How to Make a BMO Costume- For Cheap!

BMO and Finn from Adventure Time!

The last week here has busy and productive, with the kids making cosplays for Supernova, which is a pop culture convention. My boys decided to go as Finn and BMO from Adventure Time and my daughter dressed up as Nepeta from Homestuck. I'll post more about our fun day there and some info about my other kids costumes later, but BMO was such a hit and lots of people asked to have a photo with Mr 8,  so I thought I'd share a tutorial. The BMO costume is pretty easy to make and suitable for kids to help with. It took about a week to complete but that was mainly to allow time  for the paint to dry between coats, as it's Winter here. This is also a great low cost project and as I had the paint and paper on hand, I only had to purchase the aqua shirt and pants to go underneath, so the costume only cost $10!


To make a BMO costume you will need:

Large rectangle cardboard box (mine was free from Bunnings)
Stanley knife
Masking tape 
White undercoat
Acrylic paints in the colours of; dark aqua  (I used some free sample pots, woo hoo!)
Light aqua
Black
Pink
White 
Paint brushes and foam roller (optional)
Black, red, yellow and blue sheets of coloured paper
Glue stick 
Pencil 
Scissors

1. First tip the box on it's side, so it is a tall rectangle. Then, trace a circle for the head opening on the top of the box. We used a dinner plate plate for reference.

2. Cut the circle out with the Stanley knife. I decided the first circle was too big for my sons head, so I drew a smaller one inside and cut along that one instead.

3. Next draw and cut a square in the opposite end of the box. Make sure it is big enough the body to fit through as this will be how you get the costume off and on.

4. Try the box on to make sure both holes are large enough. If not trim a bit more off the cardboard to make them bigger. As you can see we had to tip the box on it's side to get the desired rectangle shape.














5. Tape the box opening closed with some masking tape. You will need to do this on the inside as well for extra strength.

6. Now trace and cut out a small circle on each side of the box for the arm holes. We used a small plastic bowl for a template. Hubby thought we should use one of the taped up sides as the front as he was worried if we used the part with the tape as the sides, the arm holes would make it not as strong. I have no idea if this is a valid idea or not so it's up to you.

7.  Give the entire box a couple of coats with the white undercoat. Our box originally had black writing on it, so it was important we cover it up first. Then try it on to see if it fits comfortably. At this point you also may want to consider adding some foam to the inside of the box, where it sits on the shoulders. Mr 8 had sore shoulders by the end of the day and I wish I had of done this.

8. Next paint a rectangle with the light aqua colour on the "front" of the box for BMO's face. Give this a couple of coats.

9. Paint the rest of the box with the dark aqua paint. We found this easier to do with a foam roller. This will also need a couple of coats to make the colour nice and even.

10. Outline the face edge with the black paint, this took a couple of attempts and  in hindsight if you have thin black tape, that would probably have been easier. Also pencil in the facial features, then paint them black. Luckily, Miss 15 was home to help! BMO has a kind of a kawaii style face, with the eyes being far apart from each other. It also can have many different mouth expressions so we used Google images for ideas.

11.  Finish outlining the mouth and sketch in some cheeks if you like. I think the rosy cheeks look super cute!

 12. Use the pink paint to finish off the cheeks and tongue. With the white paint to detail the teeth. You can see in this pic the line down the middle of the box, which is where we taped it up. Like I said, you could easily just add the arm holes here and put the face on a flat part of the box instead. This was the part where I cursed myself for listening to my hubby as I don't like the look of the line. Too late now!

13. Paint BMO in black down the sides of each box, using the arms holes as the O. With the actual BMO it is written with the B starting at the top and the O at the bottom but this would be impossible to have your arms fit through comfortable so we reversed it. Also paint a few dots underneath for the speakers.

14. Paint some vents in black, like in this photo.

15. Cut out some shapes from the coloured paper or card, to represent the buttons. Glue them on with the glue stick. Voila! you're done, and ready for an adventure!