Walmart Gangster Turned Jack Skellington Halloween Costume Tutorial

Sometimes the best ideas come at the very last minute. We were days away from leaving for our trip to Disney. And you know after you wash all the clothes, pack all the kids’ things and prepare yourself for a 6+ hour car ride, you really don’t have much left in you. Plus, it takes my child forever to decide what he wants to be for Halloween so I never have very much time to prepare. So, there we were in the Halloween costume isle of Wal-mart desperately searching for something my kids could be for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. Something we could all live with.

He wanted something bloody, I did not. I wanted something cartoon-y, he did NOT. And then I saw this Gangster costume for just over $15 bucks and thought, this is something I can work with.

Last year when we went to Disney my now 9 year old got his feelings hurt because his baby brother got all of the attention from passers-by. You know, it’s GOT to be hard to be the older sibling, especially when there’s a baby around.

Anyway, I had made his brother a spider costume and his dad and I dressed as spider webs and everywhere we walked people ohh’ed and ahh’ed. Finally he said, ‘Mom, why doesn’t anyone notice my costume’. It crushed me.

He had insisted on getting a robot costume from Wal-mart that year and he thought it was very cool. And it was. But everyone made such a big deal over his little spider brother and it hurt his feelings. And mine. Naturally I never want my child to feel that way so when I saw this gangster costume my first thought was, Jack Skellington!

Here’s how I made that happen.

First, while he was wearing the jacket, I cut a line straight across the waist to create Jack’s coat and tails. I could’ve done this a number of ways but he wanted his coat tails to be tattered so this is the direction I headed.

I cut one side and then the other. No need to be super precise. It’s Jack Skellington. It doesn’t have to be perfect!

Then I cut a slit up the back for the coat tails. And then, because my son insisted that Jack’s coat tails should be tattered (because in some instances they are), we tattered them.

I cut each coat tail into three sections. Voila’, tattered.

The gangster costume came with a shirt/tie insert. Fortunately it was a mock shirt and tie and wasn’t attached to the costume itself. So he wore a plain white undershirt under the jacket.

I folded a section of black poster board that measured just a bit wider than his shoulder length and cut a bat shape.

I sprayed Scotch Super 77 spray adhesive onto the bat shape and placed it onto a section of black felt.

I allowed that to dry and cut it out. Then, I sprayed the other side of the bat shape with spray adhesive and placed that onto another section of felt.

After that dried, because I didn’t want to gum up my scissors, I cut the shape out of the felt again. This way both sides were covered in felt, it was comfortable to wear and it was sturdy enough to hold up. I used self-adhesive velcro on the bat to place it onto his undershirt and costume. It held up reasonably well, especially since we were riding rides at Disney, but the glue on the back of these self-adhesive strips aren’t exactly made to stick to felt.

I got the costume in a size up because I knew we’d be cutting it and I wanted to make sure I had enough room to work but you’ll want to try at least the jacket on to determine the size you will need. Because I got a size larger the sleeves were a little long and my child insisted they were driving him crazy. So I cut off an inch or so and then sewed them at an angle to give the sleeves and tighter fit at the wrists.

For the makeup, I actually used my MAC stippling brush to apply white Halloween makeup. I know it sounds crazy but it’s not like that cheap makeup has great coverage so this was the only way I could get it an even white color. Also, {and after the MAC brush confession you probably won’t be surprised} I used my Urban Decay primer around his eyes and on his lips so everything would stick. Hey. Don’t judge. Can you imagine this makeup in the Florida sun after a ride down Splash Mountain otherwise?!

I used a sampler black eyeliner to outline his eyes and for his mouth stitches. Then I filled in his eyes and nostrils with a black eye shadow. I dusted some baby powder over his whole face and neck, knocking the excess off the black areas, in hopes of keeping the makeup in place the entire night. It worked perfectly! We gelled his hair back and then used white hair spray to make it blend in. All in all, I think I spent around $20 and used what supplies I had on hand.

This year he complained he was getting “too much” attention.

But he didn’t fool me. He loved every minute of it!