It was this time last year that I had the brilliant idea to create a family of lego costumes for Halloween. I’m great with coming up with grand ideas – the follow through on this one was pretty intense and I altered my plans a million times to simplify them. However, they will probably go down in history as my favorite Halloween costumes…ever. Fair warning – this project is not for the faint of heart – but perfect for the lego enthusiast!
Like I said before – it started with an idea when I was talking to my friend. I sent her this picture shortly later from Home Depot to let her know my plan for Lego costumes was in motion.
The costumes have two parts: Lego head and body. Today I’m talking about creating lego heads and they were time intensive.
The heads were created from cylinder concrete forms. I bought three different sizes for different sized heads. Cannon and Bennett used the 8in forms. Hallie and Hunter used 10in forms and Steve and I used 12in forms.
I used a jig saw to cut them to height – customized for each kid. To create the round edges I used 2in foam insulation (it comes with shine paper and the outside, I peeled it off) that I attached to the bottom with Gorilla tape and shaved and sanded the edges to make them rounded.
Each person chose which lego character they wanted to be and as such I had to create hair to match their character. Hindsight is 20/20 and doing it again, I would skip the hair and make everyone have the generic knob on top like typical lego heads have. But my vision by this point was way too big and I felt the need to create hair.
I layered the 2in foam and glued several pieces together. And then the carving began. Carve, shave, sand…repeat. My patio was a disaster for weeks. Every time someone came over, I had to explain the horrific mess.
I spray painted the heads yellow and sprayed the hair as well – the easiest of all the steps. Hallie even pitched in and helped paint.
I drew faces on with pencil and hand painted each of them and cut out the eye holes so we could see. (Hunter’s is missing is big pirate hat on top of his head)
Finishing the heads was a breath of fresh air. The kids loved trying them on and I loved how they turned out. Seeing them complete gave me the motivation I needed to move on to the bodies because at this point – with all the time they had already taken – I was ready to just be lego heads for Halloween! One costume would’ve been completely manageable – a family of costumes was a bit much!
You did an amazing job!! What type of spray paint did you use?
Just regular Rustoleum spray paint.
I love this and my son is so excited to be a Lego guy for Halloween. Quick question how did you figure out how to mark and line up for the eyes? I really want to make sure he can see and that is what I am most nervous about. Thanks
That part was tricky and it was a little stressful as I started cutting. I just put the head on my kid’s shoulder and did my best to line up where his eyes would be. Some heads I did better than others!
Awesome job!!! What type of glue did you use to hold the styrofoam together? Did you use the same glue to attach hair/hats to the heads?
Gorilla glue – It worked like a charm!
These are really cool! I made Lego Riddler for our grandson this year. I wish I would have seen your post before I made his. I used styrofoam wreaths for the head, hat, and neck.
How long did it take you to complete?
It’s hard to say – I remember spending hours working on these costumes – but then again I was creating 6 different heads and costumes.
Where did you get the styrofoam to do this?
Home depot – it was two inches thick and used as insulation with a reflective surface that I peeled off.
Was it easy to breathe in these heads?
Surprisingly it wasn’t too bad!
Hi there!
My family also dresses up together for Halloween! It one of our favorite things to do! We are thinking about being legos this year! I was looking at your blog and noticed none of your pictures for the tutorial you did are showing up. I wasn’t sure if something was wrong on your end or mine??? I would love to see them!!
Sincerely,
Laci
There is a linking issue that I’m trying to get worked out with my server! Hopefully by the end of next week they’ll be up and going.
What did you use to cut the eye holes out?!
A jig saw!
Hi! I came across your tutorial… which type of gorilla glue? There are several! Also… did you buy all the things at Home Depot?
It’s been so long ago, I can’t remember what gorilla glue it was, but everything was purchased at home depot.