Wild Thing Headpiece

For Halloween in 2007, my kids were characters from the book "Where the Wild Things Are."

The headpiece for the Wild Thing provided some interesting challenges. I wanted it to be at least recognizable as the character in the book, and be light enough for my four-year-old to wear comfortably. It turned out fairly well, and was very popular around the neighborhood.

We all love the book. I hope this inspires a few people to make their own Wild Things costumes!

Step 1 Create a base to work from

I started by cutting out a round piece of single-ply cardboard about 15 inches in diameter. I measured my son's head from front to back, and drew an inner circle slightly bigger in diameter than my boy's head.

Comments

[cwiley4]

Thanks for the instruction!
I modified your instructions and blogged it here(in case you want to check out the other photos):
http://cassihousecat.blogspot.com/2011/11/great-halloween-debacle.html
WARNING: the post is heinously long.

I credited your Instructable and linked back here.

Peace!

[erinogrady]

This year was amazing, thanks to your fantastic directions! We all thank you so much! <3.

[seamster]

Wow, those turned out great! Have you considered posting an instructable to share some of the details on how you made all of these? There are a lot of people that would appreciate seeing the details on how you made these costumes.

Thanks a bunch for the photos! Totally made my day.

[erinogrady]

I SHOULD!! I spend like 2 months & lots of trips to this page figuring out how to make them work. I am really happy w/ the outcome! Thanks so much for the kind words! *You* just made *my* day!! I make lots of little crafts and really do need to take the time to put them up here. <3

[seamster]

Yes indeed. Just be careful, it can become addicting!

[maker.mama10]

I wouldn't have known where to start without your Instructable! Thanks so much!

[seamster]

Looks very nice! One of my favorites so far. Well done!

[maker.mama10]

Aww, thanks! I blogged a little about some of the alterations + made a materials/price list if anyone is interested. Thanks again!

http://nightgardendesign.blogspot.com/2011/11/pinterest-challenge.html

[allyallybobally]

I finally finished it! Thank you for the great instructions!!! :)

[seamster]

Looks great! I just got back from a night out begging for candy with my kids... and now that they're all in bed, I get to steal some of their candy!

One of the perks of being dad, I guess. Thanks for the photos!

[Andib]

Hi! I just wanted to say thanks for your instructable. I finally have posted one of my own, because of yours. And here is the photo of what I created from it. Thanks for such great info.

[seamster]

Looks very nice! With a full-body costume to boot. Well done!

[kogrady]

Thank you so much for your detailed instruction. I went off road because of the time but all went well tonight. Thank you again.

p.s. I sacrificed my broad rimmed gardening hat (with chin string) affixing rounded cardboard on either side of the brim for support and built off that. Yes, I began this project at 11 p.m. last night and that is all I could come up with.

[seamster]

Looks great!

[allyallybobally]

I found this while making my son's max costume and decided I had to make this too... but I'm stuck on the hair in the back. I know you made this a long time ago but I just need to know if you attached the hanging hair to the lower jaw or just let it hang.

[seamster]

Yes, the hanging hair flaps that are showing on either side of the upper jaw area were glued down to the lower jaw piece (the piece I describe making in step 7). This left about 6 inches or so in the middle of the lower jaw/chin piece where I needed to piece in a section of fake fur to finish it off. I hope that helps!

[speltbaker]

I made this costume for my kid when you first put it on Instructables.

Somehow, we have found a way to bring it of storage with the least provocation! People ask to wear it. SOooo many people have worn this just to try it on. Everyone loves it. The costume designer at our school just stared at it in awe! This is one of my all time favorite Instructables. Thank you so much...

[seamster]

Well, thank you! This was a fun project. I'm glad you liked it and were able to make your own. (No photo? I love seeing other people's photos. You ought to post one, just to humor me.)

[seamster]

Oh wait, you already did! I should've checked first...

[snowdrps]

I wanted to say thank you I was able to create the three monsters for our dance groupes production. Thank you.

[seamster]

Awesome! Glad I could help out a little. Thank you for the photos!

[J-Five]

it looks like my uncle

[angelabchua]

So as promised, I wore your costume project to our Instructables Show and Tell event and everyone LOVED it and immediately recognized your i'ble.

It made the front rotators on our new "Letters from the Editor" and i've attached a pic below. Thanks again for creating an awesome costume and sharing!

[queenofruitloops]

I used your tutorial to create the headpiece my boyfriend wore for a 'after halloween' costume party! It turned out so great! We tweaked it a little bit and hot glued everything instead of sewed, but it was a lot more convenient for me. Thanks for the tutorial! :-D

[seamster]

Once again, hot glue to the rescue!

Thank you for sharing your photo. The costumes look great!

[sharona789]

This was awesome. It was so easy to follow your directions. The Max costume I had made last year, so Carol was an obvious choice for a partner this year. We won a costume contest among over 1,000 people and had gotten so many positive comments throughout the night. Thanks!

[seamster]

Congrats on the win! That's just awesome!

..And thank you for taking the time to post the photo and let me know how it went!

[Kaylin_is_Awesome]

I was having trouble deciding what I wanted to be this year but I saw this and KNEW me and my boyfriend were totally gonna be max and carol/moishe. If it werent for you we would have been stuck in a lurch. You TOTALLY werent lying when you said the head shape was the hardest part. I wanted to die! You are the best of the BEST!

[seamster]

Thank you! Those look like they turned out great. Thanks for posting the photo!

[angelabchua]

Soooo I just wanted to let you know... That before i started working here, I was a long time user of the site, but it was YOUR i'ble that prompted me to actually make something.... your my first!

So in honor of that, I am going to be wearing my headpiece to the Instructables Show and Tell Party in our HQ this weekend! Pics to come!

Just wanted to you to know... THANKS!

[seamster]

That's awesome!

You're my new favorite instructables staff person!

[angelabchua]

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS I'm going to rub that into Scoochmaroo's face.... amongst others here in the Lab!

Happy Halloween!

[seamster]

So I take it she's the mean popular girl at instructables?? ...and that there are some bitter rivalries at HQ! That is awesome!

Do you guys ever get in fist fights over who gets to use the "nice" sewing machine?

[angelabchua]

We braul daily. Hair pulling, throwing heavy blunt objects, and lots of name calling. Ya know... just the normal stuff ;)

[mary candy]

I loved this film,, I saw it last week.
All the costumes are amazing.

[cosmobuehler]

Thank you so much for the instructions and I'm so glad that other people shared their 'bag of tricks". I still have the lower jaw to do and the sea noodle idea is just what I needed. I couldn't figure out how to get the jaw to stick out using pillow stuffing so I'm hoping this will do the trick. I'll fine tune it some more once I get the jaw done and attached. After I finish this one, I'm going to make the Wild Thing with long red hair. I found the perfect thick hair like yarn at Joann's today. My kids will have the coolest costumes this year!

[seamster]

You are very welcome!

This is looking awesome. Keep to it, and your kids will have a Halloween they won't forget. Thanks for posting the photo!

[mr_reese]

Here's my son in costume. He puts it on every night now.
Thanks again!

[jiggsjazz]

This costume is awesome! Would you be willing to sell this? let me know. I would love to have this for my 5 year old son this halloween.

[mr_reese]

Thanks for the compliment! The problem with selling it is that it was made for my 7 yr old son who's closer to the size of a 10 yr old. So I'm sure it would be a little big and the head a bit heavy to carry around. I'd be willing to make one if you really like it provided the price is right.