HOW TO MAKE A DIY SUPER FIRE MARIO INSPIRED COSTUME FOR $7!
HOW TO MAKE A DIY SUPER FIRE MARIO INSPIRED COSTUME FOR $7!
To say that he is obsessed with all things related to The Super Mario Brothers is an understatement.
If your kid is anything like mine, then you can definitely relate.
My 6 year-old-son, eats, sleeps, and breathes all things, Super Mario.
The boy wants to embody Super Mario as we all know him.
So it was no surprise when he mentioned that he wanted to be Super Fire Mario for Halloween,
again… 2 years in a row now, not kidding.
Frugal Over Fancy
Since I know that I cannot find a brand new Super Fire Mario Costume for anywhere close to $5 in
stores, I scoured Pinterest for any easy DIY tutorials to help me make an awesome costume for him to
wear while Trick or Treating.
I know that with some creativity, I can pull something together for my kiddo for a reasonable price.
I’m so glad to report that he loved it so much that he still wears it around the house while playing his
video games almost every day.
I am also glad that I decided to make it out of a thicker material instead of buying an overpriced flimsy
costume from the store.
*Side Note: When he was a wee little toddler, Angry Birds seemed to be his thing.
His love for Angry Birds was resurrected when we took him and his 4 year-old-sister out to the movie theaters
for the very first time last summer.
As a matter of fact, we used to collect all things Angry Birds for him so that we may redecorate his big boy’s
room for him one day.
But we have since, decided against that and went with Super Mario Brothers instead. Check that out here.
“Best. Day. Ever!” was their response when asked how their movie experience went.
But now, oh no, it’s Super Mario FTW (for the win)!
My son will come to a dead stop, drop whatever he is doing, and come blazing in into the room at full
speed just to catch a glimpse of his hero, Mario.
And like a moth to a flame, he can’t help but be lured by the siren’s call of that cheerful 8-bit music.
So when I asked the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween, naturally the only answer that
uttered from their little mouths were Super Mario and Baby Peach.
As if I even had to ask? Come On! RME (rolling my eyes)
This was shortly after we’ve discovered the old 80’s series episodes on Netflix, The Super Mario
Brothers Show, which prompted their decision, of course.
We normally allow each of our kids 30 minutes of screen time per day and a story each night before
bed. And naturally, my son would choose to watch The Super Mario Brothers Show each night.
He would watch a new episode each night until the entire series was finished.
I kid you not, it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r as we sat through it night after night. :/ So, it did not come as a
complete shock to me when he said wanted to be Super Mario for Halloween.
But when my daughter uttered the words Baby Peach, I was blown away.
Although she definitely has tomboy tendencies, she’s a girly girl, like her no fear outlook on life.
She’s quite the opinionated little lady who isn’t afraid to tell you what she likes and does not like.
Since she does not have a favorite character, she tends to be more random and generalized in her
choice of female characters.
I did not think she would be remotely interested in the limited amount of female characters that the
Super Mario Brothers series offered.
However, if I had to guess, I think she really wanted to share an interest with her brother since they
have been the best of friends and also the worst of enemies for as long as they’ve been alive.
Their sibling bond is just so sweet when they are not busy fighting with one another. ^_^
After my fun Halloween costumes conversation with the kids, I set out to shop online to see what I
could find. I was immediately blown away by the astronomical prices for these kids’ costumes.
Whoa! Seriously? That’s a whole lotta moolah!
However, I was lucky enough to find a whole ensemble of a Princess Peach costume that included the
crown, the dress, and the pinafore on clearance at the Birthday Express online store for just under
$7.83!
To get this price, I found an offer coupon in my email from the Birthday Express Store for an extra 33%
off all clearance merchandise promo. Then I stacked it with an extra 6% eBates click thru offer to boot!
Woohoo! What an awesome score!
The only problem was that it was 5 sizes too big and I needed a toddler-sized costume, not a big kid
costume. So, I went ahead and snagged it anyway hoping that maybe with some magic fairy dust and a
little ingenuity, I can fix that sucker up in a jiffy.
So instead of Baby Peach, we just told her that Baby Peach ate a mushroom and now she’s all grown up
and turns into Princess Peach. My daughter was satisfied with that story, so we left it at that, whew!
Alright!
So that took care of my daughter’s Baby Princess Peach costume request.
Check!
Next up on the list, Super Fire Mario!
