DIY Plant Halloween Costumes

In the spirit of spooky season, we decided to try our hand at some DIY Halloween (or should we say Plant-O-Ween?) costumes and created five easy, plant-themed ones for you to design at home! If you love plants like we do, why not become one this year?

The best part? Each of these costumes was made using just one 77x13x13 Trees.com cardboard plant box (shown below), which means trick-or-treating just got a lot more fun, affordable and eco-friendly!

These DIY costumes are the perfect family activity, so get your kids involved and they’ll have a blast. We know we fully enjoyed putting them together at the office! Grab those leftover plant boxes, plus a bowl of candy, and let’s get crafting.

Below, we’ve included the needed materials and tools, as well as step-by-step instructions for each of our featured plant costumes.

Cactus

Inspired by our Dragon Fruit Cactus, this costume is perfectly prickly. If you’re going for an exotic and tropical look this Halloween, this getup is your best bet. A little spiky and a little spooky with lovely flowers for a touch of beauty, the cactus will ensure you look extra sharp this year!

Materials Needed:

• Green t-shirt or sweatshirt
• Green pants (optional)
• Yellow paint
• Fake flowers (optional or make your own—we made ours using construction paper)

Tools Needed:

• Glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Cardboard box
• Paint supplies
• Box knife

How To:

1. Get a square piece of cardboard that’s about a square foot and paint both sides bright yellow.
2. Get your t-shirt and lay it out with some spare cardboard inside to prevent the glue from sticking the shirt together, and plug in your glue gun.
3. As your glue gun is heating up, cut strips from the yellow cardboard that are around 3 inches long and around ¼ inch thick.
4. Fold each yellow strip in half and glue them on your t-shirt. Don’t forget to do your sleeves!
5. Place your flower or flowers where you want them and secure with hot glue.

Snake Plant

The Snake Plant screams Halloween, which is why we had to include it on our list of costume creations. If you’re a house plant lover or simply wanting a trendy outfit to flaunt this year, the slithering Snake Plant is sure to fit the bill. And if you're partial to painting, this one is definitely for you!

Materials Needed:

• Green paint
• White paint
• Orange/Brown paint
• Yellow paint
• Green ribbon
• Cardboard Box

Tools Needed:

• Paint supplies
• Hot glue (optional)
• Scissors
• Box cutter
• Yardstick/Ruler
• Duct tape

How To:

1. Take a yard stick or a ruler and measure out a rectangle that’s around 2 ft. tall and 5 ft. wide. This will be the pot, so adjust the size as needed or use two strips of cardboard to create your desired pot shape and size.
2. On the same piece of cardboard, measure out a long skinny rectangle for the lip of the pot. It should be around 4 in. tall and match the width of your larger rectangle. We made ours 5 ft. long.
3. Lastly, taking the leftover cardboard, draw out long leaf shapes, varying in heights and widths. For reference, we made around 14 leaves total with half around 3 ft. tall to be seen in the back and the other half shorter for the front. Don’t stress about making them all match—having variety will better mimic nature!
4. Paint your leaves using the green paint. Take this time to also paint your pot and the lip of the pot your desired pot color. Pro Tip: Use light green on the edge of your leaves for a variegated look, or use a sponge with some black to give extra texture.

5. Once dry, cut the two rectangles out and all of your leaves. We suggest using a box cutter, a sharp knife, scissors and an abundance of caution for this part.
6. Tape or glue the skinny rectangle to the longer side of the larger rectangle to make your pot with the lip.
7. Match up the shorter sides of the pot to make a circle and secure with some duct tape, ensuring the lip of the pot is on top.
8. Arrange your leaves with the taller ones in the back and shorter in the front, taping or gluing them in place.
9. Lastly, secure two pieces of ribbon to hold up your pot like suspenders. We secured ours with some hot glue and a piece of tape. A friend might need to help with this step!

Fall Tree

It wouldn’t be autumn without the gorgeous hues of fall foliage. So, if you’re wanting to fit in with the season, try on our maple tree costume for size. Fun, easy and ultra-colorful, you’ll be a guaranteed standout in this ensemble.

