Commercial Fishermen and Friends Family Costume

My son decided he wanted to be his Pop Pop's boat. I took various boxes and taped them together to form the basic shape of the boat. I then used 3 layers of paper mâché. I used regular computer paper so it would be easier to paint. I then used spray paint to paint the boat solid white and then went back through and painted the large red parts. I used craft foam for the smaller red parts, I'm not much of a painter. I used stickers for the numbers and name of the boat. For the back name I used clear label paper and printed it off my computer. I used wooden dowels with washers for the riggers and bullet she'll casing hot glued in the bottom of the boat for stabibility. The scallop shell net was made out of an old piece of net. I bought scallop shells from the $1 store and hot glued battery operated led lights ($8 amazon) inside the shells. I used 2 $1 store lights for the spotlight, and bought a fiber optic light for the back to replicate water. To attatch the boat to my son I cut a hole in the center and then I used an old pair of oil skin straps and hot glued and duct taped them inside. They would slide off his shoulders so I stuck a safety pin at the top. The back was heavier due to the hidden battery packs so I did have to tie a string to the back if the straps. The cost was probably around $50 with everything, but most of it was stuff we had around the house.
The next was our bycatch little fish...I ordered fish scale spandex from etsy for $20 and cut out the fish scale shape. The spandex was too thin for the look I was going for so I used craft foam and hot glued them together. I went to our local thrift shop and got a woman's tank top for $1 which was like a dress on my 1 year old. I attempted my first sewing machine lessons, but quickly resorted to my old faithful hot glue gun. I then bought pink sequence material from walmart ($6) and cut out ruffle sleeves and hot glued it in the inside of the sleeves. I made a dorsal fin and tail out of same fabric and stuffed it. The headband was a light up dolphin headband from amazon ($8). It was very hard and big so I wrapped it in craft foam and left over material for a better fit. The eyes are made out of a foam ball cut in half ($1), then i used glitter craft foam for pupils. I found a long sleeve shimmery onsie and blur tutu at the thrift store. I also used a pair of white ruffle pants I bought from thehairbowvompany.com ($8?).
Next was the lighthouse. I took an old tunnel from one of my sons old tents. I bought two large rectangle table cloths from walmart ($12 a piece). I sewed two sides of the tablecloths together, I sewed the bottom and then perpendicular side with the black being on the bottom. I then cut the white stripes out of the top and used black duct tape to hold it together and make the seams look neater. I then safety pinned it around the tunnel. I cut arms in the tunnel and that was how it stayed on. If it is too large you can use string to tightening it so it doesn't slip off shoulders. The hard part was the top. I used a cheese puff container for the light portion of the light house. I used installation foam we had left over for the top and bottom. I wrapped them with black duct tape to strengthen and to make it solid black. I made a railing out of dowels and beads spray painted black. The top portion was a plastic flowerpot topped off with a hollow plastic ball with the bottom cut. I purchased a sun catcher spinner (who knew they even existed Amazon ($8)) and attached a string to a bolt and tied it under the ball. The foam layer cored out held it pretty tight but I wanted to be sure it couldn't fall out. The bolt was concealed under the top ball. I then duct taped a dollar store light to the end of the spinner. I used the top of the cheese ball container so I could open it and turn the light and spinner on and off. Then I bought a motoercycle helmet from the thrift store $7 and hollowed out the foam layers enough that it fit inside the helmet and used marine glue to attatch it. The top is very top heavy and wobbles around a bit. Hind sight I would have made it smaller. Using the chinstrap on the helmet it is stable enough.
Next my mother was the first mate whom we dressed in oil skins, boots, and made her a clear label that said first mate Granny. She also had a loose scallop shell and scallop knife.
Last was my costume...I was the scallop net. I was lucky enough that there was still one boat in the fleet still scalloping and I got them to save me shells from their last trip. I treated the scallops in a bleach solution overnight and cleaned all barnacles. I laid them out to dry and then coated them in clear spray paint to bring back their natural colors. I also bought ornamental scallop shells, starfish and other sea shells from a local shell shop. Eating scallop shells are not all that pretty. I then drilled holes in the shells and tied them on to a leftover piece of shrimp net with clear fishing line. I also tied on old net corks for a more authentic look. I bought a wig from Amazon. ($11) and attatched a hair piece I made out of left over shells.
The costumes were more time consuming than expensive. It was a whole lot of hot glue and duct tape, but after two Halloween events everything's still holding together:)