Quick and Easy Last Minute Taxi Costume

I was given last minute notice that my 4 year old son needed a transportation themed costume for his Pre-K class last Friday. I decided that I would recycle one of the 10 million old boxes we have stacked up in our garage. (We never throw ANYTHING away) First thought was to make a fire truck but my son is partial to the color yellow. He loves anything yellow. So a yellow fire truck was out. The only things transportation themed I could think of that are typically yellow were school bus, taxi and a submarine. We went with a taxi. Here's a material list:

1 box  (big enough to fit around your little one's waist and still have room for a hood and windshield)
1 bottle of yellow acrylic paint
1 can or spray primer (white)
1 can of black spray paint
1 sheet of 400 grit sand paper
1 18" x 18" EVA foam mat
1 Black Sharpie
1 Silver Sharpie paint pen (silver)
1 pack of large "Wiggle" eyes (.99 cents @ Michaels)
1 pair of Mork from Ork suspenders (you can use string or para cord if you do not have suspenders)
Hot glue and glue gun

Sorry I did not think about taking step by step pictures. I was about 95% complete before I thought about making this into an instructable.

First thing I did was hot glue the box's bottom together so it didn't need packing tape to stay together. Next I tucked all four of the top flaps in and hot glued them to the inner walls of the box. This adds some structural integrity. Use a sharpie to draw a oval in the top big enough so the car fits comfortably around your kids waist. Use the scrap from the oval to create the windshield. Once that wis complete and dried (hot glue dries fast) I took it outside to give it two full coats of spray on primer. Go play some Skyrim while that dries. Maybe about an hour or so. After drying, I gave it a quick once over with the sand paper, sanding gently. Gave it a quick hose down with the air compressor to get the dust off and I applied the first coat of the yellow acrylic paint. Making sure to leave the windshield white with just a frame of about 1 inch of yellow. Wait about 30 minutes between coats.

The wheels. I used an old CD as a template and drew the wheel shapes on the foam mat with a sharpie. Use a pair of scissors to cut them out and spray them with the black spray paint. Alternatively you can use the black sharpie to color them black if you have 10 thousand years to spare and no black spray paint. Let that dry, maybe about 45 minutes.

Go back to you taxi, time for the second coat. When this dries you can start  with the details. Use the black sharpie for this. I kinda looked at one of the cars from the movie Cars. Lightning McQueen. I shaped the eyes out looking at a picture of him. Draw taxi and checkerboard details on each side. I also drew in  tail lights and a plate with his name on it. On the front you can pretty much put any kind of mouth you want, I made this taxi smile. Smiling is my favorite.

Not that your tires are dry use the sharpie paint pen to draw in the wheels. Just smaller circles. and let that dry and add the lug nuts with a black sharpie. Add hot glue to the back of the wheels and stick them to your taxi.

Not for the odd and ends. I created 4 "L" shaped pieces to attached the suspenders and hot glued them to the underside of the car. and added apiece of scrap foam under the bottom to add a little support. Glue the "Wiggle" eyes where ever you see fit.

This complete project took me about 3 hours with about an hour of actual work. Great way to use some old things around the house. My son really likes this thing, he sleeps with it beside his bed.