How to Make Minion Costumes Tutorial

how to make minion costumes

When I saw this DIY minion costume picture that Nina shared on our Facebook page , I about flipped out! Hello, cutest minion costumes ever! I love handmade Halloween costumes, so of course I had to ask Nina if she would write a guest post on how to make minion costumes.  She happily obliged and so here is her fantastic how to’s! Enjoy! -Linda

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Minion Costumes

My kids are OBSESSED with the Minions from “Despicable Me.” So this year, I embarked upon the journey to turn them into my very own little Minions for Halloween.  I’ll say it — I was kinda floored with the end results … I had to share these with the world.

First of all … grab a glass of wine and read the entire tutorial before starting on anything.  Second?  Take a deep breath … and know that you CAN do this.  Please don’t be daunted by all the steps or how complicated it seems. I went overboard on the instructions – and I’m always here to answer any questions. You are a DIY BEAST, my friend.  Let’s DO this thing.

diy minion costume handmade minion costume

Let’s be honest. The first thing I did was get on Pinterest to see what other crafty people out there were doing. I found two really excellent tutorials that had super cute results.

One guy made the body of his minion out of a plastic trash bin covered in upholstery foam. I loved the way he modeled the lips out of foam, too, to really animate the whole thing. But I *didn’t* like the idea of my kids being super uncomfortable and hot in a hard plastic container.

Another lady used an egg crate mattress pad to create the bodies of her minions. Genius! I knew right away that that’s what I wanted to do. But the other big problem I had with both of these designs was that the kids would be looking out of the goggle — which left them with very limited visibility. My kiddos are still little, which means they trip over their own feet when they’re wearing their REGULAR clothes.

minion costume So I decided to modify the design a bit so their faces would be showing right out of the minion’s open mouth. This let them have lots of air, lots of room to see … And plus, I get the bonus of still being able to see their adorable faces for all those photo ops!

How to Make Minion Costumes

First, I wrapped the foam mattress pads {like this or this} around each of the kids to see where I’d need to cut them down — I ended up using one twin size to make both of the costumes. I really just eyeballed the sizes and proportions … Here’s a spiffy diagram that might help.

minion diagram

Once I knew the length and width of the piece of foam, I had to cut the top edge into sort of flower petals to be able to shape the top into a dome. The tutorial called for 6 or 7 petal shapes, I think … But after I glued them all together, I realized that the top now looked more like a crown than a round dome because there weren’t enough petals. So I cut off the top and started over, using twice as many petal shapes. For both costumes (slightly different sizes) I cut out 12 from the top, using a template to make sure all of my petals were exactly the same shape.
Learn from my mistake and use a highlighter or a yellow sharpie … Or something that’s actually made for is kind of thing to mark your petals. The green lines on mine are still bugging me. petals-on-top-diagram

Next, I slapped a bike helmet on a kids’ size dress form to hold everything while I worked. A big pillow might work too … but I can tell you, the helmet saved my life. To glue the petal shapes together to form a dome, I first wrapped my foam around the dress form and pinned it shut. I now had a foam tube with spikes on top.

I ran hot glue down on edge of one petal — then I bent it and the next one down I flat over the helmet … It really helped to create the smooth curve I was going for. Just repeat this process all the way around the top until you have all the petals glued together. make a minion costume

Now, you’re going to have a big ugly slightly star-shaped hole in the top — don’t worry. We can cover that up later. Just be sure that you use as much glue as you need to so those petals aren’t going anywhere. To be safe, I took a spare piece of foam and glued it on the underside, as well, to help hold everything together. I also glued the seam going down the back about five inches down to make sure everything stayed put. minion costume tutorial

Next, I made a paper template for the eyes and mouth — just to make sure I had the proportions right. When I liked how it looked, I traced the mouth and cut it out.

minion costume instructions

Now that I knew where the kid’s head was going to be, I could pad the inside of the minion head until the mouth lined up just right to show off their faces. I used pillow stuffing and some scrap fabric to hold it in place. pillow-top-1

