Gumball Machine Halloween Costume DIY
I often like to dress up as weird objects. I went as a loofah and a Tootsie Roll in the past, so this isn’t too weird for those who know me. This past year for Halloween, I decided to go as a gumball machine.
Actual gumballs didn’t want to stick to my shirt (of course I tried) and just weighed down my top too much. So instead I used craft pom-poms since they resemble gumballs. I added some felt to an old red skirt for the body of the gumball machine and then I was done. If you don’t have any of these items hanging around (most of us throw away our college “clubbing” clothes after a few years, after all…), Amazon and Forever 21 are great places to pick up cheap basics.
Since this post went live, I’d like to note that this costume went viral on Twitter, Reddit, Pinterest, and Buzzfeed. It resulted in good things, like a bunch of blog traffic and friends texting me saying “You’re all over Pinterest!” However, it also got a ton of nasty comments on Reddit and similar meme pages (most comments were about the placement of the .25 logo, my big nose, and my lack of hips). They say any press is good press though, right?
Want to recreate this costume yourself? Here’s how to make a gumball machine costume for less than $30.
Gumball Machine Halloween Costume DIY
Materials
- flesh-colored tube top or spaghetti-strap tank top
- red mini skirt
- 1 piece of acrylic gray felt and 1 piece of white felt
- a Sharpie marker or fabric marker, if you’re fancy
- a few bags of craft pom poms (I like the larger ones)
- a hot glue gun
Directions
- Try on the top and skirt together and mark where the top of your skirt meets your top. This is so you will know how far down to glue the pom poms onto the top (you don’t want the skirt to go over the pom poms since it’s uncomfortable and will look funny).
- To create the bottom of the gumball machine, cut out a square piece of gray felt and hot glue it to the dress. Use a small piece of white felt for the dispenser as you please. You can write and draw the wheel, the cost of the gumballs, etc. with a black Sharpie marker.
- To create the globe of the machine, glue on various colors of craft pom poms all over the front of the top. I kept the back bare (my hair covered my back anyway), but you could glue them to the sides and back of the top as well.
James went as a “The Price is Right” contestant. I think my creativity is rubbing off a little on him- he made this one all himself!
Love this, you look adorable and I am loving your hair.
thanks so much Rachelle!
Love your costume! It’s so creative.
thanks!
I love it! You have the best costumes!!
aw thank you!
The gumball costume is so cute! You’ve had so many creative costumes. Happy Halloween!
thank you!
This is such an awesome costume! You always have the best ideas! Happy Halloween!
thanks Niki!
I love this! It is so creative 🙂 Halloween is definitely my favorite holiday, hope you have a good one!
thank you- you too!
Ha! What an adorable idea – love both of your costumes!
thanks!
You seriously are the best and most creative costume designer ever!! I almost died when I saw this on IG!! Absolutely precious and so clever!! Adding this one to my ideas for next year!!
thanks so much!
That gumball costume is seriously the greatest thing ever, you are SO creative!
thank you SO much Evani!
That costume is adorable! I wish I thought of cute ideas like this!
thanks!
Y’all look great! I love DIY costumes – they’re always the standouts on Halloween.
thank you!
I love it! You come up with the best costume ideas!
thanks Allyssa!
YESSSSS! This is awesome. You look so so cute.
thank you!!
Happy Halloween! I love how creative your costumes are, this one is so cute.
thank you!
such a fun costume! i love it!
thanks!
You did a great job on your costume. Unique and very cute!
thank you Cece!
This was such a cute idea Rachel!
thanks!
Awesome costumes! But I think 751 is an underbid…
hahaha thanks Jay!
I think your creativity is totally rubbing off on him! You guys did a great job!
thanks!
I love your gumball costume and I would have tried real ones too!
thanks!
Your DIY costumes are always so creative and cute! 🙂
thanks Ashley!
SHUT UP! I cannot handle how adorable this is! And so creative!
thank you haha!
this came out SO ADORABLE! the pom-poms were a good idea!
thanks so much!
Too cute! And, so creative!!
thanks Kara!
Omg your costume is beyond. LOVE!! xo, Julie
thank you!
Saw your costume on FB and I love it! Looks so good and its so creative.
thank you!
So cute! What a great idea, love the pom poms.
thanks!
Such a cute costume idea! I hope you guys had a great Halloween!
we did- thanks!
OMG!! I’m a little late but I love this costume!! So cute!!
thank you!
In Germany, we do not celebrate halloween as such, but for “Karneval” which comes up in about 2 weeks i made a costume just like yours. sorry for stealing your idea, but this is the coolest come up i’ve ever seen! 🙂
Awesome! 🙂
I love this! I want to copy it for a concert I’m attending that encourages a “costume”. Could you possible email me so I can ask some details about it? C22rp@yahoo.com. Thank you
Hi- you can shoot me an e-mail at rachel [at] lifeunsweetened.com and I’ll be happy to help!
How many pom poms (and what size) did you use?
Hi Vicki-
I used 2 small bags of pom poms from the craft store- any size will do, but I chose a medium size.
Looks to me like a prostitute costume. 25 cents to ‘turn you on’.
Hmm, it’s unfortunate that your mind works that way.
I absolutely love this! You did an amazing job and my husband and I plan to use this and put our own spin on it this Halloween… He will be going as a quarter 🙂 Thank you for sharing your creative mind!
That is awesome!
Love this!!! What size pom poms did you use??
I linked to them in the post. They were medium (I guess?).
Too bad it looks like the candy comes out of your netherlands.
It’s too bad you think that way
That is awesome!
Thanks!
How did you glue the pom poms on?
With a hot glue gun, I linked one up in the post!
Hi! I’ve been following your blog for a while now and finally got the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Kingwood Texas! Just wanted to mention keep up the good job!