How to Pull Off Insanely Creative (and Creepy) Costumes Like This Guy

I would say anywhere from 30 to 50. But the 50-hour one was kind of spread out over several Halloweens. I made a costume that would light up with the flick of a switch. Over the years, I added more lights, so that meant more switches.

Inspiration will strike at one point, and hopefully it happens early on. You can always go to the Internet for great ideas.

I made a costume once that incorporated stilts. It was a grim reaper with these huge mechanical arms that I made out of elm tree branches and hinges and strings and springs, and you could flex the fingers on it.

It was amazingly cool . . . until I realized, “Uh-oh, how am I peeing?” And if I fell down, I wasn’t going to get back up. Those are the Halloweens where I don’t drink at all.

First of all, [I’m looking to see] if they did it themselves. I’m always impressed when people exercise a little creativity, and if they sat down for even just a half hour, and said, “Here’s what I’m going to do.”

Remember when you were a kid, and Halloween costumes were essentially like, a plastic plate with holes cut in and an elastic band on the back? That was your mask. And it had the little slit for the mouth, which you couldn’t help but put your tongue in, but it’d cut your tongue. Heaven forbid you’d suffocate with a plastic plate on your face.

Now they’ve really upped the ante. The people who can weld and make their own Stormtrooper armor are clever. And with the access that they have to the facilities and 3D printing now, people are going crazy!

I do now. I’ve always wanted to know how to weld. But I had to learn how to do it.
If you want to build an amazing costume, you need to think like a carpenter or electrician. I taught myself how to weld just to make a costume. I burned my hair and my hand. I’ve got the welding scars to prove it.

I hate this story, because it comes up with my family all the time. But here we go, let’s go public.

When I was a little kid, I think I was in kindergarten, my mom set this up with my brother who was two years older than me, and she said, “Look, we’re going to do some Halloween costumes. We’re doing Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, but you have to say you want to be Raggedy Ann.”

So my mom says to us, “Hey, guys, you want to be Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy for Halloween?” My brother was like, “Yeah, I want to be Raggedy Ann.” And I was like, “No, I want to be Raggedy Ann!” I won, and my brother acted all disappointed.

So I’m Raggedy Ann for Halloween. I got tricked into it.

The following year, they tried the same trick. My brother said, “I want to be Minnie Mouse.” I was like, “You go right ahead, I’ll be Mickey.” We were two Mickey Mouses.

Yes. There was one year in college that I made a costume that was the two-headed monster from Sesame Street. We made a pair of pants that had a middle leg, so we shared the pants and tied ourselves together at the waist.

We duct-taped a shoe together and then made a big foot on top of that. Our foot was locked in, our legs were locked in, our waist was locked in, and we had an arm around each other’s shoulder. And that was it the whole night.

Oh, it absolutely is. But you know what? That’s the point. Sometimes when you go with an amazing costume, what goes with that amazingness is sacrifice. Halloween is about sacrifice.

An amazing costume isn’t easy. It’s hot and sweaty and it’s got too many moving parts, and you can’t wait to get out of it. You might even have to lie down in the back of the car on the way to the party. You’re not going to be able to pee when you want to.

But you make the sacrifice to be part of a glorious holiday tradition. A grand tradition. I love Halloween. Not every country has it.