Barbie & Ken DIY Costumes
Updated: May 20, 2020
Last year Reece and I were going to be in Hawaii for Halloween. I absolutely LOVE dressing up... (Reece not so much ha!) But there was no way I was going to miss out on an American Halloween experience.
I needed a costume that:
Could easily fit into our suitcases
Was lightweight and wouldn't take up a lot of room - because lets face it, if you've even been to Hawaii before, you want as much space in your suitcase as possible to bring home all that shopping
Reece would agree to wear... because I'm all about the couple costumes
Was unique and wouldn't break the bank
I had a brainwave... BARBIE & KEN, but not just any normal Barbie & Ken... Hawaiian Barbie & Ken!
We wore clothes we had already planned to take and I designed corflute frames to replicate Barbie & Ken's boxes, Mattel logo and all. My dress was from Forever New a few years ago, I bought the blonde wig from eBay, Reece's shirt was from Lowes, and our lei's & my heart sunglasses were from the $2 shop.
I tell you what - it was a huge hit... it took us 2 hours to walk 300m down the road to get dinner as we kept getting stopped for people to take photos and get selfies with us.. loved it! Even Reece did - isn't he a great sport? Held that frame up all night.
So if you're wondering how I created these, keep on reading - if you don't care... then this blog post finishes here for you haha!
The design process
I designed them in Adobe illustrator, they measure 60cm wide x 90cm high. If you’re not a designer it may be difficult to design something like this - but that’s where I come in!
I sent them to a signage company (Grace Sign & Display), to be printed on 5mm corflute, along with a separate document showing the cut lines, I've shown you what that looks like below
I DO NOT recommend cutting this yourself... I was going to attempt it to try and save a bit of money, but it's nearly impossible to cut through, especially around curves
The two printed frames cost $58.00 including delivery, plus $40 for custom contour cutting, so you're looking at just under $50 for each frame.
To fit them in my suitcase I sadly had to cut them in half (but our hands covered the joins anyway so no biggie), then I just sticky taped them back together when we arrived in Hawaii
Thats it!
If you'd like a custom frame designed for an event, send me an email at: shelley@creativeshell.com.au