I may be 29 years old but I don’t think I will ever be too old for Halloween. Maybe it’s because I am into performing, I enjoy playing dress up, and I love kids and being “kid-like,” but whatever the reason is, Halloween is an event I always look forward to every year. In fact, I attend Halloween costume parties every year, save for last year because my grandmother passed away just two days before Halloween and it’s just not proper to party the night away and make merry while the rest of my family members are mourning at the wake. I was supposed to be out with four of my friends and we were going to be dressed as the Spice Girls. But since Posh Spice (yours truly) couldn’t make it, they had to find a proxy Posh.
Since I missed last year’s Halloween, I was agog to go this year, and even more so because this year’s Halloween was extra special since I was going to have a costume partner! I have never been one half of a pair for Halloween before so I was extra keyed up that I would be playing dress up with my boyfriend, who, to my delight and relief, is very much game about it. I know some guys who are too scared to look silly or are too much of a killjoy to even bother celebrating Halloween, but I didn’t even have to dragoon my boyfriend into it. In fact, he was the one who came up with the idea to dress up as…
a Conehead Zombie and Sunflower from Plants vs. Zombies!!!
Plants vs. Zombies, in case you have been living under a rock for the past few years, is a popular, award-winning video game developed by Popcap that requires the player to use a number of plants to defeat an army of zombies. Recently, Plants vs. Zombies 2 became available for download on Android, and since I downloaded it, I was hooked! Hence, Mike suggested that we just go as characters from the game. (Afterwards, I fell in love with him even more.)
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| Source: www.popcap.com |
We decided to go as the Conehead Zombie and the Sunflower because, aside from the fact that they seem to be the most popular and indispensable characters in the game, they are also the easiest to pull off.
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People have been asking us how and where we got our costumes, so I’m going to share them with you here.
Conehead Zombie costume
Road cone
From: True Value, Glorietta 2 Mall, Makati
Price: PHP 380
Brown jacket
From: Ukay-ukay (a shop for cheap, pre-owned items) in Guadalupe, near the Guadalupe MRT station along EDSA
Price: PHP 75
Red striped tie
From: Robinsons Forum Mall (Pioneer St.) Department Store
Price: PHP 195
White polo shirt
From: Ukay-ukay in Buendia, near the Buendia MRT station, near Urban Building
Price: PHP 65
Jeans & shoes
(Mike’s own)
Zombie makeup
I actually put makeup on Mike but it turns out that he is allergic to makeup so we had to remove it right away! Next time, it might be better to use face paint.
Sunflower costume
Green long-sleeved top
From: 3rd Floor, Bazaar, Landmark Department Store, Makati
Price: PHP 239.75
Brown mini skirt
From: 3rd Floor, Bazaar, Landmark Department Store, Makati
Price: PHP 189.75
Brown boots
From: Zara
Price: Originally around PHP 6,000 but I got it from our employee sale so it’s waaaay less than that
Sunflower headdress and green leaf
I will tell you how I made these later.
Our costumes were really easy to create and recreate. The hardest part of mine would probably be the sunflower headdress, though it’s not exactly hard to make. It just needs a bit of effort. I followed the first few parts of the step-by-step instructions by PopCap and modified it a little.
How to make the sunflower headdress:
Materials:
- 1 thin, solid hairband
- 2 rolls of yellow felt paper
- 1 pack of yellow board paper (250 GSM, or the thickest you can find)
- Glue gun
- Glue gun sticks
- Scissors
Method:
1. Fold the board paper into two parts crosswise and draw a petal on it. You can decide how big you want the petal to be, but I made mine almost the same size as half of the board paper.
2. Cut out the petal. Since the board paper was folded, you will have two petals already, which saves you a lot of time in cutting.
3. Lay the petal on top of the back part of the yellow felt paper and trace the outer part of the petal. Then, cut out the drawing on the felt paper.
4. Cut the petal drawing from the board paper into a smaller size, at least 2 inches smaller than the petal from the felt paper. The felt paper petal has to be slightly bigger than the board paper petal.
5. Sandwich the smaller board paper petal in between two felt paper petals so it will stand erect and not be flimsy. Glue the two felt paper petals together, except for the bottom parts. Make sure to leave the lower parts unglued.
6. Get a thin hairband and put glue on the lower left side. Then stick the lower part of the petal on the lower end of the headband. Do this all the way up and until the opposite end of the hairband.
7. To make sure that the petals don’t fall off, secure the hairband with strips of felt paper by gluing them together, “enclosing” the hairband.
8. So that the back part doesn’t look bare, add one more petal on each side of the bottom petals. Just glue half of the side of the petal, as well as a small area of the lower part of it. And make sure that you still have enough space to wear it on your head.
Here it is… the finished product! (Sorry, it’s a bit dirty because I took this after the Halloween party.)
It was probably the highlight of the night because all of my friends wanted to try it on and have a photo taken of them wearing it! I guess they all wanted to try my flower…
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As for the leaf, it’s even easier to make!
How to make a leaf for the sunflower costume:
Materials:
- 1 piece of board paper (you may use the excess from the sunflower headdress)
- Green felt paper or green crepe paper
- Glue gun
- Scissors
- 2-4 safety pins
Method:
1. Repeat step 1 of the sunflower headdress but instead of drawing a petal, draw a leaf, then cut it out. You will have two leaves.
2. Cut the crepe paper just big enough to sandwich the leaf in between two sides of the crepe paper.
3. Wrap the leaf in the felt paper and glue the edges at the back
4. Attach the felt paper onto your blouse with safety pins
*Note: In creating the sunflower and leaves, remember that it doesn’t need to be perfect! Mine look like a third grader’s art project but when you’re actually wearing it, nobody will notice the tiny flaws. 🙂
That’s it for our D.I.Y. Halloween costumes! We didn’t spend much on them but they turned out okay and pretty close to the original characters. You don’t need to shell out a lot of money on costumes. You just need to be resourceful, creative, and willing to look stupid, even for a little bit. 😉
Here’s a group photo of our Halloween crew!
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| From left to right: Conehead Zombie and Sunflower from Plants vs. Zombies, PSY (Korean artist behind “Gangnam Style”), Beerman Cat in the Hat, Rogue, She-devil, Jejemon or JejeMonica, David Beckham 90 years from now, some Rasta Hobo wearing a camouflage shirt, and some Chinese dude as himself. |
