Punny #Hashtag Halloween Costume Tutorial
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:
Any guesses?
No?
Well, why don’t we not only show you the front…but the back, too.
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.)
{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:
- (5 – 7) white poster board
- (2) yellow poster board
- (2) brown poster board
- *Silhouette Cameo 3 machine
- *roll-feeder
- *white matte vinyl
- *transfer paper
- *hook tool
- *scraper tool
- *spray adhesive
- *Scotch double-sided tape
- clear packing tape
- hot glue
- black ribbon (or ribbon to match your t-shirts)
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!}
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.
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.}
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.}
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.}
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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!
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….
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
*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!
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
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
Oh my gosh, this is just too stinkin’ funny- I mean punny! 😉
Lol, Kristina. So glad you enjoyed it!
You said it! SO MUCH FUN!
Aw shucks, thanks Ms. Amy! Means so much coming from you, my dear…who has Queen of Fun on her life resume, no doubt. 😉
Lauren, this costume is just too much!!! LOL!!!
Glad it could give you a laugh, Helen! We get a kick of all things punny, that’s for sure. 😉
Lauren! You have the best costumes! One of these years, I would love to go to a costume party with you!
Oh yes! That would be SO much fun! Especially if the entire de Jong clan was in tow. I can only imagine the creativity your costumes would boast….
You guys are too cute! Love the GIF. Have a fun Halloween!
Thanks so much, Jennifer! Happy Halloween to you and your brood, as well!
Amazing. Simply amazing. Puns + hashtags + costumes = a triple threat of Halloween awesomeness! You two are awesome 🙂
Emily + made writing skeelz + comment love = triple threat combination for day-making. Thank you friend! I heart you!
Dare I admit that I was a bit slow on the uptake at first? So very funny though! the costumes are great!
Aw, no worries, Pam! I sort of take pride in my costumes taking a bit of time to figure out. Therein lies the fun! 😉
This is awesome! Haha – love it!
Yay! So glad this gets the Kalyn stamp of approval. That means more to me than you probably realize. Thanks, friend!
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!
Great and original idea! Love it!
Thanks, Bess! Love your creative blog title, by the way!
hahahahaha! Love that you are a goofball! 😉 Um, I am a little jealous of your roll feeder!!! #needit
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.
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 🙂
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!
Your costumes are sooooo cute! You sure won’t have to worry about anyone else having the same one! lol
Aw, thanks Glenna! And I do enjoy having a unique and unexpected costume…so thanks for the vote of confidence!
oh my goodness, you two are adorable!
Tee hee. Thanks, Dawn Marie! We try. Lol.
This is hilarious and you guys are so stinking cute. #ADORBS
Pinned! xo
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!)