Bambi the Deer Costume

Hi! I’m Erica, and this Bambi Deer costume was completely handmade by myself. It consists of two parts, the headpiece, and the tutu. This is a no sewing required costume, and from head-to-toe, it only cost me $12. The whole costume probably took me more than 8 hours to make, but the time dedicated to this was well spent!

Materials for the headpiece:

1. Fake flowers and leaves (the more variety the better)
2. A sturdy headband
3. Thin branches (I got bush branches from my backyard)
4. Two sheets of felt, beige and dark brown (to make the ears)
5. Hot glue gun

The deer headpiece alone took me a minimum of 4 hours for me to make. For the antlers, I found some branches in my backyard and broke them apart into the desired size. Then, I glued them together in the shape of an antler. Once the antlers were settled in their shapes, I glued flowers onto them. I recommend having lots of flowers on the antlers and the whole headpiece because it makes the design stand out. Initially, what type of flowers you use is completely up to you depending on what you have on hand, but I like to use a wide variety of flowers. When gluing the antlers onto the headband, I had to make sure that there was enough glue to accommodate the weight of the antlers and I had to constantly keep adding glue from time to time. I also had to hold the antlers in their proper positions on the headband with my hands until the glue has cooled to ensure that the antlers do not detach from the headpiece. To make the deer ears, you simply have to cut out two pieces of dark brown felt in the shape of an ear, and two pieces of beige felt in the same shape but smaller for the inside of the ear. After you finish with the ears, glue them onto the sides of each antler. Lastly, I glued on leaves and larger flowers in the middle of the headpiece to top it off, and tada! The headpiece is completed! In the process, I got burned by my hot glue gun several times, but the end product was very worth it!


Materials for the tutu:

40 yards of 54’ tulle
Ribbon waistband

The tutu also took me about 4 hours to make. The tulle you get either online or from your local fabric store should already be folded in half, so all you need to do is to cut them into 8-inch strips. For a fluffier tutu, you can stack up to 3 stripes of tulle, which is what I did. This is a simple and no-sew tutu. All you have to do is to place the tulle strip under the waistband, make a loop with the strap using your fingers, and pull the long ends of the tulle strip through the loop. You may repeat this process until the tutu is completed all the way around. You don’t have to worry about the pieces of the tutu that are too long or too short, because they won’t be visible due to the fullness of the tutu.

Finishing Touches:

I matched the tutu with a yellow shirt I found, along with a bundle of flowers as the prop. I finished off the deer look with some makeup.

All my friends were surprised that I made the costume when I showed it to them, and they were even more surprised that no sewing is required! This is a very low budget costume, and it’s not hard to make if you put in the effort and time! :)