Last Minute Ninja Turtle Costume

Over the weekend my son was invited to a costume party and since this mama has not yet finished this year’s Halloween costumes, we needed to come up with a quick and easy dress up outfit.

He could have gone as The Cat in The Hat, which was last year’s costume, however a fur costume in 90+ degree weather simply will not work. Then there was the option to use one of the several pretend play outfits that are in the closet but let’s be honest. This was an opportunity for Mama to be crafty and I just can’t pass up the chance to get artsy!

After some brainstorming and discussion we agreed on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. This is typically a costume that I would steer my child away from as I feel it lacks originality but I decided to let him be the little boy he is and have fun with it. It was super simple to pull together.

"Logz, I'm trying to take your picture.
Logz, can you stand still for a minute?
No, seriously, I'm trying to take a picture of the costume.
 Logz? Ok, maybe a different pose? Thanks bud. Love you."

How we did it 

A Green Turtle Outfit: 
I found green shorts and a green shirt in my son’s closet.

The mask: 
I chose to use a template found on the Betty Crocker website. There are a number of templates online or you can free hand your own.

The shell: 
I used a piece of felt in a gold tone to make a shell for his belly, used a marker to add some definition to the shell and attached it to the front of the shirt. I baste stitched it, but Velcro or safety pins would also work for temporary attachment.

For the back shell, I headed to the dollar store and looked for something in the cooking and serving section to use a shell. A popular option for the shell is a disposable roasting pan, however it seemed too large for my son. I spotted a serving platter and a serving dish that seemed like they would work for us, grabbed them both and headed home to let my son choose which one he liked best.

We agreed that the hard plastic dish was the best choice and got to work painting it (which took all of three minutes). We set it in front of a fan on the floor and it took about five minutes to dry. Up to this point everything was going so smoothly. Then this happened.


I decided it would be a good idea to apply a clear coat to the shell to prevent the paint from chipping and to give it a glossy finish. I had never used any clear coating before, of any kind, so I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. My husband went and purchased the spray and took the shell out back to spray it. We left it out there for about an hour at which point I went to check on it. Well, me oh my! That shell smelled so toxic that I knew it was a lost cause. We were now a few hours from the party and there was no way that scent would off gas in a few hours. I can’t strap a toxic shell to my son and send him to a birthday party!

So, we painted the foil platter that I had bought earlier and decided to go with the matte finish. My son was satisfied with the second shell. Crisis Averted.
 **** It has now been two days and the coated shell does not smell and looks marvelous. It will work well for future dress up. The foil shell is already a little beat up.

Final Details: 
To attach the hard shell to my son, we decided to create a backpack sort of strapping. My handy husband used a Dremel tool to make holes in the hard plastic shell and I used a box cutter to make slits in the foil shell to slide ribbon through. I used the same brown ribbon to attach the shell and create a belt. I secured the belt with a safety pin.

We were going to attach brown felt to my son’s elbow and knee pads to complete the outfit, but he decided he didn’t want to wear them. A felt cuff of sorts would have worked as well if you don’t have the elbow and knee pads.

Face paint optional!

 Quick. Easy. Fun.