DIY: Sushi Costume

It's Halloween! Also known as my FAVORITE time of year and the only chance we get to wear costumes in public without getting...looks. I wish very much that there were WAY more opportunities for costumes throughout the year (we need at least a half-Halloween in April or something, right?) and I definitely plan to host costume parties JUST BECAUSE one day. This year I fulfilled a years-long desire to dress as a sushi roll because I finally found just the right styrofoam peanuts that look exactly like rice. Dream realized! Now you can do it too! You can also check out some of my past costume tutorials right here.

What You Need

Cardboard

Poster Board

Foam Pad

Black Tissue Paper

Glossy Mod Podge

Styrofoam Peanuts

Acrylic Paint

Hot Glue

Black Straps/Ribbon

Felt (optional)

Elastic (optional)

How To Make It

Cut two 18" cardboard circles and cut your filling pieces from the foam. 

Paint your foam filling pieces with acrylic paint and let dry.

Cut 4" wide strips from the poster board and paint them dark green. These will need to be long enough to go around the circumference of your cardboard circle. I made 5 total and used 2.5 for each sushi roll.

When dry, cover the poster board strip with Mod Podge and layer the black tissue paper over the glue. Smooth down and cover in another layer of Mod Podge. This gives the "seaweed" a super glossy green/black finish just like the real thing! 

Glue the foam pieces in the center of the cardboard circle. 

It helps to sketch a rough outline of where you want them to be before gluing.

Glue the styrofoam peanuts around the center pieces until the circle is completely covered.

Glue the poster board seaweed pieces around the edge of the cardboard circles, making sure to keep the edges flush. 

 To finish, add straps to the top and sides. Connect the 2 sushi pieces with the top shoulder straps and glue a side strap on the left and right side of each piece so that you can tie them together to keep the costume in place.

The Extras

 I also made some ginger and wasabi wrist pieces for some added flair. 

To make the "ginger" I cut out some pink felt circle shapes, folded them up and glued them to a felt base.

  For the "wasabi" I cut strips of green felt and just wrapped them 

around themselves into a blobby shape and glued in place.

  I also cut out some dark green grass shapes to mimic the plastic grass that usually comes with takeout sushi.

Glue all the pieces together to get some really weird corsages.

The Final Product

I wore some fun green and orange eye makeup and an up-do with chopsticks to top off this look.

Please, please, please share your costume - I'd love to know what you dressed as this year!

xoxo,
Michelle