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Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume Tutorial

Can you guess this year's PUNNY Halloween costume? It's a real knee-slapper! The full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume is over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

First, there were The Black Eyed Ps.

Then, there was When Life Gives You Lemons….  And his friend, Blessing in Disguise.

No, I’m not talking about chart-topping hip hop groups or cliché phrases!  I’m talking about our punny Halloween costumes from the last two years, which you may recall.

Of course, the word-play tradition just had to continue, and I’m ecstatic to reveal this year’s punny Halloween costume to you today…and it’s just as groan-worthy as its predecessors!

Are you ready to guess?  Remember, this is visual irony here…so we’re emulating the literal interpretation of the word.  And yes, it is one word we are representing this time.  That’s your only hint!  (Plus, the post title, which I know you are intentionally ignoring right now.)  Okay, here ya go:

Can you guess the pun in this PUNNY Halloween costume? | The knee-slapper of an answer to this visual word-play and the full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

Any guesses?

No?

Well, why don’t we not only show you the front…but the back, too.

Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples | Full tutorial and FREE Silhouette cut file for creating your own punny, word-play costume for Halloween this year; perfect for a couple or dynamic duo! Guaranteed to get a laugh or at least a groan at your Halloween party!

Get it?!  #Hashtag!  {Yuk, yuk.}

I know, I know – – we had way too much “pun” with this one.

So, where in the world did we come up with the idea for this year’s silly punny Halloween costume for 2?

Our Punspiration

Well, I wish I could take credit for this brilliance…but I was inspired by this Sunny Anderson T-Shirt graphic that landed in my Pinterest feed one day.  I think it was back in January, but I knew right away that this would be our Halloween costume for 2014.  It was just too punny not to bring to life!

(Plus – – I’m kinda sorta obsessed with #hashtags anyway, so it seemed fitting.)

Our Punny Halloween Costume inspiration: #Hashtag!
Inspired by Sunny Anderson’s #Hashtag T-Shirt

{If you still don’t know what hashtags are or how they work in social media, don’t be embarrassed.  I had to have my theatre students explain it to me a few years ago.  Here’s a helpful video you can watch.}

Now, how did I actually create these costumes?  Well, pretty easily, in fact!

So, if you and a buddy want to dress up as two life-size hash brown patties playing tag for Halloween this year while simultaneously wowing everyone with your social media savvy, well, then, here’s the step-by-step tutorial.

Tutorial

Step 1.  Gather your supplies.  There are many ways to create a human hash brown costume…although none that I could find through Google images!  So, improvising we did.  Here’s what I used to create our hash browns:

Supplies to create your Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples!

ASIDE: I decided to go the poster-board route with this project; however if you have the patience and time, I think a much more durable route would be to create this costume out of felt!  Just be aware that if you work with poster board like I did, you’ll need help to get in and out of them, and you’ll be standing (not sitting) while wearing them.  But the pun is worth it, my friends!

Step 2.  Create your “Hash Brown” & “#Hashtag” labels.  I knew I wanted to use my trusty dusty Silhouette machine to create some professional looking labels for our costume…but without any brown vinyl on hand, I had to get a little creative.  Hence the white vinyl on brown poster board combo!

I used my favorite FREE font site to download some fonts akin to those in my inspiration graphic (Dunkin & TrashHand) and sized my designs so they would fit across the width of one poster board.  If you didn’t have a digital craft-cutter at home, you could easily do the same in Microsoft Word and just print them out and piece them together.

Free Cut File

For those of you who do have the Silhouette Studio software and want me to save you some time, you can download my cut file of the text fo’ FREE using the nifty form below or by clicking HERE. {Fine print: this design is for personal use only and is not to be used for commercial purposes. Thanks!}

FREE Silhouette Studio Cut File: Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume | Full tutorial for how to create your own punny, word-play costume for Halloween this year; perfect for a couple or dynamic duo! Guaranteed to get a laugh or at least a groan.

Step 3.  Prepare to cut your vinyl.  Because my designs were both well over 12″ wide, I had to ROTATE the design by 90 degrees and line them up on the left edge, one at a time.

You’ll note in the screenshot below that I’m using custom cut settings instead of the standard for vinyl.  That’s because I have learned my lesson to always run a test-cut, so as to save myself from ruining perfectly good media.  Perhaps my blade is a bit dull because I needed to increase my media thickness to 33 in order to achieve that perfect “kiss cut” you strive for with vinyl.

Preparing to cut my #Hashtag & Hash Brown designs on my Silhouette machine.

I also set up my Silhouette machine with my new roll-feeder since this text was fairly long, and I knew my roll would otherwise be dancing all over the place!

