Since I've been slowly transforming into a plant lady recently, I found it only fitting to transform myself into a houseplant for Halloween this year!
This year's costume is in the same vein as 2019's ramen costume: a paper mache, worn around my waist, held up by suspenders-contraption. And I found an almost color match pair of leggings to go with the terra cotta painted pot too!
I used this tutorial for the houseplant costume from A Beautiful Mess. The pot in the tutorial was made with a cardboard box rather than with paper mache. I thought paper mache would be easier than cutting up and manipulating cardboard (although in retrospect, I think just using cardboard is probably easier).
I tweaked the original idea for costume also by using pipe cleaners rather than galvanized wire since it was easier to cut and glue onto the flimsy crepe paper.
Houseplant Costume adapted from A Beautiful Mess
Supplies Needed:
newspaper cut into long strips
paintbrush
mod podge
round laundry basket (big enough for the bottom circumference to fit around your hips)
paper packing tape (uhaul has really great tape!)
large cardboard boxes
scissors
terra cotta acrylic paint (2 packages will be enough to paint the entire pot)
crepe paper (one in light green and another in dark green---found mine at party city for 99 cents)
pipe cleaners
glue (like elmer's)
glue gun
suspenders from a Halloween store (mine are white but looks like amazon sells green ones!) or thick green ribbon
Directions:
1. Brush mod podge onto newspaper strip and glue onto laundry basket. Continue down the basket and glue on 4-6 layers of strips. Let dry.
2. Pull away the paper mache from the basket and cut length-wise to remove the pot from the basket. Once removed, use paper packing tape to tape up the cut section to reassemble the pot.
3. Trace a circle using the top of the laundry basket onto a cardboard box and trace a smaller circle inside to create ring about 1-2 inches thick. Cut out ring from box.
4. Cut a long strip of cardboard about 4 inches thick to create the lip of the pot.
5. Use paper packing tape to attach the ring around top part of the "pot" then tape the strip of cardboard (I left a little lip or overhang on the inside of the pot for a place for suspenders to attach to) to create a lip on the pot.
6. Paint the pot with terra cotta colored paint.
7. To make the leaves (refer to picture below): each leaf needs two strips of the same length of each color. The light color strips are glued side by side to make it wider. Cut the dark green strip in the shape of a leaf on one end. Twist two pipe cleaners together to make it sturdier and thicker. To make the pipe cleaners the length of the leaf, cut and twist on more. Glue (with elmer's) the pipe cleaners on the middle of the light green strip then glue on the dark green strip on top. Flip over the strip and glue the second dark green strip to the other side. Round out the top of the light green part to create a border around the dark green leaf by cutting. Repeat and change the length of the leaves to create variety (but make sure to make shorter leaves for the front of the pot so the leaves don't get in the way of your face).
8. Glue the leaves on the inside of the pot at the top with glue gun or use paper packing tape (I used both).
9. Attach suspenders or use glue gun to attach ribbon to create straps to hold up the pot around shoulders.
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