Introduction: Thanksgiving Dinner Costume

About: ♥ video games, snacky goods, and guinea pigs. They are the best.

This costume was put together for a holiday costume contest at a local race and was a big hit!

It took a couple of weeks to put together. It's not hard, but takes awhile due to the glue needing to dry between steps.

Structure Materials:
 2 x 30" by 15" foam core
Tacky Glue
2 rolls of White Duct Tape
Scissors

Essential Elements:
Turkey hat
Plastic plate
Silverware
Tablecloth

Decorative Elements (optional, feel free to substitute with whatever suits your fancy!)
Fake food
Plastic glass
Candle holders
Candles
Decorative leaves and fruit
Cloth napkin
Place mat

Many of these elements can be found at thrift stores for cheap!

One thing to keep in mind for the table ware is that you want light items. Weighty silverware will make your table quite heavy! Also, plastic is preferred over glass in case something comes loose and falls off.



Step 1: Build the Base

Measure your head and cut out a head-sized piece out of one of the pieces of foam core. You can eyeball this; I used a pencil to mark on the foam core, cut out a circle, and then enlarged the hole until I could fit my head through. The circle I cut out was about 5" from the back edge of the table.  This process can get a little messy but it's easy cleanup with a vacuum.

Once you have the right size, place the foam core with the circle on top of the other, draw a circle in the other piece, and then cut out that circle.

Now that you have the head holes ready, place one piece of foam core over the corner and duct tape the entire thing. This will secure the two pieces together, and make the piece water- resistant (maybe not a concern if you're staying indoors.)

Tablecloths
I found a white tablecloth at a thrift store, and then found a colorful pumpkin tablecloth at a fabric store. You only need one tablecloth, but I felt the pumpkin tablecloth added some nice color.

Put tacky glue around the edge of the foam core and place the tablecloth on top, pressing down hard. You want lots of glue to keep that tablecloth down!

Allow to dry overnight.

If you're doing another tablecloth on top, repeat the process of putting down lots of tacky glue and then allowing to dry overnight.



Step 2: Finishing the Basics

Now that everything's dry, take scissors and, where the tablecloth is covering the circle, cut the tablecloth into triangles.

Tape the fabric corners underneath with duct tape.

Step 3: Adding Details

Now for the fun stuff! Get that tacky glue ready!

Table Setting
Glue the place mat near the other end of the table, away from your head.

Glue the cloth napkin on top of the place mat on the left side, making sure to leave enough room for silverware and the plate.

Glue the plate to the right of your cloth napkin, near the center of the table.

Glue the fork(s) on top of the cloth napkin, to the left of the plate.

Glue the knife and spoon to the right of the plate.

Glue the plastic glass between your head and the plate. I put mine to one side so that I could see more easily.

Everything Else
Add any decorative items, except for the food. We'll want to give the plate a chance to dry first before adding those items.

I used candle holders found at a thrift shop. The bigger the base of the candle holder the better as that means more surface area for the glue to hold.

Around the back of the table around my head, I purchased some sprigs of leaves and fruit from a fabric store. These are great because they are so light and add sophistication to the table.

Allow everything to dry overnight.


Step 4: Food

I ordered my fake food online.  The pieces I purchased ranged from $4-7.  If you're in a time crunch (like I was), make sure to check if the food will be immediately shipped or if they have to create it first before shipping.

Some of the fake wine glasses looked awfully cool, but I wondering how heavy they would be and they seemed to run around $20, which was a little out of my price range. If someone tries this I would love to know how it turns out!

The food items for my Thanksgiving spread:
- Carrots
- Green Beans
- Mashed Potatoes with Gravy
- Corn
- Dinner Rolls

I didn't add the carrots because they looked well, fake, but everything else looked great.

If you are planning on doing a lot of moving around (like I did in a race), I would not suggest the corn. Because there wasn't a flat surface area, it became unglued during the race. The corn did add a nice element to the plate though.

Allow everything to dry overnight.

Step 5: Enjoy Being a Thanksgiving Dinner!

When putting on the costume, carefully put the table over your head, and then add the turkey hat.

Happy Thanksgiving!