DIY Maui, Hei Hei and Te Kā Costumes

This Halloween was my son's first Halloween trick or treating, so of course I had to make sure we had adorable costumes! We love the movie Moana, so that was our costume theme this year. I was Hei Hei, my husband was Te Kā and our little boy, H, was Maui. These costumes took me about two weeks to make. Mind you, I was only able to work on them while H was napping or after he went to bed. I'll be sharing what supplies I used, how I did it and anything I would change so that if you, fellow crafter, try to make these, you'll have an easier time than I did.

Toddler Maui Costume

Supplies:

- Shorts

- Twine/thin rope

- Scissors

- Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks (E-6000 would also work)

- Leaves (Be sure to have various types and sizes)

To make this costume, I glued everything to a pair of basketball shorts thinking that his legs would be covered in case the leaves were itchy. However, after I glued the leaves on, the burgundy legs still showed, so I started trimming them off and only had the waist band left by the time I was finished. I highly recommend using a green or khaki pair of shorts.

I wrapped the shorts around a box so that they would be fully stretched out while gluing leaves and twine on so that they would still stretch when putting them on H.

I suggest glueing multiple pieces of twine on the shorts instead of wrapping one long piece around. Also, when gluing on the leaves, use just enough glue to hold them on. Too much and they won't stretch or shrink back.

The large leaves were leftovers from a dinosaur balloon arch kit I bought on Amazon. The other three kinds of leaves and twine came from the Dollar Tree. I also purchased this temporary tattoo set from Amazon for H's Maui tattoos.

Hei Hei Adult Costume

Supplies:

- Long Sleeve Shirt

- Feather Boas

- Hot Glue

I bought a turtle neck shirt from the local Goodwill and the teal, yellow and orange feather boas from Hobby Lobby. I ended up cutting the neck from the shirt because the feathers were way too fluffy to glue all the way up my neck. I glued the feathers to the shirt while I was wearing it, rotating it around to alternate glueing on the front and then the back. I placed a piece of cardboard between the shirt and myself to avoid burning myself with the glue.

This would be much easier as a two person job or using a mannequin, so long as it is the same size as the person wearing the costume. I found out the hard way using too much glue keeps the shirt from stretching, so it was difficult getting dressed and undressed for all our Halloween events. This is also VERY HOT to wear for a long time. Be sure to air dry the costume in between wears!

It also sheds, so so so much. I had feathers all over my house, the farm we trunk or treated at and the neighborhood we walked around on Halloween. I had planned to try using a spray adhesive to lightly coat the feathers and attempt to slick them down, since Hei Hei isn't a fluffy chicken. I just didn't get to it before I needed to dress up.

I used 2 orange boas, 3-4 yellow ones and 8-9 teal boas. These are estimates, I do not remember exactly how many I used. This costume was made in a size 2X.

To full commit to the costume I bought these leggings that remind me of chicken legs and dyed my hair bright red using this hair dye from Sally Beauty. I did have to bleach my hair first and this was the bleach recommended to me.

Te Kā Adult Costume

Supplies:

- Black long sleeve shirt

- Black sweat pants

- Brush on fabric paint in red, orange and yellow

- Paint Brushes

This costume was the most difficult for me. I'm not very good at painting in general and this didn't work the way I thought it would, which is why only the front of the shirt got painted. The plan was to paint the whole shirt and the pants.

The paint has to dry for about 4 hours in between layers and the shirt soaks in a lot of paint while drying. The spiral took about 5 coats to be that bright and the rest of the lava marks were done in 3 coats. I started by painting lines randomly in yellow, then outlining them with a little bit of orange and then a little bit of red. Be sure to put a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt, otherwise the paint will soak through to the other side.