I tried them on the kids and marked where the arm holes would go. After I cut those out, I had the basic minion shape that would be the base of the costume! I added in an extra piece of foam for the bottom lip, using scissors to shape it … I also took my scissors to the contour around the entire mouth so it wasn’t just a flat edge, but that’s not strictly necessary.  After that, I took it outside and painted that sucker using a can of good quality yellow spray paint … it took two light coats to get it all even and looking fabulous (except for those freaking green lines >=[]. ) how to make a kids minion costume

To make the teeth, I just took the little scraps of foam that were left over from cutting the petals at the top and shaped them one by one using my little scissors, making sure to bevel all the edges so each one would stand out.  I glued them all together in a line and then glued THAT to the insides of the mouth, to frame the kids’ faces – almost like they were really looking out from inside the minions’ mouths.  Talk about a labor of love.  It was kind of a pain in the butt … but the teeth are absolutely my favorite part of the costume – so it was totally worth it in the end! tutorial for minion costumes

GOGGLES

For the boy minion’s goggles, I used a round instant oats container wrapped in silver paper.  I didn’t just slice off sections, though … I had to contour them to fit the round shape of the head. diy minion costume

I wrapped the silver paper around each one and used my Silhouette cutting machine to cut out perfect circles to make the fronts. minion halloween costume

For the girl minion’s goggle, I followed the same process … but I used a sheet of heavy weight chip board, bent to form a circle, because her goggle is much larger and the oats canister looked ridiculous. teeth-and-hair

The eyeballs were made from sheets of white foam, cut into circles.  For the irises and pupils, I used brown and black foam, with some shading using a darker brown marker.  After I glued all the pieces of the eye together, I glued the whole thing to the inside of the goggle … I bent it to give it a slight 3D effect.

Image

I used a stretchy knit fabric I had laying around for the straps – I started out with regular non stretchy cotton … DISASTER.  I don’t recommend it.  The stretch in the jersey knit is incredibly forgiving and hugs the head tight.  PERFECT.  I glued the strap down first and THEN the goggle, tucking the ends underneath. I added eyelids to the boy minion to give him more of the “Whaaaaa?” sort of vibe. minion halloween costume tutorial

HAIR

Remember that big gap on top of the head where it didn’t quite fit together?  Yeah.  I had to cover that.  So I cut a circle out of yellow felt to cover almost the whole top of his head.  Then I snipped small holes, spaced out evenly, and pushed some pipe cleaners through to make the hair.  I doubled them over to make sure there weren’t any pointy bits sticking out.  My son is accident prone and will find a way to hurt himself on anything.  I bent the pipe cleaners so I could glue them to the underside of the yellow felt circle. hair-diagram-boy

Then I glued the whole darn thing to the top of his head!

minion hair

For HER hair, I wrapped orange yarn around two pipe cleaners, gluing as I went.  I twisted the pipe cleaners and glued them together to make the little sticky uppy braids.

hair-diagram-girl

Double it and glue them to the top of the head. I covered them with little squares of yellow felt to make it more stable. Nobody wants saggy braids.  The rest of her hair was basically just looped around and dumped on top – glued down in strategic places. instructions on how to make a minion costume

OVERALLS

I made both of their outfits using blue felt – I bought three yards of the stuff, just to be on the safe side, and ended up with a ton of extra.  Here’s a diagram of the pieces I cut out for the boy minion’s outfit.

overalls-diagram-boy

You’ll have to figure out the sizes of each of your pieces based on the dimensions of your minion body.  I eyeballed everything but the pants.  I measured all the way around the foam body, leaving about four inches of seam allowance for where it will wrap around the pieces of foam in the back.  So for the pants, I used that measurement, cut my fabric and folded it over with the seam in the middle in the back.  Then I cut out a petal shape from the middle to make pant legs and glued the seam that created.  Doing it this way made the pants taper way in at the bottom, keeping the proportions of the original minion. minion costume how to