{To read my full review of the roll-feeder, click HERE.}

NEW Silhouette Roll-Feeder attached to my Cameo.

Step 4.  Cut your design.  After selecting “load media” and feeding my white matte vinyl under the rollers, I hit the “cut” button and watched my machine work its magic!  I repeated this twice for each of the two text designs.

{Obviously, if you have brown vinyl in your possession or another color you prefer, you can simplify this process by just cutting it out on the darker vinyl and applying it directly to the white poster board.}

Silhouette Cameo at work cutting the vinyl for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples! via thinkingcloset.com

Step 5.  Weed your design.  Next came one of my favorite steps: weeding out the unwanted parts of the vinyl and leaving the rest.  My hook tool makes this step a breeze.

Weeding out the design for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Step 6.  Transfer your vinyl to transfer paper.  Then, I cut out a piece of transfer paper to just barely exceed the longest and widest part of my design and used my scraper tool to smooth it out atop the vinyl.  Once it was good and stuck, I peeled the transfer paper up and grabbed the vinyl lettering along with it.

Applying transfer paper to the vinyl design for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Step 7.  Transfer your vinyl to the poster board and cut out the final design.  Then, I simply applied the transfer-tape-and-vinyl-combo face down onto the brown poster board, not worrying at all about orientation.  I used my scraper tool to work from the inside of the design–out, and removed my transfer tape once I was assured the vinyl was good and stuck.

Applying the vinyl to the brown poster board for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Then, I used my scissors to cut out the design.  I chose to cut off the outer white strips, but you could leave them!  For the #HASHTAG oval, I simply eyed the border as I cut around it.

Cutting out the vinyl labels for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

I was able to re-use the same transfer tape on all four pieces of text!  Then, I set them aside temporarily while I took care of the next steps.

All 4 completed vinyl labels for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Step 8.  Cut out your hash brown and sleeve.  After studying up on the shape of hash browns on Google images, I traced a rough outline on the end of one of my yellow poster boards and sketched a rough sleeve to match.  Then, I used a chip bag clip to draw the two long ends of the yellow poster board together as I followed one set of my sketch lines (that way, it’d be somewhat symmetrical).

Cutting out the hash brown shape for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

I did the same for the sleeve, but rather than curling the ends together, I simply folded over the cut-out when I got halfway across.

Cutting out the hash brown sleeve shape for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

I repeated the process with my second set of posters.

{ASIDE: Make sure the poster boards will fit around you before trimming.  I was a little worried about actually getting this over my head and hips, but with some wiggling and stretchy jeans, we made it!  You could orient them horizontally instead of vertically if needed…or have them more as sandwich board style instead of a completed sleeve.}

Step 9.  Glue your hash brown to the sleeve.  Then, I went outside with my 2 hash browns and 2 front sleeves and used spray adhesive to connect them to one another.  I used one of my extra white poster boards to cover the sticky bottom portion of the sleeve that the hash brown piece didn’t cover.

My adhesive of choice: Elmer's Spray Adhesive via thinkingcloset.com

Step 10.  Connect the front sleeve to the back.  Then, I connected the front sleeve & hash brown (now one piece) to the back of the sleeve (one untouched piece of white poster board) using clear packing tape.  The first side was easy to do.  Just have the boards “wrong side up” and run a strip of tape up the interior seam.

Connecting the two sides of the hash brown sleeves for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

To do the second seam, I had to run the strip of tape just up one side, then fold it over onto itself using a few small pieces of double-sided tape just to temporarily hold it in place.  Then, I placed the sleeve edges together to seal it, reaching my hand inside to unstick the double-sided tape and firmly secure the packing tape where it should go.  {This will make sense when you actually do it yourself.}

Connecting the two sides of the hash brown sleeves for our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Step 11.  Adhere your “Hash Brown” and “#Hashtag” labels to your sleeve.  I simply used double-sided tape for this step, but you could use hot glue instead.

Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples | Full tutorial and FREE Silhouette cut file for creating your own punny, word-play costume for Halloween this year; perfect for a couple or dynamic duo! Guaranteed to get a laugh or at least a groan at your Halloween party!

Step 12.  Glue a ribbon strap from the front to the back.  I thought we’d wear black t-shirts to help the white and yellow really POP and so I bought black ribbon from which to create two two straps, one over each shoulder; however, it was Mark’s idea to simplify the design and just do a single strap from the front left to the rear right.  We tested out the positioning with painter’s tape before securing them with hot glue and a little yellow poster board over top for a cleaner look.  And it was more than sufficient for holding up the costume.

