DIY Pac-Man Couples Halloween Costume

Each Halloween my friends attend a costume party with a theme provided by the hosts (you may remember her owl costume from last year!). For this year’s “Good vs. Evil” theme, they decided to go as Ms. Pac-man and a ghost from the video game! Check out how they DIY’ed their adorable costumes!

From Allie: For this project I was able to use a lot of things I already owned, so all I purchased was the felt. This was less than $10 a costume!

Supplies:

• Cardboard box(es)
• Lots of glue sticks
• Masking Tape/Packing tape
• Scotch Tape (optional)
• Duct Tape
• Scissors
• Fabric/Tacky Glue
• Scrap paper for making templates
• Ribbon – (2) 30 ” pieces
• Hair Clip (optional)
• Felt: yellow (approx. 1 yard) white (used 2 sheets I already owned), red (approx. 2 yards), black (approx. 1/4 yard)

Ms. Pac-Man Costume:

Things to consider and I wish I had thought ahead when constructing this:

A) The yellow felt I purchased was a little see-through. I knew I would be at a dark place so I didn’t need to double up the felt or paint the cardboard yellow first, but you might need to. I used the inside of the box (all brown) as the side that would be covered with the felt.

B) A large circle Pac-Man can be hard to maneuver at parties and fit through doors. Mine was 35″ so I would recommend smaller.

C) If you aren’t making sides you should consider covering the “back” of the circles with more yellow felt so people don’t see the tape/box.

1. To create the body, cut a circle from a cardboard box. (see B above for a tip about the size). To make a circle, use the method shown on the soda can cake using a string and pencil!

As I didn’t have a box that was large enough, I used pieces of other boxes taped together to create the full shape needed.  This also helped to reinforce the shape and not become too floppy.

2. (see ‘things to consider B & C’ above) Lay one cardboard circle (back facing up) in the middle of a piece of yellow felt. In sections (12″ or less), hot glue the cardboard and carefully attach the felt.

Repeat until all felt is attached.

3. To create the mouth, start from the center of the circle and lay pieces of paper in place to create a template.

4. Cut out this shape on black felt and glue onto the circle using fabric/tacky glue. Tip: Add at least 4″ on the curved “open mouth” side of the black felt so you can easily wrap this around to the back side of the circle. I didn’t leave enough overhang in my version seen above so I’d recommend at least 4″.

5. To wear this costume, I added shoulder straps that attached to both circles made from strong ribbons.

First, I measured about 5” down from the top of the circle AND 6” from the left of the middle of the circle and secured the ribbon in place with hot glue and duct tape.  Next, I marked 11” of ribbon that would actually be ON my shoulders when I wore the costume. Tip: After wearing this costume a while I noticed it was difficult to move my neck with the circles so high so you might want to move yours down a bit, and give more space between the 2 circles. I’d recommend 13″ or more. Measure another 5″ of ribbon that would be the part to attach to the back circle at a later step.

Repeat these steps to attach the second shoulder strap to the front circle.

6. Create an eye and mole from black felt and attach with fabric/tacky glue. My eye is a 4 x 8″ piece and the mole is a 1.5 x 1.5″ square.

7. The mouth of Ms. Pacman includes 2 half circles for lips. To create these symmetrical shapes, I made a template by folding a piece of paper and drawing 1/4 of a circle on the fold. I laid this template on a folded piece of red felt and used this as a guide. Voila, a lip! Repeat for the bottom lip.

8. Instead of attaching the red bow of Ms. Pacman on the felt shape, I decided to wear it in my own hair! I cut out the bow shape, and a red circle from red felt then glued then onto a silver hairclip.

9. Lay your circles face down on a table and attach the strap together as shown, using the extra length of ribbon measured and cut in step 5.

Ghost Instructions (This project took about 10 mins!)

1. Fold the 2 yards of red felt in half and make a neck hole in the center of the fold. When worn, there should be 3 ft in the front and 3 ft in the back. To make a better fit, I held it up to my husband to get the width to fit his arm length trimmed the sides to reach his wrists.

2. To create the eyes, I traced an oval bowl I owned using a disappearing ink fabric pen on white felt and cut out the shapes.  The center pieces are made from (2) 4 x4 ” pieces of black felt. Tip: since the outside white area is curved and the inside black shapes are straight, make sure to round the edges on 2 sides of the black eye centers so they fit the white curve nicely.

3. To create the bottom edge, I created a triangle template from scrap paper and laid it along the edge. Note: To be accurate to the game, we wanted the downward triangles to be centered under the eyes, so the template shown here is off center accordingly.

Tip: It may help to tape the template in place when cutting for accurate placement.

Once you’d finished the edge, your costume is ready to wear!

If you make this, make sure to submit your photo of your version for your chance to be included in my annual Reader’s Feature!

Check out what they wore another year: