When I think back to my childhood and remember Halloween, my fondest memories are from the years that my costume was handmade by my grandmother, my Mom Mom. She never used a pattern and could look at a picture one time and whip up a costume (or any craft really) for me. The costumes were made with love, by her, and they were perfect. The first year we entered a wagon costume parade it was our son’s second Halloween. This was also the last year Mom Mom was around to help me with a costume. We chose an aviation theme and built my son a hot air balloon wagon costume.
Photo by Kellyanne Adams Photography
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. We didn’t exactly use a wagon. Instead, we chose to use my son’s Mickey Mouse power wheels car. At the time he was a little over a year old and we weren’t sure he would stay seated in a wagon. We did know however, that he loved to be pushed and ride around in his Mickey Mouse car so we began with that as our base.
From there we took the inspiration photos I had gathered and started to design our wagon.
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Hot Air Balloon Wagon Costume Supplies:
- Power Wheels Car
- PVC Pipe
- PVC Pipe Cutting Tool
- All Purpose Cement
- Cardboard box
- Insulation Tubing
- Brown Twine
- Paper Bags
- Spray Paint
- Acrylic Paint
- White Ribbon
- Qualatex Twisting Balloons
- 18 Inch Quilting Hoops
- Screws and bolts
The Basket
We started by building a frame with the PVC pipe and fittings to fit on top of the Mickey car. This acted as a frame for the cardboard and also a base for the ‘balloon’ part of the costume. We also used PVC fittings in the space where we wanted to attach the balloon so we could take it on and off to transport the costume. Finally, we glued the pieces together with PVC cement. This can easily be modified to fit any wagon or even a stroller.
Next, I used a carseat box to create the “basket” part of the balloon. I cut a hole in the center of the box where my son would sit, cut four holes for the pipe to fit through, and then I covered the box with brown Kraft paper that I got from the dollar store. To cover the box I wrapped it like I was wrapping a present.
I then cut strips of the kraft paper and weaved them in a basket or criss cross pattern. I also wrapped the insulation tubing in the Kraft paper. Once I had wrapped the tubing I took my twine and wrapped it around the tubing for decoration and then I glued the insulation tubing to each side and front of the box.
For the sand bags we used brown paper bags filled with crumpled kraft paper and attached one to each corner of the basket. We also hung a sign that read ‘Hot Air Balloon Rides 5 Cents’ from the front of the basket. The sign was made from cardboard and acrylic paint and attached to the basket with white ribbon.
The Balloon
To create the balloon part of the costume we cut four PVC pipes 60 inches long, spray painted them brown, and then attached them to the base that we made using the PVC fittings.
At the top of the balloon we used two quilting hoops and attached them to the PVC pipes with screws and bolts. We spaced our hoops out 22.5 inches apart.
The trickiest part of this wagon costume was attaching the balloons. The reason this was so challenging is because we had to reattach the balloons each and every time we wanted to use the costume. Attaching them was also quite difficult. Be sure to give yourself plenty of time to attach your balloons. This takes about an hour.
To attach the balloons I took the very tips at both ends of each balloon and stretched them out. I then pulled, wrapped, and tied them around each hoop in order to attach the balloons to the hoops.
For my Hot Air Balloon I used 40 Qualatex twisting balloons. I alternated them in sets of five, from orange to red to blue to yellow and then repeated that pattern. I placed ten balloons in between each of the poles. Some of your balloons may pop so be sure to make and bring extra.
Wagon Costume Parade (Mom Mom to the right of the photo)
When I think back to this very special Halloween I remember my son’s first wagon costume, my last halloween with my Mom Mom, and spending precious time with the ones that I love making memories and building costumes.
