clipper card costume

clipper card costume, Easy, cheap, Last minute, Halloween idea

An original idea

This simple and easy to make costume was not my idea.  The credit for this unique costume idea goes to my (then ten year old) son.  I took him trick or treating and I can say for certain that he was the only kid dressed as a clipper card that night.   He stood out among the groups of other kids, most of them wearing similar, store bought costumes.  He was a hit among the adults giving out candy.  People were truly delighted and surprised by her costume.  One woman asked if she could take a picture of him to send to  her friend who was a muni bus driver.

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last minute costume 

My son came up with this idea back in August or September.  I promised to make the costume back then, but with so much time until Halloween, I felt no urgency and put it off.   Fast forward to the last week of October...  I was in a bit of a panic to keep my promise and complete the costume.   
I needn't have panicked as I was able to get it made in under an hour with one trip to Office depot.

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How I made the clipper card costume in under an hour

I went to Office depot to find the blue colored poster board that I needed.  I could have painted a white board blue, but it seemed too messy,   I bought one large poster board and cut it in half.  One side for the front and one side for the back. 
I deliberately set out to make a small sized sandwich board for this costume.  I did not want the board to go much past his waist.  We were trick or treating in San Francisco where there is a flight of stairs to climb before most front doors.  I knew that a longer board is more difficult to walk in and the shorter board would be safer.  My ten year old boy would have become quickly frustrated by a costume that impeded his movement too much.  A larger board may have looked better, but this size was perfect for us.
Once I picked out and purchased my poster board, I went to the in store self printing center where I cut my board in half and cut holes , two on the top and two on the sides of each piece.  I printed out a large clipper logo and then cut out the white triangles from some blank paper.

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I used the provided scotch tape to attach my logo and triangles.  In the pictures, the tape looks pretty awful.  Its quite visible.  But, I did not notice the tape  when he was wearing the costume.   To make better photos, next time I would print on and cut out my shapes from self adhesive paper, the kind used to print shipping labels.  But that idea did not occur to me until after the holiday when I was looking at photographs.  
The last step was to put the costume on his body.  I had a package of elastic that I used to tie the costume boards together.   I used four pieces, one for each shoulder and one for each side.   Elastic is not necessary.  Any kind of string or cord would do the job, but the stretch in the elastic made the costume have some flex while being worn.  We had no issues with the holes tearing or the ties coming undone.  The costume stayed on the entire evening.  If you are going to be sitting down, the boards should be removed , or at least the sides should be untied.  I tied the elastic in simple bows.  They stayed put and were easy to untie when he needed to sit down in the car.
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I was very pleased with the outcome of this project.  It was a great idea that my son came up with and It was so easy to make, and cheap too.  I spent about 15 minutes and $6 at the Office depot and made the costume from start to finish.  
I hope that our clipper card costume gets your imagination going and is a jumping off point for your own fabulous costume idea.  Id love to see any variations you make.  Let me know in the comments below about your costume or if you have any questions about mine  that I did not answer in the post.