Barbie & Ken DIY Costumes

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

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