Supply Chain Costumes – DIY Edition

By Alex Batty, MHI Marketing Communications Coordinator |@mhi_alex

Y’all, I love Halloween. So does my cube buddy. We’ve been chatting about our prep for this most glorious holiday.

We got the candy covered. I wrote about that last year. But what about costumes?

Now, before you judge the… construction of these costumes, know that I made all these in about an hour using only what I had at my house, which is mostly the detritus of past Amazon orders and my recycle bin. I did not purchase (or even glue) anything. You can take these to the nice level if you so choose. I’m just… illuminating the path for you.

Here are some examples of different supply chain costumes you can DIY at home.

Predictive Analytics

If you want to go the Sheldon Cooper route you can go as predictive analytics.

In following the Cooper tradition, I just made a t-shirt. Well, designed a t-shirt. I didn’t physically make this one, but I do have the template below. If you want to print it yourself, hit me up for the pattern. It’s yours.

 

A predictive analytics costume is for the cerebral among us. It reflects a desire to analyze the world and foresee the future, but without the kitsch of a fortune teller. This costume is rooted in cold, hard data and is not afraid to admit that. (And maybe a little laziness.)

Conveyor

This one is fun because it’s interactive! Become a conveyor. Bring the candy easily to yourself and let those who are handing out the candy have it easy in getting it to you. Really, this costume is all about being generous.

The construction on this one was pretty simple. I took one of those delightful alumni magazines I’m periodically mailed (and in no way immediately recycle without reading) and tore the pages out (along with my heart for destroying such a magnificent thing). You can use regular paper, but the magazine had a heavier stock glossy paper, so it held up a little better.

Roll into same sized tubes and tape (or glue for a more robust construction).Then I took two rulers and taped (or glue) my rolls in roller fashion to them.

Then a string to hang it around my neck for convenience, and this bad boy was done. (Yes, that is a pillow and lego soccer ball modeling these costumes. This is the Internet. I’m not putting my picture on here…)

Additional options to make this a deluxe costume include attaching your candy bag to the end for some ad hoc bin storage. You get interactivity points for kids and candy hander-outers for this upgrade. When saying trick or treat, hold the ‘conveyor’ horizontally and have the candy ‘delivered’ into the bin.

 

 

King Caster

Or queen, whatever works best for you. We’re all inclusive here.

This is a simple three part costume: Chair, headband, and insignia. Take anything that will fit around your head and attach some sort of caster insignia. You can print something out, but I just took some leftover cardboard box and drew my own. Customization fit for a king.

The chair becomes your caster throne, and thus must be a chair with casters. Throne and transport all in one, can it be any better? I SUBMIT THAT IT CANNOT. Besides. When you’re tired of traipsing around after your kids all night (or after partying with adult beverages) you’ll be glad you have a chair to sit in that you don’t have to leave to move around with.

Additions you could add to this costume to make it even more epic? A caster scepter. A king tunic. Throne decorations (but make sure they don’t interfere with the casters). The sky is the limit, and you are the king of this castle. OOH! A CASTER CASTLE. Do it.

Drone

You want a trendy costume? Go the drone route.

Most drones available commercially are the quadcopter variety, so that’s what I went with. Find a box big enough to fit around your torso (you are going to become one with the drone) and fold all the flaps in to make it a hollow rectangle.

I needed a malleable, yet stiff material to make the conical arms out of. You guessed it; I tore more pages out of the alumni magazine. There’s that Niner Pride. They actually worked much better than I anticipated. Then I added some cardboard rotors to a container lid rotor base (yeah, I’m bs-ing pretty hard right now, just… go with it) and attached those to the ends of the arms and you can just slip it over your head and you’re good to go. Wear black or silver to help you fade into the background and your creation really shine.

I’ll admit, this one has the least… production value. To be completely honest, I ran out of time and had to wrap it up, but some paper mache and spray paint would class this up really fast. You could also make the container lids rings really easily and place the rotors inside for a more accurate look.

Protective Guarding

There are so many possibilities here, but in looking around my house, I saw this bad boy

and immediately thought “wire mesh guarding. Boom!” Yes. I think ‘Boom!’ on a regular basis.

 

Just zip tie a few of these together in whatever format you like, and you’ve got some protective wire guarding. Plus, when you’re done, you just cut the zip ties and you’ve got a place to put cookies. And you always need more cookie space.

Now since I just did the protective guarding and not what it’s guarding, this leads to the question: Am I being protected from something else, or is something being protected from me…

DIY… with a twist

(because this is the Internet, I do have to put this disclaimer: DON’T DO THIS! DON’T THIEVE. ESPECIALLY NOT FROM YOUR EMPLOYER. BUT DON’T THIEVE AT ALL. This is merely hyperbole for comedic effect.)

If you want to get… creative about where you’re sourcing your materials, you could build a kick-butt WALL-E costume for the price of some glue and paint. And no, not one of these:

ONE OF THESE:

I know some of y’all work with AGVs… I won’t say it, but put the pieces together… add a little cardboard and some paint, mebbe some duct tape and a couple of CDs for texture, and you’ll be the envy of the party. Plus, no walking.

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Okay, so this post was a little tongue in cheek. But I stand by the fact that if you put some effort into some of these, they could be a super cool costume. Especially the conveyor one. Who wouldn’t be charmed by a conveyor to send candy down? You might score some extra candy with that.

As always, remember that whatever you’re doing on Halloween, all the stuff surrounding you: candy, costumes, adult beverages, food, movies, music, etc.? It all got to you because supply chain is there.