Materials Needed:

• Fake fall leaves
• Umbrella
• Cardboard Box
• Fishing line
• Brown paint

Tools Needed:

• Hot glue or craft glue
• Paint supplies
• Hot glue sticks

How To:

1. Plug in your glue gun, and open up your umbrella. Pro Tip: We went for a red umbrella as our base, but make it your own by painting the umbrella your desired color and blend in with your leaves.
2. Start at the top of the umbrella and glue your fake leaves on. We recommend going section by section and making sure all the leaves are facing downwards like they are hanging off of the tree. Make sure to save around 10-15 leaves and place them to the side for later.
3. Cut a few lengths of fishing line about 3 feet long and tie them to the underside (the metal rods) of the umbrella, so they hang down at the edge.
4. Carefully glue the leaves you set aside in random directions along the fishing line as if they were falling off the tree.
5. Set the umbrella aside and cut out a length of cardboard that matches your height and is around 1 ft. wide. To give the trunk more detail, don’t cut it perfectly straight. Instead, give it some character with a slight wave to the sides.
6. Using a small paintbrush and brown paint, fill in the texture of the tree by drawing irregular, circular shapes that follow one another. This will give the appearance of wood. Pro Tip: If you’re having trouble with the trunk, draw some circles in random places and fill in the irregular shapes from there.
7. Lastly, secure a ribbon to the back of the trunk with hot glue or tape (we used both). You’ll wear the trunk like an apron, so we found it easiest to leave the ribbon open in the back to tie it around the neck.

Lemon Tree

For a truly sweet costume, our lemon tree is a total treat. As a tribute to our ever-popular Meyer Lemon Tree, this costume is extra delicious and would be especially fun for kids. You can also swap the lemons for any type of fruit, and it’ll be equally as cute!

Materials Needed:

• Fake fruit—we used lemons
• Cardboard box
• Fake green leaves
• Brown paint
• Ribbon

Tools Needed:

• Scissors
• Hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Paint supplies

How To:

1. Cut a long rectangle of cardboard that’s the length of the wearer, plus additional length that covers the head (this will be the trunk). Cut out a large oval for the face and round the top corners of your trunk near the oval and set aside.
2. Use the remaining cardboard and draw out some branches. We did around 5 branches total. Make sure they’re not too thin so they’ll still hold their shape once the fake fruit is glued on. Pro Tip: For the branches, start off with the base and keep dividing them into V’s for a natural branch shape.
3. Cut the branches out and arrange them on your trunk to your liking, securing with hot glue on the back.
4. Next, paint your tree with brown paint. We used a sponge and different shades of brown and green to add texture.
5. After the paint is dry, attach the leaves and fake fruits to the branches.
6. Lastly, add ribbon to the back to make it wearable. Below the face hole, hot glue then duct tape two pieces of ribbon so you can tie them like an apron around your neck. For extra security, add an additional ribbon to the top of the face hole and tie around your head like a headband.

Evergreen Tree

Last, but certainly not least, is the evergreen tree, inspired by our mighty Thuja Green Giant. This simple yet stylish costume is as easy to make as the Thuja Green Giant is to grow! You’ll be looking lush and fluffy in this outfit, and if you’re feeling Christmas-y, you could even add lights, ornaments and a star on top.

Materials Needed:

• Garland (amount needed will depend on how full your garland is)
• Dark green shirt
• Dark green hat (optional)
• Pot (we reused the Snake Plant pot)

Tools Needed:

• Hot glue or craft glue
• Hot glue gun or glue sticks
• Scissors

How To:

1. Plug in your glue gun and lay your shirt out on a table. While the glue gun is heating up, place some cardboard in the center of the shirt and up the sleeves to prevent it sticking together.
2. Start at the sleeves and begin wrapping around the arms. We found it easiest to start at the wrist and spiral around, leaving some space between the rows.
3. Once the sleeves are complete, flip your shirt with the front facing up and start gluing the garland on the front. Start at the bottom and only glue the front side of the shirt, leaving space between the rows like you did on the sleeves.
4. Finish the look with a green hat and the pot from the Snake Plant costume. (Refer to Snake Plant Pot Steps 1,2,6,7 & 9).

When you’re tired of all the same old Halloween costumes out there, our plant-inspired ones are sure to freshen things up. They’re easy to create and cost-friendly, and making them will be just as memorable as wearing them!

We’d love to see which costumes you pick! Try out one of our ideas or come up with your own, and be sure to tag @trees.com in your Halloween DIYs. And because there's so much that our plant boxes can be reused for, tag us in any other creative ideas you have, too!

Plus, don't forget to shop our costume plant picks so you can match your very own varieties this Plant-O-Ween!