We started planning our family costumes in August! I was concerned about supply chain issues and, depending on theme, how long it might take to make our costumes. Thankfully, the kids agreed on a pretty easy idea and we all dressed up as Pac-Man video game characters.
Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man
Originally I planned to use yellow t-shirts to create our Pac-Man costumes. I changed my mind at the last minute and got very lucky to score black t-shirts in our sizes (literally searched the shelves and found the last XL one in the store). Then I used one of the original yellow shirts for the Pac-Man bodies.
I started by laying out the shirts and a roll of Heat ‘n Bond and hand drew Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man. Then ironed it onto the yellow t-shirt. Once cooled, I cut out the designs. I wanted to be sure to get the placement correct so we both put on our black shirts, decided on position, and then I pinned before ironing it on.
I drew the eye designs onto Heat ‘n Bond as well and used extra black fabric I had in my stash. Then repeated the process with red felt to create Ms. Pac-Man’s bow.
Super simple and both shirts were complete.
My husband topped off his costume with a themed baseball cap. I accessorized a headband with a large red bow and cute Pac-Man & ghost earrings.
Ghosts
The kids chose their preferred ghost. I originally thought we’d stick to 2 of the original 4, but my daughter shockingly boycotted the idea of being a pink ghost. A quick web search led to a cheat sheet with ghost characters from several of the video games and spin off tv shows. The result? Inky and Yum-Yum.
Inky is a blue ghost and part of the original line up. Yum-Yum is red with a pink bow on her head. She’s from Jr. Pac-Man.
We created the ghost costumes using oversized blue and red t-shirts. I hand sketched a zig zag along the seam of each and we cut to create the wavy bottom.
The eyes we made with felt. I used a fabric pen to sketch out the shapes. The kids chose 2 different blue colors for the pupils and my son requested squares so his would be more pixelated. Part of the fun of DIY costumes is you can make those little changes to personalize them.
I had my kids put on their shirts while I used Aleene’s fabric glue to attach the eyes. This helped me get the placement correct.
I finished off my daughter’s costume with a headband matching mine, but in pink.
Pac-Man Masks
With the pandemic still ongoing and being only 3 out 4 vaccinated so far, I knew I wanted fun themed masks again this year. Last year I couldn’t find fabric in time so I used my Silhouette and vinyl to create masks that matched our costumes. This year, thanks to early planning, I found cool Pac-Man fabric on Etsy and sewed masks for all 4 of us.
They came out great and we’ve all had lots of compliments on our unique masks!
