As you know, I LIVE for Halloween costumes. Even during a pandemic when children and parents alike are concerned about “Halloween can’t be canceled”. Listen, for me, it’s all about dreaming up a costume and taking a picture of it. I don’t care about much else. So, in my book, Halloween is now done. Ha! How’s that for trick-or-treating?! And this year, I went with a viking costume.

Materials:

Over on Instagram I’ve been doing a Jasper Costume Countdown from the previous couple of years. Do you remember them? First year, we had fun with a Picasso and Painting mommy and me costume. That little pudge! I can’t even handle it!

But for actual Halloween night I turned him into a colorful French clown. Don’t ask where the make-up ended up.

The next year, he played Jared Leto at the Met Ball

And then Mommy and Me as Lady Liberty and her little tourist.

And then a squirrel for actual Halloween night.

DIY Cardboard Box Viking Costume

This year, I was inspired by his Nordic DNA and went a little more savage. Now, if you recall from this post, I have a number of requirements that accompany each costume choice. If you’re child has no opinions a la Jasper, then you can do whatever you darn well please and that’s when these decisions matter most. I really should have gone with a rotund animal selection because Jasper still has all the right curves (thankfully!), but a little mini viking was too cute, especially before he truly does become more savage with age.

Additionally, Paul’s number one choice for Jasper was Odin. It was a bit *much* for me so we got some use out of it in this more temporary context.

Cardboard Box Costume Viking Costume

I was inspired by my friend, Merrilee Liddiard of Mer Mag who creates the loveliest cardboard costumes. She has a series of cardboard box costumes that I love so what started out as a plain ‘ole Viking turned into me thinking I turn his wagon into a ship and then before too long it became a cardboard box.

Here’s how I did it:

Materials for Ship:

cardboard box big enough for your child to fit into
Craft knife
Glue gun
Sharpie or pencil
acrylic paint in brown, blue, red, yellow, gold
string or rope
dowel
poster board
paint brushes

Instructions:

Cut an oval hole into the top of the box and cut the other side out completely
Draw and cut out your dragon design. I inserted it into a hole in the box and then secured with glue gun. Repeat to the tail.
You can see in the pictures that I painted the sea first, but in hindsight I should have painted the brown of the ship first and then done the sea afterwards. I ended up doing both.
I wanted a painterly/weathered look so I didn’t add too much paint onto the box, but enough to cover all the markings.
I added in some metallic gold paint for accents. And then the sea with large strokes.
Viking ships have those round shields on the side so we added those on too.
We created a red and white sail with paint and added holes into it for the dowel.
I added straps into the box from the end of the ship to the front so that they can be used as shoulder straps.

DIY Viking Helmet made from Cardboard

Jasper has been taking his viking hat EVERYWHERE we go–to the grocery store, returns…It’s hilarious. I’ve been wanting to make this Viking hat from Zygote Brown because it’s too darn cute! The one she has uses a different technique for the horns, which is AMAZING. I was spending SO much time on it that at midnight I had to say “serenity now” and figure out a faster technique so I did just a 2D version with the shape itself.

DIY Cardboard Viking Hat Materials:

cardboard
Zygote Brown basic hat template
glue gun
craft knife
cutting mat
2D horn template

Instructions:

Use the Zygote Brown viking hat base (the price is worth it because it involves exact math!)
Cut out the 2D horns and insert them into the side of the hat and glue in place.

I did have to give his hair a little boost because it’s so long that the curls are getting weighed down. Curling iron to the rescue!

DIY Viking Costume

For the actual costume, our sewing intern made a few fun things:

Sweet furry vest (the furrier the better!). It just so happens to be the same as the squirrel costume from last year!
Spats She also made some spats in the same material to go over his shoes. I tied them up with twine so that they would hold in place and provide more texture.
Turtleneck and pants I used this cream turtleneck from Maisonette and some pants he already had.