Zoltar Mechanical Genie Costume

by Christopher
(Hemet, CA USA)

This year’s costume started with a request from our 9 year old to help build a “mechanical genie” costume from a popular children's cartoon program.

My wife and I, products of the 80’s, immediately thought of the mechanical genie from the movie “Big” and started planning.

The costume is simply a cardboard box, embellished of course, with items from the local discount store, online auction sites, and found items around the house. The cardboard box was painted with spray paint and finished with wood like contact paper. The bottom section is stretch velvet from around the house and most of the rest was put together with little bits from here and there, a ton of foam and lots of glue….LOTS of glue.

The costume he is wearing came from cast off bits of clothing and a turban that we found on an online auction site that was embellished with feathers. We could not find anything locally that would work.

Originally, we had handles set for the inside and our son was to pick up and tote, from the inside, to his next destination. Instead, we commandeered Grandpa’s power scooter, took it apart, and mounted his costume on top to make it mobile….so far so good and Grandpa was a sport and proud to help.

It took us 40 or so hours of family time. We were very happy with the result and look forward to this year’s Halloween!