This is a sponsored post in partnership with Amazon Prime. All opinions are my own!
Halloween is right around the corner and today I’m working with Amazon Prime to share an easy costume idea made out of a cardboard box. A BOXTUME if you will– aka a costume out of a BOX! Boxtumes are creative costumes made at home using Amazon smile boxes and crafting supplies that you already have around the house. We’ve been holding on to our Amazon “smile boxes” for a couple of weeks (I blame the awesomeness of Amazon Prime! So Fast and FREE! ) So I love that I can upcycle the boxes them into an inexpensive costume! This is a great last-minute Halloween costume idea that you can make with a handful of supplies.
What I love about this is that it’s super lightweight. AND Idaho is always cold–so you can add a coat or tights or leggings and boots to keep you warm and the costume still looks cute! Plus–if you don’t have any Amazon smile boxes laying around–it’s a great excuse to go shop!
Here is what you need to make a Butterfly Outfit
- Amazon smile box
- Sharp box cutter or scissors
- Spray paint in teal, mint and green
- Hot glue
- Ribbon (2 inches wide)
- Dress (I found THIS one on Amazon I just searched for Royal Blue dresses. Amazon has so many good choices!) I love this one because she can wear it to school after Halloween is over! (Sidenote: I totally was planning on her just wearing leggings and a shirt and last minute decided to snag this dress–and it showed up on my doorstep so fast — Just another reason to love Prime–it’s great for last minute decision makers like me!
- floral wire
- craft paint in teal, navy blue, brown and green.
- paintbrush
How to make a Peacock Tail
I chose the biggest box I had. How big you make your costume will depend on who you are making it for! If you are making it for a 3 year old–you will probably make it smaller!
I opened the box up wide
and nestled the two pieces together to make one BIG piece. Hot glued it together (I didn’t want to add tape because it can be harder to paint over it).
I sketched a big scallop shape, so it kind of looks like a cloud, and just used my knife to cut around it.
I grabbed all the spray paint I had (which is a lot! I might need an intervention!?!) I didn’t want the Peacock base to be flat, so I painted it with both dark and light blues with accents of citrus green to add some ombre dimension.
After first coat:
Paint a Peacock Feather
I wanted my Peacock to be a little dimensional, so I decided to cut out peacock feathers and paint them and then hot glue to the base! (You can also just paint these directly onto the cardboard base if you want to!)
I don’t want you to be intimidated by the peacock feathers–they really aren’t that hard! Here is a step by step!
- Paint brown egg shape.
- Paint green around (this is the avocado stage!)
- Outline brown with mint blue
- Outline that with a darker blue. I don’t clean my brush between these steps because I want the colors to blur a little!
- Add in blue circle in the middle
- Add in upside down navy blue heart shape.
- And REPEAT!
If your kiddos want in on the boxtumes creations–they could paint all of these green for you and then you can add the details! I know my daughter loves to help out!
I made it so both sides have the feathers because I wanted it to look good both coming and going!
And then once the paint was dry, I just hot glued them on! (If you notice–they are actually upside down! I liked them better than what I had originally planned!)
How to make a Peacock Crest
Now let’s make the peacock “Crest” The little bundle of feathers at the top–
These are the leftover scraps from the Amazon smile box! Just cut out and painted and then hot glued onto some floral wire I had!
I twisted them together and hot glued the bottom so it would be soft. (I just attached to her head using a bobby pin.)
How the peacock tail attaches to the body-
I grabbed some ribbon and attached it to the tail using hot glue. I used a knife and added some slits to run the ribbon through.
I hot glued it to the back and then covered it up with a peacock feather!
I wanted it to wrap around her waist and tie like it’s part of the dress! This way she can actually flip it around and have it hang down like peacocks do!
I added some blue eyeshadow and glitter–because that’s the fun part of Halloween!
She loves it so much and that makes it all worth it! (That and the fact that I only had to buy a matching ribbon to make the whole thing-everything else I had on hand!!)
You can easily adapt this same idea and make fairy wings, ladybug wings, and more. I even decided to get in on the boxtume action and make myself a Butterfly costume while I was at it!
I’ll show you that how-to another day!
Here is a pinnable image if you want to save this post for later!
So next time you purchase something on Amazon, KEEP THOSE SMILE BOXES! You never know when you are going to need them!
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