Wizard of Oz House Costume #GlueNGlitter

Why be Dorothy or the Tin Man when you can be the house that fell on the Wicked Witch of the East? I made this with some foam board, Krazy glue and a bunch of stuff that was laying around the house. Altogether, it cost less than $20!

Wizard of Oz House Costume
Eight 20×30″ Elmer’s Foam Boards
Large piece of thin cardboard (I used an Elmer’s Display Board)
Krazy Glue
Approximately 12 square inches of scrap fabric for curtains
Fabric ribbon for curtain ties
Paint (ideally in colors like brown, yellow, beige and/or orange to accent the house)
Peet moss, dried grass or small fake flowers
A thin black Sharpie and a thick black Sharpie
X-acto knife

Using the x-acto knife, cut four of the foam boards down to form the sides for the house. I cut the front and back boards to 25×20″ and the sides to 22×20″. Cut two other foam boards down to 26×20″ to form the rooftop pieces.

Cut two triangles for the attic area from two of the foam boards as shown above. The triangle pieces should be 13″ at the peak and 25″ wide with an extra 2″ edge at the bottom (this edge is to overlap with the front and back pieces of the house so you can glue it down later).

Cut shingles (approximately 4×6″ or so) from the cardboard box and paint with thinned paint to give them a weathered look.

Use a straightedge and the thin Sharpie to trace horizontal lines to represent wood planks on all of the sides and attic pieces of the house.

Draw six windows with shutters, each approximately 4-5″ wide and 3″ tall, a round attic window with a cross pane and a door approximately 4×8″. Cut them all out using the x-acto knife.

Draw the shutter slats and a box for the window pane. Cut out the window areas on the door and windows.

Place the windows and door on the house (two windows on the front and two on each side with the round window on the front attic area), trace the opening window spaces with a Sharpie and cut out the window areas. The cuts don’t have to be really precise, since you’ll be covering up the cut with the window panes. I numbered the back of each window and put the corresponding number on the foam board so I could easily remember which one goes where.

Using different colors of thinned paint, paint the windows and door and all the sides and attic pieces of the house. Let dry.

Cut six pairs of tiny curtains (approximately 1×6″) from your scrap fabric and tie a small ribbon piece around each one.

From the thin cardboard or Elmer’s display board, cut seven squares approximately 3×4″ and black them out with the Sharpie. These will serve as backings for the windows so the house looks black inside.

Glue the attic pieces to the front and back house pieces using the Krazy Glue.

Glue the curtains into the windows and glue the black squares behind them.

Glue down the doors and windows, and add the peet moss, dried grass or decorative flowers as accents around the base of the house.

Glue all the sides together, glue the roof on top and add the shingles on top of that.

Play the part of the witch with striped tights and red shoes. Any girl SHOULD have a pair of red shoes in her closet. Seriously, they’re a necessity. I found the striped tights at Walmart (you can view pictures from my shopping trip and more detailed project photos on Google+).

Add a baby in a dorky plaid shirt with a lollipop and you’ve got yourself a munchkin! We’re on our way to having the whole Wizard of Oz cast here. I’m currently working on making a “Man Behind the Curtain” outfit for Nate. He’s such a great sport.

Update: The local Fox news channel featured our homemade Halloween costume along with some other really cute DIY kids’ outfits from members of the community. Check it out!

This project has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Elmer’s #gluenglitter #collectivebias #CBias. All opinions are my own.