But, I did not have any luck finding a Mario costume for my son that did not blow our budget out of
proportions. In no way was I going to be shelling out $29 + tax for something my kid was only going to
wear for a grand total of 3 hours of his life.
I just could not stomach being sucker punched in the wallet like that. So I decided to do the next best
thing I could think of. I was bound and determined to make his costume for under $5!
That’s crazy, I know, but I’m cheap like that and dammit I will make this work!
Since I am an introvert, I tend to shy away from people.
But I do love me a good DIY project and I never seem to shy away from creating something with my
own two hands for much cheaper than I am willing to pay for it.
So naturally, I consulted good ol’ Pinterest for some ideas and omigoodness did it ever deliver!
I love me some Pinterest! Don’t you? Lol
Inspirational Image: http://i.imgur.com/OEsP9Bj.png
(I did a Google search to find out exactly how to replicate Super Fire Mario to finally appease my son’s obsession. And this was the picture that I ended up using for my DIY inspiration costume.)
I did a quick search for DIY Super Mario Costumes on Pinterest and gleaned thru all the results that
came up. After some careful consideration, I chose a handful of what I believed to be the best most
thoroughly explained tutorials that I can execute without pulling out my already sparse hairs.
Here are some of the best sources of inspiration I have used for creating my son’s Super Mario Costume.
Without these tutorials, I would still be scratching my head in frustration trying to figure out where to begin.
These ladies gave me the inspiration and the confidence that I needed to actually do this on my own.
So without further ado, please check them out for yourself if you are thinking about creating your very
own version of a Super Mario costume for your kid and tell me what you think.
For more detailed instructions, click on the links below:
Tutorial For the Overalls: http://smashedpeasandcarrots.com/how-to-make-mario-and-luigi-costumes-tutorial/
(With these tutorials, I was able to create the exact look that I wanted for my son’s costume and it turned out beautifully.:) )
Tutorial For the Hat: http://www.fleetingthing.com/?projects=super-mario-hat-pattern-and-tutorial
For full instructions and tutorials on how to create your very own version of this DIY Super Mario Hat and Costume, be sure to click thru to the links in this blog post.
Download Pattern for Hat Here:
http://www.fleetingthing.com/downloads/Mario_Hat_pattern.pdf
Just in case you were wondering about the costs, I have included a break down of the price for each
item.
Here is a list of materials that I used to create my son’s Super Mario Costume.
List of Materials for Super Mario Costume:
- Boys Long Sleeve White Thermal undershirt size 4-5T (already had in the closet as a gift from his Grandma a couple years ago) Here is a similar one, if you do not happen to have one available on hand. These are pretty cheap and readily available to pick up anywhere, usually under $4.
- Kids White knit gloves (also already had in the closet as a gift from his Grandma) Theses are also easy to find and generally can be found for about $1.
- Black sheet of felt for Mario’s mustache ($1.07 with tax for a 10 pack @ The Dollar Tree)
- 2 sheets of white felt (24”x24,” $1.07 with tax or $0.50 each at Joann Fabrics)
- 1.5 yards of red felt material for overall pants ($1.59 with tax, on sale for $0.99 a yard @ Joann Fabrics)
- 1 comfortable pair of pants, (preferably jeans that fit your kid perfectly so that it does not expand or contract too much when you are cutting around it.) We already had a pair on hand, so no need to buy one.
- About 1/2 yard of white elastic ¾’ thick to sew onto the back of mustache, this goes around the child’s head above the nose and ears to hold up the mustache (already had on hand)
- 1 good pair of sharp fabric scissors (already have on hand)
- Sewing machine with zigzag pattern (already have on hand)
- Your choice of color for thread spool & bobbins, I used white and red for my son
(already have these on hand in my sewing kit)
- 2 big yellow buttons ($2.43 with 40% off coupon and tax)
- Light-up Fireball from Target ($1.06 with tax)
Total: $7.23 ($2.23 over budget, not too shabby for a DIY project)
*Note: I realized I needed extra fabric than the tutorial called for because:
- I purposely made it kind of big so that the waist and the hem can be let out if he had a sudden growth spurt, or
- If you want to stuff a small pillow under the shirt to give Mario his trademark look as though he had 1 too many plates of spaghetti.
- Because I am a figure-it-out-as-I-go, beginner-sewist, who-makes-a-lot-of-mistakes. So please, take that into consideration as you may or may not attempt this yourself.
Want more DIY costume ideas to make for your kids? Try this one.
So now that Halloween is over, I wonder what the next craze will be.
Stay tuned for that adventure…
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