Make your own Easy Clowning Costume in 10 minutes!

Make your own Easy Clowning Costume in 10 minutes!

Instructions (cc) 2008 by David Calloway. Reproduction permitted by
Creative Commons license for non-commercial purposes, with credit to author.

A photo will be available as soon as I get one from the rally at which I recently wore this costume piece.

The point here is not to look authentic.
The point is to look colorful, festive, and ripe for silliness!

That’s the attitude we want to project. And when YOU wear a silly costume of any kind, it helps YOU bring out your inner clown. Wear your costumes on the bus or train on your way here, and answer stares by telling people why you’re dressed so fashionably. OR, bring your accessories to our circus, and attach them there. We’ll have safety pins, paper clips, clear tape, and masking tape on hand.

Have more easy costume ideas? Send them now to Plastisaurus@comcast.net, and we’ll forward them to the list!

EASY CIRCUS ACCESSORIES: GOOFY BOW TIE AND WIDE LAPELS,

STREAMER GRASS SKIRT, and BIG, COLORFUL STOVEPIPE HAT

GOOFY BOW TIE AND WIDE LAPELS (makes two sets)

Find a colorful cardboard box; cereal boxes are great.

1. Slit one edge of the box, then lay it out flat, face-down.
2. On the back of the flat box, draw lines about like you see in the image at the right. You DON”T need to be precise!
3. Cut the box apart along all the lines.
4. With clear tape or staples, attach the narrow ends of the outside longer pieces, at a sharp angle, so they look like a pair of wide lapels.
5. Do the same with the inside longer pieces, to form a second set of lapels
6. Overlap the narrow ends of 2 of the shorter triangles, and tilt them so they look like a bowtie. Fasten them like that.
7. Hold the bowtie and lapels up to your front, get them positioned just right, and tape or staple them together.

Goofy, huh? Now you have a set for yourself, and a set to give a friend!

Even better, use 2 boxes with different colors and patterns, and swap the bowties and the lapels, so you have contrast.

STREAMER GRASS SKIRT

1. Buy two rolls of streamer, or one rainbow roll, if you can find it.
2. Cut a dozen or so lengths a few feet long, and cut a piece of string long enough to go around your waist or chest, with some extra length to tie it.
3. Staple the streamers to the string, to make a “grass skirt” effect.
4. You can tie the skirt around your waist, or if you make the streamers body-length, you can wear it at your chest, for a full, swirling mumu!

BIG, COLORFUL STOVEPIPE HAT

Find a big enough CEREAL BOX, and just put it on your head. Definitely, the highest-leverage effort-to-silliness ratio available today! If it keeps falling off, staple a string to each side, and tie it around your chin.