For the girl minion, I used basically the same shapes, but instead of pants I made a simple circle skirt.  And instead of front and back bibs for the overalls, I used one long piece that I wrapped all the way around.

overalls-diagram-girl

I ended up having to cut and trim to accommodate the arm holes … but it was worth it, since I wanted her outfit to be a bit more modest. minion costume girl

After I had my circle skirt cut out, I cut a line through it so I would be able to wrap the edges of the skirt around edges of the foam in the back.  After both outfits were glued down, I added a strip of Velcro all the way down the seam of the body in the back to keep it all closed. minion girl costume

The last thing I did was add the buttons to him, the flowers to her … and of course, the Gru symbol on the front of each pocket.  I used my black foam sheets for the buttons (pssst… a hole punch is perfect for making them look realistic).  For the flowers, I used white and yellow felt, cut into circles and glued together.

flower-closeup

The Gru symbol was made from a black foam circle and the same blue felt I used on the overalls. Here’s a template, if it helps.

gru-symbolAnd that’s it! You are now ready to prove to all the other parents that you love your kids more than is humanly possible.  The costume contest at school? Yeah. You’re gonna win that. But the best part is … you’ll be a freaking HERO to your kid.  It was worth all the hours and hot glue gun burns.

You. Are. VICTORIOUS.

Now go get yourself an aspirin – and wait for the copious amounts of candy to come rolling in.  You totally deserve it, Mom of the Year.

girl minion costume

If you make this costume, I’m DYING to see the results! Post photos of your finished product on the Mink’s Paperie Facebook page for a chance to win a gift certificate to my Etsy shop, Minks Paperie!

minion costumes

I hope you’ll run over and show Nina some love! She did an amazing job on her minion costumes! I’m super impressed! Are you making Halloween costumes this year? I’d love to hear about them what costumes you’re making! -Linda

 

Linda
Hi! I'm Linda, the craft addict behind Craftaholics Anonymous®, a craft blog. Crafting is cheaper than therapy, right? When I'm not DIYing something, I can be found taxiing around our 4 crazy kids or working out. Or shoe shopping... because you can never have too many shoes! Happy crafting! ♥
Linda
Linda

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Comments

  1. 51
    Ana

    what kind of colorspray did you use and how long did you need to dry the costume

  2. 52

    These are ALL KINDS OF AWESOME!! I have linked to you in my ultimate round up of the most awesome DIY minion party ideas! :)

    1. 52.1

      Thank you!

  3. 53
    Johanna

    Hi,
    what kind of glue did you use?

  4. 54
    Felix

    What a great idea !! and easy to make. Thank you for this, because minions costume is expensive :(

    I made a link of your article to my blog related to the minions word (www.planetminion.com), I hope you are ok with that

    Cheers

  5. 55
    Amanda

    About how long start to finish did this take to make? And this is the cutest minion i have seen out there. My toddler wants to be a minion and we looked online at the Halloween Shops and they are just so cheap looking. THANK YOU so much for sharing your greatness.

  6. 56
    Linda Parks

    Can I just pay someone to make this for me?

    1. 56.1
      Amanda

      I want that too!

  7. 57
    Amanda

    Ummmm can someone make this for my 2 year old? He LOVES the minions and all the minion costumes are ugly and I am not crafty at all! Haha!

  8. 58
    Carissa

    I’m currently in the middle of these costumes! Well, I’m in the making two boy costumes for my kids (a boy and girl, but the girls wants to be a minion from the movie), and I still need to make a giant one for my husband. I’m going to be Scarlett Overkill. I just started Saturday night and it’s going much smoother (and cheaper!) than I expected even without a dress form. Except for the hot glue gun burns. I could do without those. Thanks for the tutorial!

