DIY Minion Costumes

Ever since I watched the movie "Step Mom" with Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon when I was around 10 years old -I loved how the "real" mom would make her kids costumes every year! She made her an awesome Elvis costume and I was in AWW! I told myself that I would be THAT mom! Well 17 years later (after having children for the last 5 years) I finally made my first attempt at making my boys costumes -which is kinda hard when you don't know how to sew or lack a sewing machine. Hallelujah for hand stitching and hot glue guns!!!

Sooo back in the summer Jack was all about the movie "Despicable me" and was totally into the crazy minions. He chose to be one of them for Halloween. Then came "Despicable me part 2" and they had these crazy purple monster minions which was a perfect character for Maxx's costume! Of course kids being kids, Jack changed his costume ideas a million times before locking this one down again! So these are the characters that we chose for their costumes.

After finding all these crazy intense ideas online that involved sewing with a machine and making clothes (which was way over my head) I decided to K.I.S.S. it! I bought all that I could for the clothing at discounted rates and made the heads!

I ordered the cheapest hoodies I could find online in purple and yellow for $11. They came all the way from the United Kingdom (can you say fancy much!) http://www.universal-textiles.com/UK-UT/index.php
Then I found some black overalls for $8 and jean overalls for $15 on eBay. The black gloves came from Walmart toddler size was .97 cents (what a steal!) and the boys size was $3. Not bad for a double pack! They both already had black shoes. Now for the "crafty stuff".

Coming from a cake decorating background I'm used to making everything from fondant! That was my dream edible material! You can cover, sculpt and decorate anything your little heart desires! Welp I found my new dream non edible material FOAM PAPER!!! It's so similar to rolled out fondant -you can make any shape you want out of it and it gives you that smooth clean look! Way easier to work with, trace, and cut than felt material! I bought a huge pack of multi colored foam paper from Michaels for $8 (you can buy the selected colors that you need for .60 cents per sheet but I know I will be using these in the future so I bought the beast pack! This is what I used for their eyes, badges, and teeth!

BADGES: I used my chalk pens and drew the G logo on the black felt and cut it out with an exacto knife. Hot glued the black layer ontop of a white clean sheet of foam paper and cut them into a circle. I hand stitched them onto the overalls so I can easily remove them after Halloween so the boys can wear the overalls again. You can always hot glue if you don't plan on reusing the overalls. That would be way easier!

EYES: I have round metal cookie cutters so I used them to make an impression on the felt for the different sizes circles to create the perfect circles for the eyes. I used all these different colors to add dimension to the eyes. Hot glued the pieces on top of each other.

 GOGGLES: I used mason jar lids I had around the house and hot glued the eyes inside them. I bought a sheet of black felt from Michaels I believe .35 cents and cut out a strip for the google strap.

Purple Minion :

HAIR: I had planned to make the hair from yarn but I decided to cheat and go an easier route! Back in September we won this crazy minion at the fair so I decided to scalp our little friend! Promised Jack that I would reapply his hair after Halloween! I just hot glued his scalp (sounds like a creepy scary movie) to the hood of the purple pullover. Leaving room and the tip of the hood to glue the goggles.

Here's a fitting before I added some teeth! (don't mind the creeper in the mirror!)

I can't handle how adorable he looks! Exactly what I envisioned!

Ps. Those aren't his gloves, he was wearing big brothers gloves! I found him some mini gloves from Walmart for only .97 cents!!!

Yellow Minion :

Jacks costume was more of a challenge since he refused to let me scalp his other minion friend! Bummer! I didn't want his to be just a decorated hoodie because he's 5 and deserved something extra awesome! Plus he is at the age that he doesn't mind wearing a mask! Maxx's hoodie was perfect because that kid won't wear a mask or let me paint his face.

HEAD: I started off making the skeleton of the mask with poster board and bubble wrap -both from the dollar tree! The bubble wrap was meant to help support the thin poster board so that it didn't cave in. I hot glued them together. I just added a few hot glue spots because it would melt the bubble wrap! Then I sized it around jacks head and cut out a oval for his face.

This is what it looked like from the inside...

I originally bought a small bowl from the Dollar Tree to use as a dome base for the top of the head but it turned out to be too small! So after scouting the house for everything round I decided to use the bean bag filling that came from the headless purple minion toy and put it into a grocery bag. I took a  rubberband and tied it together from the inside and turned it inside out to make a dome like shape (photo below)

Then I hot glued it to the bubble wrap :) and Wahlahhh the finished skeleton of the head!

He hated every minute of these fittings lol brat!

COVERING THE HEAD: This was probably the hardest part! So I bought 2 yards (which was way too much) of yellow felt at Walmart for $7. I bought extra because I was going to add a double layer of felt because it was kind of see-thru and I didn't want the grocery bag logo to show! After failing many times trying to cover the whole mask and literally wanting to give up and throw the doggone mask out the window - I googled how to make a beanie and thought that I could make it like a huge beanie to cover the head! IT WORKED!! The online tutorial said the fold my material over 4 times , pin it still, and cut out a petal shape.

Here's what it looked like unfolded.

Using my grandmas handy dandy sewing kit -I hand stitched the petals together then wrapped it around the head! Thankfully it fit!

After sewing the seam in the back shut I made some slices in the front for Jacks face and hot glued them to the inside! The fun part was gluing the goggle to the head! It all came together!!!

Jack was so excited to try it on! (BTW my kids are always running around the house in their chonies!)

I cut out some felt teeth and hot glued them kinda wonky in the mouth so that it looked like he was yelling! Oh and I used black pipe cleaners and hot glued them to the top of his head.

And here are the final photos on Halloween day!!!

Of course my one year old was not in the mood to take photos so I couldn't get a good picture of his costume! :( And somewhere between leaving the house and going to the park his purple eye was gouged out! double wahhhh!!! Oh and to top it off we forgot his gloves in his closet to complete the costume! haha! Story of my life!

Not  too bad for my first DIY costumes!!!

And there can't be minions without the main dude GRU!!!! My brother Mikey was such an awesome sport and dressed up as Gru! I love him sooooo much! We added a bald cap which was the hardest part of all the costumes put together!

I'm so glad that I was able to take the time to make these for the kids! They were so happy which was soooo awesome!!!! If I could do it so can you!!! Just takes time, patience, and google!!! lol!