We bought a 12 Foot Skeleton from Home Depot for Halloween. His name is “Big Kevin” because we have a regular size skeleton named “Kevin.” At Halloween, he’s good as he is… naked… and skeletal.
Buy what about other holidays? What about Thanksgiving?!!
Here’s an overview, some notes, and pictures of the materials and process we used to make a pilgrim costume for our Skeleton.
Materials and Setup
To build the costume, I constructed it ON the skeleton in the front yard. It wasn’t too windy and it was nice out, probably about 50 degrees F.
“Fabric”: The key to this build is the Plastic Table Clothes from Party City. They have almost any color you would like, so I’ll be going back for the Christmas Costume. The best part is they are about $1.50 a piece (or 4 for $5). I bought too many to have options and spent maybe $7. I believe they are about 8ft x 4ft.
Duct Tape: Our Ace Hardware has about every color of duct tape for some reason… maybe for skeleton costumes. It’s sticky and waterproof. You can also get this at the Amazon.
Reflectix: We had this around from our van projects. You can buy it at Menards or Amazon. It’s waterproof, reasonably rigid, flexible, lightweight, and tape sticks to it. It’s a bubble wrap cover with an aluminum foil used for insulation. I highly recommend it. You’ll see pictures of it below when we’re making the hat. We ultimately used it to make the buckles as well.
Skeleton and Process of Crafting the Costume:
- I left the skeleton assembled and standing in my front yard
- I built the costume around him.
- I did NOT build the costume then get him dressed.
Here’s the order of assembly with colors, extra materials, and notes:
- Lower Left Leg – Ankle to knee: White
- Lower Right Leg – Ankle to Knee: White
- Upper Left Leg – Knee to Hip: Black
- Start hanging down overlapping with the White.
- Flip up when it’s secured.
- This gives a nice seam.
- Upper Right Leg – Knee to Hip: Black
- Pelvis – Diaper – Black
- Start at the front belt line
- Wrap under and up
- Secure with Tape.
- Lower Left Arm – Wrist to Elbow: White
- Upper Left Arm – Elbow to Shoulder: Black
- Use same approach as the upper leg to give nice seam.
- Lower Right Arm – Wrist to Elbow: White
- Upper right Arm – Elbow to shoulder: Black
- Back of Chest Cavity: Black
- Front of Chest Cavity: Black
- Do the front last so seams are in the back.
- Collar – 1 piece with Hole for neck: White
- Cut to the width of the shoulders in a circle
- Guessed on the size of the circle for neck. Start small you can always go bigger.
- The open V in front is edged with white duct tape to make it more rigid.
- Secure with loops of duct tape to stop it from blowing around.
- Belt Buckle – Gold on cardboard with White Belt
- Update: We’ve replaced the original Belt Buckle. It was too cowboy big and heavy.
- Replaced with Reflectix wrapped with Gold.
- Hat: Black around Reflectix with White Belt and Gold Buckle
Questions? If you have questions, leave them in the comments and I’ll update the post with the answers.
Costume Assembly Pictures:
12 Foot Skeleton Support Groups I frequent:
Reaction from our friends and neighbors?
All we hear is the good. We’ve had lots of people slow down and take pictures. People walk up with their families and take photos. It’s awesome. One of my friends liked the subliminal meaning behind a Pilgrim Skeleton because the Pilgrims brought death to the Native Americans and Indigenous People. I didn’t aim for that, but I’m also cool with it having a meaning for her.