DIY Dog Man Costume

Need a quick and easy costume for book character day or Halloween? Here's how we made a fab Dog Man costume in one afternoon.

The little people here at the NickelWorks are big fans of Halloween. We carved pumpkins, decorated the apartment, the whole shebang! My little boy wanted to "be yellow" for a costume so we outfitted him as a banana. But my bigger boy couldn't decide what he wanted to be for the big day. With one week left to go, he finally decided to go as...Dog Man!

Thank You Dav Pilkey!

“Dav Pilkey includes step-by-step instructions on how to draw the characters, including Dog Man, in the back the books.”

We're big fans of Dog Man. The kids love the wild stories and the bathroom humor (truth be told, there are two pages of fart jokes in Dog Man and Cat Kid that made me laugh so hard I cried!). I love Dog Man for its references to literature and the integrity and the complexity of the characters. The villain Petey, in particular, undergoes an incredible transformation over the course of the series.

Every kid in primary school knows Dog Man, but I hadn't seen any Dog Man costumes around the shops or stalls so we were going to have to make it. Luckily, Dav Pilkey includes step-by-step instructions on how to draw the characters, including Dog Man, in the back of the books!

What You Need

Most of the materials used were things we already had around the house. The boy and I made a quick trip to the shops to buy a blue t-shirt and to replenish our felt supply. Here's the list of what you need:

• Blue t-shirt (short or long sleeved)

• Yellow felt

• Cardboard

• Brown, blue, yellow, and black poster paint and brushes

• Elastic

• Glue gun

• Needle and thread

• Scissors

• Black sharpie

The Project

Using the step-by-step instructions, we first sketched out the Dog Man mask on the cardboard with a pencil and then cut it out with the scissors. Afterward we mixed the paint, using the book for reference to get the colors as close as possible. You may want to draw the features a bit darker or use a marker so they show through the paint, we didn't do that and ended up having to sketch out the mouth, nose, and eyes on top of the brown paint after it dried.

We added in most of the lines around the edges with black paint, which was a bit tricky to do. I realized after we had put the paint away that we had forgotten a couple of lines. The black permanent marker did the trick and was much easier to use!

Once the mask is completely dry, use a pencil to mark where to cut the holes for the eyes. The boy held up the mask and I carefully made a little dot in about the right spot. We opted to use scissors to cut out little squares, but you could use an x-acto knife too if you're feeling fancy.

Next step is to cut some elastic to size so that the mask will comfortably stay on your child's head. I used a pencil to mark the right spot on the mask to attach each end and a glue gun to affix the elastic to the inside of the mask. We decided to cover the ends of the elastic with a little bit of felt to make it more comfortable.

Last step was the the t-shirt. We drew a larger version of the shield on Dog Man's hat onto a piece of yellow felt, cut it out, and carefully outlined it with the marker and stitched it to the shirt. If you want to be able to use the shirt again (we definitely did!), just stitch the shield loosely for easy removal and make sure to do the outlining before you sew it on.

Introducing Dog Man!

Our neighborhood had such a wonderful (and safe) Halloween celebration. All the kids looked just fantastic and the businesses did an amazing job of making it feel like a party. My little guys loved the trick or treating, but I could see my big boy swell with pride every time someone yelled out, "Hey! It's Dog Man!" His was the only Dog Man costume in the neighborhood and it was extra special because he helped to make it.