Easy DIY Porcupine Costume
Although we usually only plan one costume each Halloween season, somehow my girls end up asking for help making several different options. Some of those are made with just a day’s notice of Halloween events, but others have a little more time to plan. We haven’t decided what we are making this year yet but are having fun revisiting some of our favorites like this easy porcupine costume.
We visit the SeaWorld Spooktacular every year with a new animal-themed costume. Beginning when my oldest daughter was just five years old, she has created her own Halloween costumes with my supervision. Her creativity shines most when she’s thinking about how she can inspire others to learn about animals and how they can contribute positively to conservation.
This easy DIY porcupine costume is inspired by many visits to SeaWorld San Diego and time spent with Kandoro the porcupine. He has since been relocated to another zoological facility but his time at SeaWorld taught many visitors about porcupines.
Porcupine Costume Instructions
Supplies:
- Black long sleeve shirt with a hood
- Black felt
- Fabric glue
- White fabric spray paint
- Face paint
- Scissors
- Cardboard
Start by cutting rectangles of felt the same width as the back of the long sleeve shirt. The felt length will be the porcupine quills. Place cardboard between inside layers of shirt then glue the felt rectangles with fabric glue on the edge in layers up the back of the shirt like tiles on a roof. Continue up the back and top of the hood.
Next cut the layers of felt into strips like porcupine quills stopping at the edge glued to the shirt.
The hooded shirt will have hundreds of quills on the back when you’ve cut all the felt into strips.
Painting your costume and giving dimension to the porcupine quills is easy with spray fabric paint. Cut strips of fabric to cover the areas you do not want to paint. We painted stripes across the back of the costume but when worn, the stripes are not as prominent so it looks like the real coloring on a porcupine.
My daughter used face paint to do her own costume makeup. She used black face paint on her nose, lips and eyebrows. Then she blended brown and white paint to add more color.
The costume turned out exactly like she had hoped and it’s a fun one to keep in our closet to use again for Halloween and dress up play.
Do your children love animal inspired costumes for Halloween too?
More Animal Inspired Costumes
- Easy DIY Flamingo Costume
- Sea Star Costume
- Porcupine Costume
- Easy DIY Octopus Costume
- DIY Macaroni Penguin Costume
- Turtle Shell Costume
- Fish Costume