    1. 58.1

      Awesome!!! If you get a chance, I’d love to see pictures when you’re done! :)

    2. 58.2
      Nadine

      So what are you using in place of the dress form? Do they just sort of stand on their own?

  9. 59
    Stephanie

    Im having trouble getting the foam around the mouth and arm holds smooth, any suggestions?

  10. 60
    Carissa

    Any chance you could give a bit more detail on how you attached the goggles to the body? I have the black strap on, but the goggles have thin edges. Will hot glue hold? It does’t look like it has much to hold onto. Thanks!

    1. 60.1
      Gina

      I’m in the same boat with the goggles. So far, I’ve been using professional strength hot glue (with a glue gun) and it’s holding everything else pretty well. The glue is available at JoAnn Fabrics. I’m going to give that a shot on the goggles.

  11. 61
    mariem

    hello, I LOVE This! i’m definitely making it for my son for halloween this year. I just had a question, i know you mentioned that you cut out 12 petal shapes, how wide was each petal?
    thank you

  12. 62

    Hey Folks, I’m a professional puppet builder and want to add some answers/Tips to some of the questions….
    1) Use contact cement- contact cement flexes and you won’t get burned. Simply apply contact cement on both pieces of foam you want to put together- wait until it is almost dry and then press the pieces together firmly. When applying the cement make certain you are in a well ventilated area.

    2) for paint I would recommend -Design Masters Floral Paint- it flexes with the foam and won’t eat the foam as fast as regular spray paint.

    3) I built two minions using a Twin Foam- my sons are 3 and 1- when cutting foam I recommend razorblades- not the double sided versions- the ones that have one blade on one side. Foam will dull scissors and scissors will make your cuts “choppy”

    4) To smooth foam you can use a pair of scissors- simply trim the surface- take your time. Do not use a Dremel with a sanding tool as it sometimes catches and will tear your foam. a belt sander can be used but it could also catch and demolish your work. Scissors are the way to go. I recommend practising on scrap foam first.

    5) When marking foam use a Sewing Marker-it is basically a marker that will show up when you first use it, but disappears as time passes…even on foam. If you do use Permanent Marker; sometimes you can get it off by lightly sanding it off with a piece of fine grit sandpaper.

    6) If you have younger kids one way to get the measurements right without the hassle of trying to get them to try it on is to have them lay down on paper and trace them in a standing pose- make it fun or have someone help you to trace them quickly. Then cut out the figure and you have a paper representation of the child you can use for measuring where the arms need to go and where the mouth hole needs to be.

    Hope this helps some of you.

    1. 62.1

      Thank for your input and tips, Tom!

    2. 62.2
      Nina Mink

      So so helpful! I’m using the same foam for this year’s costumes and your tips are just what I needed to finish them up cleanly … Thank you SO much for sharing! ?

  13. 63
    Nicole

    Hi, this is great! I’m at the adding overalls stage. I have a technical question…once I’ve created the overalls, assembled them and glued them to my foam head, how does my ds get INTO said costume? You must have left an access point, but I can’t determine where/how it was done.

    1. 63.1
      Nina Mink

      I left the back part open — from the neck to the crotch of the overalls — and added Velcro to close it up after they’re inside. Hope that helps! ?

  14. 64
    Jaime

    The costumes are great! I am attempting one for my 3 yr old boy. So far so good but wondering if you have any pics of the back you could share. Struggling with Velcro . Makes more sense to me on the girl costume b/ c of skirt. Boy costume tripping me up.
    Thanks

  15. 65
    Monica

    Felt is on sale at Joann’s this week. Do you think that covering the foam in felt would work out okay?

    1. 65.1

      I would think so.

      1. Slomon walden

        Linda you seem to be very knowledge in the arts of minion costume building so I wanted to jump on your thread and ask you to help solve me glue problem.

        I am building this costume over seas in S Korea and the Hot Glue I am using just isn’t holding done the pedals. please help!

