Pirate Ship

What you need:

Black Garbage bags

Blue recycling bags

Large box

Duct tape

Black

Skull and crossbones

Glue gun and glue

White Foam skull decals

Orange foam roll (orange)

Foam squares (yellow, red, blue)

Broom handle

Wire hangers

Pirate flag (or pirate skullcap hat)

Black fabric

Pipe cleaners

Letter decals

Assemby:

Living in Canada, making a Halloween costume that is waterproof is very important. As expected, there was rain on Halloween night and the costume held up great. Looking for materials that could stand up against the rain and still pop with colour. Foam became my new best friend, it was bright, easy to cut and manipulate and could get wet. You can cut it, glue it, colour it.

We found a box that fit over the entire wheelchair and cut out a hole to fit over the seat, with space enough to sit. Covering the wheels meant that my son couldn't move himself, but at the time he didn't show any interest. The box rested on the armrests and sat just above the ground. It stayed in place without anything to strap it in. Cut open up the garbage bags and position the bag so that the top hangs along the bottom of the box. Tape the bags in place along the cut-out hole, we used skull and cross-bone duct tape to hold it in place (duct tape does have latex in it). I also used tape or glue the garbage bags down along the bottom.

I bunched up blue recycling bags up and glue them along the bottom of the box (so that it looks like waves). I used foam to decorate the boat. With a foam roll cut into the shape of the railings, and port holes as well as a skull and crossbones foam decal. I used glue to stick everything onto sides and front. I overlapped the railing so that it sits partly above the box.

With the foam I also cut out a captain's wheel, anchor from foam. I traced and cut out the design first and then outlined it in permanent marker. We had a treasure chest lunch box, so I got fake jewels from the dollar store (and an odd crown or so) and filled the lunch box. To complete the costume we also had a stuffed parrot and a sword.

For a name I added some stick-on letters. The Jolly Wheeler.

For the flag and mast I used a broom stick for the mast. When I first started making the flag we only had a pirate skull-cap I got from the dollar store, but by Halloween we had an actual pirate flag.  It was important for the flag to be ‘flying’ and not just hanging limp, so I used cardboard in the cap to hold it up, and then glued the cap together. 

I cut black fabric for the sails. I cut a hole in the middle so it will fit over the broom handle. The coat hangers, taped in upside down (with the hanger part cut off) held the fabric in place. 

The flag and past sat up against the back of the wheelchair, with a loop made from pipe cleaner that was taped into place.

My son preferred his walker for smaller areas, so I wanted a wheelchair and a walker costume. A lot of the extras from the wheelchair could be moved over and onto the walker ‘ship’. For the walker I cut up a cardboard box. I cut the bottom off of the box, and one end, then I cut a hole in the top of the box, leaving a slight edge. Then covered with black garbage bags, using tape and glue to keep it down. The front of the walker is left open for movement.

To keep the box in place over the walker I cut a line in the centre of the back to hold the lunch bag in place over the back. Using pipe cleaner, and tape I held it in place along the back of the handle and over the front wheels.

I cut out similar shapes to the wheelchair in foam to decorate. The anchor, captain wheel, flag and mast and treasure chest all moved from the wheelchair. I created a spy-glass from a paper towel roll and covered in construction paper. For water we cut up the blue recycling bags.

The Jolly Walker had a little loop from pipe-cleaners to hold the sword and also to help to keep the mast in place.

Wow, thanks for the thorough instructions Amanda! These costumes are great.