Super Mario Bros. Family Costume Theme

Our Super Mario Bros. family costumes were the hit of Halloween! We started thinking about a theme this summer and because the kids have gotten into Nintendo this year, a Mario Bros. theme was perfect for our family. (Check out these pictures from their trip to Nintendo headquarters this past week.)

It hit all the key desires for the kids — a princess for Adeline, a bad guy for Elias and a sweet costume for Ezra. A Super Mario family Halloween costume theme also had lots of fun options for Matthew and me.

I realize that stores are playing Christmas music and Halloween is over, but today I wanted to share some of my favorite pictures from Halloween night.

Super Mario Costume

I bought Ezra’s Super Mario costume because I couldn’t make it more affordably — or cuter — than the store bought option offers. It did come with a stick on mustache, but Ezra wouldn’t have anything to do with it. He wears a 2T and it was a bit long, but did the trick.

He wore a red sweatshirt and blue pants underneath because the costume was very thin.

Bowser Costume (King Koopa)

 

For Elias’s Bowser costume, I did a combination of bought and handmade. After researching LOTS of Bowser costumes, I determined it was best to buy the body suit and headpiece and make the spike shell. Had I not been on book deadline, I might have attempted the body suit using a dyed sweatshirt and sweatpants, but I didn’t have the capacity to tackle it.

The shell was made using felt, a cheap backpack, polyfill and hot glue. Zero sewing and it turned out amazing. Read the full tutorial here. The bought costume did come with an inflatable shell, but it was super small (very unlike Bowser) and ugly.

The bought costume also comes with a plastic face mask, but I knew that would be uncomfortable for Elias, so we bought the upgraded Boswer plush headpiece. He is actually wearing the adult version, which was a bit big, but the kids’ one was too tight.

Princess Peach Costume

After looking at a lot of Princess Peach costumes online, I reached out to my friend Audra at Wonderfully Made and asked if she could make a Princess Peach dress. Her little girls’ princess collection is amazing and she happily created the perfect dress for Adeline.

I was so, so pleased with how the dress turned out. Audra did an amazing job and Adeline truly felt like a princess in the dress — it was so cute.

We added Princess Peach accessories (crown and medallion), along with some long white gloves (though the sizing says age 3, these were a little big, but the best we could find) to complete the look. She also wore a crinoline under the dress to make it extra full.

Question Block Costume

 

Matthew was the iconic question block. His costume was super easy to make and was a huge hit! Using a brown shipping box, I traced the question mark and then used painter’s tape to block it out. I then spray painted it with a coat of primer spray paint, then three coats of yellow spray paint.

After the box had thoroughly dried, I peeled back the painters tape, painted the question mark white with a paint brush (it took 3 coats). I then added the gold nail heads with gold puffy paint. I also outlined the question mark with white puffy paint.

Pipe with Piranha Flower Costume

My costume was the most challenging DIY, but it was so worth it! After scouring the internet, I couldn’t find any tutorials, so had to come up with something on my own.

The result was one of the most involved costumes I have ever made.

The headpiece was created with two foam bowls that I cut and covered with felt. I then hot glued white dots all over it. The pipe skirt was made with foam and green felt. (Read the full tutorial here.)

I don’t know how I will be able to top this theme next year, but we are already thinking about it! For past family themes, check out our Red Riding Hood, Alice in Wonderland and Wizard of Oz family costumes.

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