A Practical Pair: Jack-in-the-Box Toddler Costume

I love a good pun. I think they are fantastic, so I incorporated one into my son's Halloween costume. I decided he was going to be a Jackson-in-a-Box. I searched for tutorials on making a homemade costume (I didn't want to shell out $20 for a costume the kid may or may not wear), but if course I couldn't find one so I made one in hopes it may assist another mama one day. I did base this costume from this costume I found, but the original blog is private.

Keep reading for my "How To" on the hat, neck bunting, and box for $7!

The #1 thing when picking a baby/toddler costume is comfort. No child likes itchy or constraining outfits no matter how "cute" mom thinks it is. So, I wanted to build a cute costume off of jeans and a shirt, things he always wears.

Hat Process

I sewed a simple Harley Quin hat based on this lovely Fleece Jester Hat Tutorial from The Alchymyst's Study. I did it during a movie, and took nearly the whole time (mainly because I made a mistake which took a while to fix. Whoops! )

1. Measure head, cut pieces, sew together as directed in The Alchymyst's Study. See the fully sewn "tube" wrapped around the baby wipe box?

2. This triangle tips were tricky for me; I ended up re-sewing and cutting again to make them steeper so my kid wouldn't look like a wolf. Haha. Figure out what works for you.

3. This is the part I messed up on, read the instructions carefully (or perhaps employ more common sense than I did).
A: To make the folded brim "pretty", you must cut off about 6" of your hat-cylinder.
B: Next, you must invert your cut piece and re-sew it. For whatever reason, I flipped something wrong and had to take out my stitches and try again. My seams don't add up perfectly after I re-attached the piece, but it's not a huge deal. Only the sewer would notice =P

4. The tutorial suggests to sew the folded brim in place. I didn't have time to do this, but I recommend it. Especially if the hat is going to go on-off-on-off-on-off all evening ;)

Neck Bunting

(Is there a better term for this? Clown Necklace, Triangles on a String?)

1. Cut triangles out of felt.

2. Punch holes in triangle corners with a hole punch (this made my hand sore...but it worked)

3. String triangles onto thin 1cm x 20-25in strip of leftover fleece, or perhaps yarn, from hat. I chose fleece so I could tie and untie it quickly and easily.

4. Hot glue little "pom-poms" onto the tips of the triangles. This looks cute and keeps the triangles from flapping up. I don't have a picture of this in progress, but it is shown on the completed project.

Jack-in-the-BOX

1. Find a suitable box. I used one that was small enough to stay on Jackson's hips. If you prefer the illusion of a larger box, you'll need some straps to hold it up.

2. Paint your box!

3. Get creative with the 4 faces! I used a clown face, two sides of diamonds, and a shapes side. I used construction paper to make my pieces and hot-glued them to the painted box. I love the hot glue gun.