Black ribbon strap to help hold up our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

Black ribbon strap to help hold up our Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples. Full tutorial & FREE Silhouette cut file via thinkingcloset.com

And that is how to create your own Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costumes for 2!

All that’s left to do is raise your arms up over your head while your partner helps shimmy that hash brown sleeve over your head…and you can do the same for your partner.  Oh, and make sure your cell phone isn’t in your pocket…and that you don’t have to use the restroom any time soon.  #lessonlearned #ispeakfromexperience

Access your inner child as you turn Halloween into an excuse to play tag!  Maybe even get an entire Halloween party in on the game.

Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume for Couples | Full tutorial and FREE Silhouette cut file for creating your own punny, word-play costume for Halloween this year; perfect for a couple or dynamic duo! Guaranteed to get a laugh or at least a groan at your Halloween party!

If you decide to take this on for Halloween this year, be sure to send me a photo of you and your fellow hash brown so I can feature you all in my next Reader Showcase!

Can you guess the pun in this PUNNY Halloween costume? | The knee-slapper of an answer to this visual word-play and the full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

I also think it’s also do-able as a solo costume.  You’ll need to start tagging your fellow party-goers and saying “You’re It!” to show the #Hashtag in action.

Can you guess the pun in this PUNNY Halloween costume? | The knee-slapper of an answer to this visual word-play and the full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

Oh, and I just have to give props to Mark for indulging me in a backyard photo shoot on a 90+ degree day here in Orlando.  You’re a trooper, buddy!

Can you guess the pun in this PUNNY Halloween costume? | The knee-slapper of an answer to this visual word-play and the full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

And thanks to y’all, dear readers, for indulging me and my cheesy sense of humor.  Or rather, my father’s sense of humor, which has most definitely rubbed off on me.  The apple doesn’t fall far….

Can you guess the pun in this PUNNY Halloween costume? | The knee-slapper of an answer to this visual word-play and the full tutorial for how to create your own couples' Halloween costume over at thinkingcloset.com! It's so much pun!

Want More Punny Halloween Costumes?

Well, you’re in luck because I have a round-up of 20 Punny Halloween Costume Ideas for Couples!  Yep.  There are even more creative pun costume ideas out there JUST for dynamic duos.

And for more knee-slappers, you can check out our punny Halloween costumes from years past (and future!):

20 Punny Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids, Babies, Multiples, Fur-Babies, & Families! | An epically awesome round-up of literal interpretations of the word as portrayed by precious kiddos! As if a punny costume wasn't already awesome, now it's got the cute-factor! Plus, there are some great last-minute Halloween costume ideas in this mix. Brace yourself!

20 Punny Halloween Costume Ideas for Kids

*Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you make a purchase after clicking through, The Thinking Closet may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.  Thanks for helping to support this site!

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34 Comments

  1. Adorable punny costumes and great tutorial. I loved the gif of you two playing TAG!
    It was also helpful to listen to the explanation of the use of hash tags at #CrystalMediaTV

    I can’t imagine you topping your Halloween punny costume each year and then you go and do it! Thanks for sharing the 25 FALL Silhouette projects! Creativity is just pouring out of this post! #lovethethinkingcloset

    1. Ha ha. Our love of GIFs must be something that runs in the genes. And I’m glad you checked out the hashtag vid, too! Way to go and practice what you learned there, Mama. #mymomisatechsavvywiz

  2. You are just too much. Seriously. Can I go to a Halloween party with you two? I bet you guys are always the life of the party! I wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch people’s reactions as they figure out what you guys are!

    1. Oh yes! It’s Goofball Central in these parts. Ha ha. You’re welcome to join in the goof-fest anytime. Also, yes – – hope you can get your hands on a roll-feeder sometime soon! It’s a fabulous accessory.

  3. You are so funny! I swear no one else could pull off the things you pull off. Super cute costume and I am LOVING the beachy vibe of your hair 🙂

    1. In the words of Michael Buble, “Please, don’t love me so much!” But actually, I do appreciate your love quite a lot. So disregard that last statement. 😉 Also, thanks for the specific hair compliment. Whenever my hair is growing out weird, I start resorting to odd styling techniques like braiding it when wet and letting the waves overtake. Basically, I’m trying to have fabulous CoCo hair! So glad you noticed. Lol. Hope you’re having a loverly weekend, friend!

    1. Thanks for the warm words and pin-love, sweet Claire! Hope you have a Happy Halloween season! (Your candy-corn sugar cookies are the stuff that my fall dreams are made of. Shared on a FB a few weeks ago!)

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