Velociraptor Costume

1993 was the year Jurassic Park came out, and it inspired me to make my first Halloween costume. I really had no idea where to start or what materials to use! I tried a couple of times to start with a base of paper mache over a balloon, but finally settled on building papier mache (a type of paper clay) over a base of cardboard. I worked out how to make the jaw move when I opened my mouth. The eyes actually moved as well, but I had to pull strings to "puppeteer" them. You can see the strings if you look closely.

The body of the costume was nothing special, just a leotard and tights dyed green, and a tail I could tie around my waist.

Even though it isn't the greatest mask in the world, it is special to me for a lot of reasons. It got me confident enough to continue working on other costumes in the years to follow. It was also the last year I went trick-or-treating. (The little green pouch was there so people could put candy in the mask's mouth and I could catch it there!) Always tall for my age, by the time I made this mask, people were already asking that most heartbreaking of questions, "Aren't you a little too old for this?"

Well, now it's now over twenty years later, and if I'm not too old for it now, I certainly wasn't then!

Never let people tell you how to have fun.

Categories: Costuming, My Costumes, Older Costumes
Tags: 1993, costume, dinosaur, early, first, Jurassic Park, old, velociraptor
Live Date: 12/31/2000 | Last Modified: 12/31/2000