  16. 66
    Tessa Reid

    First I have to say great job and thank you for tutorial! These are the best minion costumes I’ve come across. I’ve purchased all my supplies and am ready to get started on my son and daughters. I’ve read through all the questions and comments and I still have one unanswered question. How did you mold/shape the foam around the mouth to give that bottom lip the curved/pout type look? Thank you!

  17. 67
    Dee

    I know this is probably a stupid question, but how did you get the boy minion costume on your child? It all appears to be glued.

  18. 68
    Paul

    Started mine. He’s how it looks so far. Thanks for the DIY!

    [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/G3kf7j3.jpg[/IMG]

  19. 69
    Sonja

    I’m kinda confused on the pants part….did you sew the inseams? or glue? I’m worried costume may get tore up getting in and out etc…thank you

  20. 70

    HI Linda! Thanks so much for this post, I’m making it right now and so far just have the foam costumes glued :) Did you just use hot glue to attach the eyes? it seems like that wouldn’t keep them on the foam, since it’s such a thing piece of cardboard, for ex: the oatmeal canister. Any help is appreciated, thanks!

  21. 71
    Halloween crazy mom

    Need idea for very big goggles. I am a teacher and the costume is for me. It is big and oatmeal box is too small. Any ideas? Also, will spray paint krylon melt the foam?

    1. 71.1
      Dora Moreno

      Krylon contains acetone and that’s what melts the foam. Use Floral spray paint for spraying silk flowers

      1. Thanks for the tip!

  22. 73
    Megan Ryan

    My son just won 2nd place at our township Halloween parade with this minion :-) I’ve never made a costume before. People were shocked to hear it was hand made. Thank you

  23. 74
    Slomon walden

    Hey i was hoping someone could help me ASAP! I was am in the process of building this costume BUT i ran into a HUGE road block. the Hot Glue Gun that I am using doesn’t seem to be holding the pedals for the top of the head down. Any help with what type of glue to us would be really helpful

    I read through all the comments and i have found that this glue question has come up many times. But I haven’t seen any replies addressing the questions. SO please HELP! SOC (safe our COSTUME)

  24. 75
    Renee

    Thank you so much of the detailed tutorial! I just completed 3 minion costumes – original girl, purple (mancha) minion and hula minion) for my daughters. I used 1 queen sized and 1 twin sized mattress foam. Ages are 10, 10 & 7. No major issues, just lots of hot glue and who knew I could make a circle skirt! It took me about 3 or so weeks, but I paced myself, wine helped ?

  25. 76
    Rose

    Wonderful costume!!!!! We are doing this for Halloween :) I may have read something wrong in the instructions but for the boy minion , once the legs are glued/sewn … How do the get into the costume? Is there a hole left open between the pant legs? The fabric parts is where I got lost. We’ve got the form and goggles made! So close, just gotta figure out the pants. Any extra info would help :) Our son is so excited!!!

  26. 77
    Abigail

    Hey! Do you have a list of supplies?
    I don’t want to forget anything! Lol thanks!

  27. 78
    Jamie

    Wish I could post a picture, thanks to you my son was an incredibly adorable minion ❤️

    1. 78.1

      I’d love to see a picture of your cutie! You can email it to me at craftaholicsanon at email dot com and we’ll feature it on our FB page next year! :)

  28. 80
    Candace Johnson

    perhaps I missed it in the post have only read through it once though I’m sure I will read through it several times once my attempt to make these, but what type of glue did you use in the foam and how did you secure it closed in the back?

  29. 81
    Traci

    I have no idea if anyone will see this, but it’s not clear to me how the boy got into his costume? if the pant legs are closed?

    1. 81.1
      Ron

      She put a Velcro closed seam in the back that appears to hold the foam together and the upper part of the bibs.

  30. 82
    Leslie

    You did a phenomenal job!!!

  31. 83
    Mary Fernández

    Good morning.

    How do you did to take out it…I mean….to go to the bathroom?

    Thanks