Introduction: Mr. Grinz

This is a really simple costume to put together, but is sure to creep out plenty of party-goers. My primary idea when creating the character was based on the idea of the Cenobites from Hellraiser fame, but it turned out looking more like a demon joker. Which, I suppose still fits the Cenobite mold in a way.

It is pretty cheap to throw together, and really does not take much time. This is one of those "less is more" costumes. Going too overboard with it just won't look right, and actually detracts from the real creepiness you're trying to achieve.

Step 1: Stuff You'll Need

Makeup only
  • White cream makeup
  • Black cream eyeliner
  • Red lipstick pencil (or just red in any stick form)
  • Triangle sponges
  • Angled brush

Optional accessories
  • Fake blood
  • Fake skin - only if you can find something really good (the stuff I tried was crap)
  • Glow sticks
  • Glue syringe
  • Spirit gum (or other super sticky stuff)
  • 3/16" (inner diameter) / 1/8" (outer diameter) vinyl tubing
  • Medical tape
  • 2" finish nails
  • Hot glue
  • White t-shirt

Step 2: Make Blood-filled IV Tubes


To make the IV tubes, follow these steps for however many you want to make:

  • Have some paper towels handy, this can get a little messy
  • Cut the vinyl tubing into whatever lengths you desire
  • Heat up the hot glue gun
  • For the blood
    • No special prep required
  • For the glow sticks
    • It's easiest (and cleanest) to break them while the stick is intact, so do that
    • Shake them a few times and then carefully cut off the tops
    • Dump them into a plastic cup and mix it around a bit
    • Be careful, there will be little bits of glass mixed in from the capsule in the stick. It also hurts a bit if you get it on you fingers.
  • Fill the syringe and insert it into one end of a piece of tubing
  • Once the hot glue is ready, depress the syringe slowly until the tube is full
  • Leave the syringe in place
  • It is best to have a helper here because they can keep some pressure on the plunger while you do the next step
  • On the opposite end of the tube, insert the tip of the glue gun and start filling it with glue
  • Once you have about 1/4 inch in there, pull out the glue gun and insert a finish nail, holding until set
  • When that hardens a little bit, pull out the syringe
  • Now repeat the same glue technique on the syringe end
It takes just a couple of minutes per IV tube; really easy.

Step 3: Putting It Together


The original thought of this costume only involved the IV tubing running from my hands up to my neck or chest. It twists around my arms a few times and up over my neck, or through blood-stained holes in the white shirt. But...as it came closer to the day I was doing this, I decided to add the makeup. The two pieces work together well.

I was in a bit of a rush to make it to a party, so didn't take pictures of the makeup as I went, but it's really very simple. Hopefully the description of the process will suffice. :)

To do the makeup:
  • Apply the white makeup all over your face and lips, getting a good even, WHITE coat. You'll know if you're rubbing it in to much if the color of your skin is still showing through. It's best to just dab it on until it's even.
  • Very Important -- let it dry for 10 minutes or so.
  • With the Red stick color, draw the outline of the mouth as you want it, and then go back and thicken up the line.
  • Also with the Red, fill in the area under your eyes.
  • Draw the teeth with black
    • Since your whole face is white, you draw the teeth by just giving them a black outline.
    • Really a random process, but basically you just draw little triangles all across the top and bottom
    • I made most of them to be around 1 or 1 1/2 times the length of the brush; some longer, some shorter.
    • Once you have the teeth outlined, draw a slight line across all of them to define them from the red a bit
    • Now just fill in all the area in between using the same brush.
    • It takes a steady hand, and a little time, but really much easier than it might look. 20 minutes + dry time for the white.
  • Use the black to do your top eyelids, and draw on eyebrows
  • I embellished the right eye a bit for whatever reason. Doing it again, I probably would have left that off. But just draw whatever you like.
In direct light, you can still see your lips. But once you get outside, or in a dimly lit room, they almost completely disappear with how dark the cream eyeliner is. Really a cool effect.

To attach the IV tubes, route them around yourself however you wish, and then tape them in place near the ends with any sort of medical tape. Then with spirit gum, or some other glue (I used Super Glue, but I'm also an idiot), stick the ends of the nails to your skin. If you can find some really good fake skin, cover the tips so they actually look stuck in. I couldn't find anything that worked well enough so just left them alone. Honestly, nobody is going to notice.

And that's it. Go scare some people!
Halloween Easy Costumes Challenge

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Halloween Easy Costumes Challenge