show-stopping, nostalgic, and warm (it’s cold in Utah at this time of year!). And without further ado, this year’s family costume reveal is… Drumroll please… Where the Wild Things Are! Can you even imagine Felix as a mini wild thing?! Baby horns and claws, furry suit, the whole nine yards. Adorable.
Of course, we had to dress the part too. We love the book, but we also loved that the characters could be transformed into one Max, plus however many wild things we needed, since our family has grown. So, Paul and I decided we should be wild things and Jasper should be Max, since he’s all about running around with a scepter, commanding the wild things around. It’s so fitting!
Where the Wild Things are Max Costume Idea
This part of our family costume is so simple. Seriously, it hardly takes any time at all, so if you’re in a pinch, this is a great option: cute, cozy, and simple. First things first, you’ll need a white jumpsuit. Easy. We added in some more visible buttons like the illustration as well as a tail.
You’ll also need:
- Faux fur like this (for the tail and crown)
- A crown. For ours, we used Jasper’s flower lane crown. We would highly recommend! They are durable, comfortable, and adjustable and you can use them for birthdays and more. If you’re interested, you can find them here.
- Hot glue, safety pin, or clip (to attach the tail)
Instructions for DIY Max Costume:
- First, cut the length of the faux fur rope needed for Max’s head circumference. Tie in a knot. (The crown should fit snugly inside)
- Then, cut another piece of faux fur rope for the tail (estimate length as needed). Hot glue, pin, or clip the faux fur tail in place.
- Done! So easy, right?
Baby Wild Thing Halloween Costume
Baby’s costume was super simple because we started with a simple furry onesie base and worked it out from there.
You will need:
- Furry jumpsuit with hood (we used one like this)
- Cardboard
- Horn template from our shop
- Masking tape
- Acrylic paint (we used white and gray)
- Hot glue
- Scissors
- Face paint (we used black for his little nose)
DIY Cardboard Horns and feet for Wild Things Halloween Costume:
- For the horns, cut out two sets of our template, found here.
- Print out the templates.
- Trace the templates onto cardboard, then cut out the templates as indicated.
- Slide the two separate pieces into the corresponding slots, then wrap with masking tape so the cardboard is covered.
- Paint the horns your desired color/pattern/texture!
- For the feet, print out the template (found here), then trace it onto cardboard and cut out.
- Paint the feet however you want! We chose gray for the claws and white for the rest, then added some texture.
- Wait for the paint to dry, then use hot glue to attach the horns and claws to the furry jumpsuit.
- Ta-da!
Adult Where The Wild Things Are costumes
The adult wild things costumes were definitely the most time-intensive of the family costumes, but they are also showstoppers. So worth it. For these, you’ll need:
- Cardboard (plenty of it! You’ll use it for the masks and feet)
- Newspaper, flour, salt, and water for the paper mache
- Scissors
- Black faux fur like this
- Orange/brown yarn like this
- Two baseball caps
- Twine
- Acrylic paint
- Yellow sweatsuit set (something like this and this)
- Brown hoodless sweatshirt
- Gray sweats
- Yellow felt
- Cream/white felt
- Hot glue
- Floral wire (we used 22 gauge)
- Styrofoam balls for eyes (3-inch diameter balls are a good size)
- Elastic (3/4 or 1-inch width is good)
Instructions:
- Cut out two large circles of cardboard, one for each mask. Make one slightly larger than the other.
- Cut three evenly-spaced slits in the top third section of the cardboard circles.
- Overlap each of the slits with each other slightly, then hot glue. This will give the mask a little dimension.
- Cut off the bottom third of each of the circles (these will be the mouths).
- For the teeth, cut out roughly ten triangles for the smaller, yellow wild thing, and 14 for the bigger, horned wild thing.
- Glue the teeth onto the bottom of the top third section, underlapping them slightly. Do this with both masks.
- Then, hot glue the bottom section of both masks back on, bending the top third around so the bottom section underlaps slightly and gives the sides and bottom a little depth.
- For the horns on the bigger wild thing, you can use the same template used for the baby wild thing and just make them bigger.
- For the eyes, poke wire through the styrofoam balls and loop back through to secure. Then poke the wire through the cardboard and twist in the back to secure.
- For the nose, take one styrofoam ball for the center of the nose and place it where the nose should go. Then, for each nostril, shave off the bottom roughly one third to let the balls settle down on each side of the nose center. Secure with wire.
- Crumple/fold some pieces of newspaper and build them up around the top and bottoms of the eyes. These are the eyelids.
Now you’re ready to do the paper mache!
Prepping the paste/newspaper:
- Cut a bunch of long, thin strips of newspaper.
- Boil 4 parts water. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 part warm water with one part flour. Add a few tablespoons of salt to prevent mold growth if you live in a humid place.
- Once the flour mixture is done, slowly stir into the boiling water. Mix it in well, then let boil for a few minutes. Adjust consistency with water or flour if needed.
Gluing the masks:
- Dip a strip of newspaper into the paste, coating it completely.
- Apply the sticky newspaper to the mask.
- Keep applying the newspaper pieces until the mask is covered, including the teeth and horns.
- Let dry completely before moving on to the next steps.
Painting: Once the masks are dry, paint them following our reference for colors, and also consider looking at the original illustrations for additional inspiration.
Finishing touches:
- Cut out strips of faux fur and glue them all around the bigger wild thing’s head. Cut strips of yarn and glue them onto the smaller wild thing’s head.
- Poke two eye holes below the nose.
- Hot glue the baseball caps inside the masks, positioning them so the back of the hat is just above the eye holes.
- If desired, hot glue a couple of pieces of twine to the back of the mask to tie around your head for extra stability.
Prepping the adult clothing:
- Cut out yellow felt strips and hot glue them onto the brown sweatshirt.
- Cut out strips for the pants with a row of triangles on one side, and hot glue these on in rows.
- For the feet, cut out cardboard feet using our templates.
- Paint the claws and add texture to the feet.
- Glue yellow felt onto the main template for the smaller, yellow wild thing. For the bigger wild thing, glue gray felt onto the feet and white felt cut the same way as the pants.
- Attach elastic to the corners of the feet to make loops like stirrups.
That’s a wrap! Let the wild rumpus start!
If you loved this costume tutorial and would like to find more great family costume ideas, check out these other posts: Mom and Baby Costumes, Group Halloween Costumes, Last Minute DIY Costumes, Jasper’s Viking Costume.
