Cardboard Box Airplane Halloween Costume

Soar into Halloween with our imaginative DIY Cardboard Box Airplane Costume, where creativity takes flight!

Kids Love Creative Halloween Costumes

If your kids are anything like mine, they want creative costumes that stand out from the pack. This usually means mom or dad to the rescue to help them come up with something better than what any store could offer. The challenge? I consider myself a decent face painter, but I can’t sew to save my life. So, I was glad to see Halloween costumes made out of cardboard boxes trending this year. Who would have thought something so readily available as Amazon boxes could help me earn Father of the Year for best airplane costume ever? Score!

Cardboard Box Plane Halloween Costume

The great thing about creating Halloween costumes made out of cardboard is that you don’t need to spend a whole lot of money, develop any sewing or other crafting skills, or search too far for the perfect material.

Amazon Boxes Make a Great Airplane Costume

I mean, with Amazon Prime being the source of so many purchases these days, having Amazon Smile boxes around the house is highly likely. And even if you don’t have any sitting there, looking up at you, saying: “Please turn me into a rocket ship,” you can easily head over to your local grocery or shoe store and they are likely to have extras they’re happy to donate to your child’s need for creativity.

DIY Box Projects

The cool thing about DIY box projects? They lend themselves to wow-ing kids with finishing touches. Let’s take this Amazon-inspired airplane Halloween costume tutorial I share below. Adding things like a motorized propeller, landing lights, and black Amazon packing tape for emphasis turned a basic cardboard airplane into the talk of the treat-or-treating town. Talk about standing out in the crowd!

Cardboard Box Airplane Instructions

If reading steps is easier for you as you embark on your DIY box journey, follow this guide below:

1. Choose two large Amazon Smile boxes of the same size. These boxes will make up the body of your airplane.
   
   Tip! You will also need several additional boxes for wings and flaps.
2. Assemble Box 1 with the bottom flaps closed and the top flaps open. This will be the main body of your plane.
3. Gently pull apart the glued seam to completely unfold Box 2. This will be the rear of your plane.
4. Remove one end of Box 2, so that the box only has three sides. Make sure to save the end piece that you removed as you will use it later to form the tail fin.
   
   
5. Bring the remaining sides of Box 2 together in a point so that the box forms a triangle. Use strong tape to fasten the point where the two sides come together.
   
   Tip! I recommend taping both the inside and the outside of the box for added strength.
6. Place the triangle-shaped Box 2 up against the end of Box 1, remove the end flap, bend the top end flap of Box 2 over and down into Box 1, and fasten the flap so that it is securely taped to the inside of Box 1.
   
   Tip! Use lots of tape; this is how the two boxes stay together.
7. Fold down the top and bottom flaps of Box 2 and strongly secure them with tape. Turn the boxes over and repeat this step on the bottom as well.
   
   Tip! Whenever you tape something on the outside of the project, double the strength by taping the inside as well. Don’t worry about making it look pretty on the inside as no one will be able to see it.
8. Cut a slit in the top of Box 2 as shown in the bottom right-hand corner.
   
   
9. Use the end of the box that you removed in Step 2. Create an identical piece and tape the two pieces back to back. This will be the vertical tail fin.
10. Cut a horizontal wing and put it together with the vertical wing to complete the tail section.
11. Slide the tail section into the slit of Box 2.
12. Create round propeller housing as shown in the bottom right-hand corner below. Mine has a hole in the center because I added a motor (this is not necessary, but wows the kiddos).
13. Cut a propeller and attach it to the housing using a screw or brad.
14. Cut two wings and attach a wire hanger to the underside. This will help with stability.
15. Cut slits in the sides of Box 1. Slide the hangers through the slits and bend down at a 90-degree angle. Then tape the wire hangers to the interior side of the plane. Your wings should now be in place.
16. Apply finishing touches. This airplane costume made out of cardboard was inspired by Amazon Prime, so we used Amazon packing tape to decorate the box with stripes. Because creativity is the name of the game, we also used LED lights as landing lights. Talk about the wow factor!
    
    

If you’re looking for a fun DIY box Halloween costume project to help your kid stand out in the crowd this season, just go grab some cardboard, and voila! Your child will be flying high in no time.

What are your DIY Halloween costume tips and tricks?

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Troy Pattee

Troy Pattee is an MBA entrepreneur turned stay-at-home dad to two teenage boys and a beagle named Hashtag. He captures humorous stories about carpooling, grocery shopping, riding Razors with his kids, and other fun fatherhood adventures on his blog: Dadventurous. When Troy isn’t keeping the fort down, he builds things: a stream in the backyard, an in-home movie theater, and this airplane out of Amazon Smile Boxes complete with LED landing lights and a motorized propeller.