Awesome Ghostbuster With Proton Pack, Slimer, Ecto-1, and Ghost-Trap Bag

Who you gonna call?? Ghostbuster Livi, of course! We love Ghostbusters (old and new movies & cartoons), and my daughter was so excited about the new Ghostbusters movie featuring women. She left the theater feeling like she could be a Ghostbuster too! So she decided she wanted to be a Ghostbuster, and we felt that every Ghostbuster must have a proton pack, Ecto-1, and that pesky ghost Slimer! Her Dad made the proton pack, Slimer, and Ecto-1 parts of her costume, and is in the process of completing her Ghost trap candy bag. Happy Halloween!!!!

Step 1: Step 1 Slimer

Slimer: The Slimer part of Livi's costume was created from crack & seal expandable foam, including the tongue and teeth. Livi's Dad (Luke) sprayed a large ball of expandable foam onto a wooden dowel. After creating a large enough ball of foam (this was an ongoing process as he created the entire Slimer), he carved the body and facial features. The arms and hands were made using wire hangers, expandable foam, and gloves filled with foam. They were attached to the body, expandable foam added (as needed) and carved into the correct shape. The teeth are small pieces of shaped foam, and the tongue was a longer carved piece of foam. When the Slimer face an body were complete, Luke painted the body green, the mouth pink and black, the teeth white, and the eyes yellow and red. The end result was an absolutely awesome Slimer!! We attached the Slimer to the top of the Ecto-1 for trick or treating.

Step 2:

Proton Pack: Every Ghostbuster must have a proton pack! Livi's Dad made the proton pack out of cardboard, plastic, wires, rainbow cable ribbon, stickers, a calculator, random switches & knobs, hose, wood, pipe, and batteries. He created silly (and maybe appropriate) labels that list some of what it can do, but also warns to "stay back". There are working lights in the gun (3, LED), as well as blue lights and red lights on the back of the proton pack.

We also sewed a "Livi" Ghostbuster patch onto her uniform, and attached a Ghostbuster work ID.

Step 3:

You gotta have a ride! The Ecto-1 was made from cardboard and lots and lots of layers of paper mache. When the basic car body shape was done and the millions of layers of paper mache dried, Luke spray painted the car white and red, with black windows. He used silver foil paper, stickers, and foamboard on the car, as well as the bumpers and license plates. The top of the car has a wood frame that holds various painted cans, cardboard boxes, lights, batteries, a megaphone made from poster board, and a spool of wire. The lights on the top of the Ecto-1 work (one spins) and will be used when we go trick or treating. We also plan to bring a radio and play the Ghostbuster's theme song as we walk around our neighborhood. Halloween is our favorite holiday! We love making Livi's favorite characters and imagination come alive!!

Step 4:

Ghost trap candy bag: Give me candy!!! Well, we are just now finishing this project, but it will be cool when it is complete tonight! We took a standard goody bag that has a long, straight handle, skeleton hand, and hanging back. We cut off the skeleton fingers and shaped a cardboard box around the opening of the hand/bag. We will decorate the box with foamboard and paint to look like the Ghostbuster Ghost trap, leaving the two flaps open so that Livi gets her candy!