DIY Green Brick Ninja Boxtume

***Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. We have teamed up with Amazon and we are being compensated by the Mom It Forward Influencer Network and for our participation in this campaign.***

When you do a lot of shopping on Amazon.com, you sometimes have a plethora of unused cardboard boxes in the house. You could easily just throw them in the recycling, never to be seen again, or you can get some scissors, hot glue, and paint, and you can throw together a Halloween Boxtume for your kiddos. In this post, I will show you how we made our Boxtume, the Green Brick Ninja.

What you will need:

• Amazon.com Smile boxes (the more, the better)
• Fabric Tape Measure
• Scissors
• Exacto Knife
• Hot Glue Gun  
• Hot Glue Sticks (a lot of them)
• Black Spray Paint (about 3 cans) –
• Green Spray Paint (1 can)
• Gold Craft Paint
• Green Craft Paint
• Paint Brushes
• Approx. 8-10 working hours

Creating the Helmet:

Step #1: Measure the circumference of your child’s head from the middle of their forehead wrapping around the the middle of the back of their head.

Step#2: Measure from the center of the forehead to the center of the back of the head.

Step #3: Cut 1 inch tall strips to the length of the two measurements.

Step #4: Glue pieces together.

Step #5: Cut out triangular shapes and glue to the two strips to create the dome shape of the helmet.

Step #6: Measure the back of your child’s head from temple to temple.

Step#7: Cut out a 2-inch tall piece to the length measured.

Step #8: Glue to the dome

Step #9: Measure a piece an inch longer than the circumference of the dome. Start with 1 inch tall and round it up to 3 inches in the center to mimic a headband look.

Step #10: Repeat step 9, but make the center a little wider to create the mask.

The finished head piece should look like this. Hold off painting and gluing until the very end, just in case you need to make adjustments.

Building the Bottom Half:

Step #1: Using your child’s shoe to measure the feet, trace width and length giving about ½-inch space on the front, back, and top of cardboard to make sure your child can slide their feet into the cardboard.

Step #2: Cut out the pieces you just traced.

Step #3: Glue pieces together to make the feet.

Step #4: Measure your child’s leg from the top of the foot to their knee.

Step #5: Draw and cut out leg pieces

Step #6: Glue leg pieces to the feet.

Step #7: Measure your child’s waist and from their belly button to the small of their back.

Step #8: Cut out two 2-inch tall pieces to the measurements you just took.

Step #9: Glue the two pieces together

The bottom portion of the boxtume should look like this. Again, hold off on painting until the end, just in case you need to make adjustments.

 

Building the Upper Body:

Step #1: Measure your child’s upper body from the shoulders to their belly button.

Step #2: Find a box that will fit those measurements, or one that you can cut down a bit.

Step #3: Cut the smaller flaps that connect the box, leaving about an inch of flap on both sides.

Step #4: Draw circles big enough for your child’s arms and head to fit through

Step #5: Glue the long flaps to the remaining inch of the smaller flaps.

Step #6: Once the glue has dried, cut out the arms and head circles.

At this point, you are ready for paint. your boxtume should be looking like this.

Painting:

When painting this boxtume, the only things that should not be painted black are the mask and the headband. You will need about two coats of black paint and should be fine with one coat of the green. Follow the instructions on the spray paint to ensure the best paint job possible. I would also recommend using a primer, just in case.

Once the paint has dried, you are ready to glue the headband and mask onto the dome. Put a line of glue around the bottom of the dome about 1/2 inch at a time. Do the same for the mask to ensure the best stick with the glue. Your Green Brick Ninja boxtume should now look like this.

Now that the boxtume is all painted, you are ready for the detailed paint. Grab your paint brush and get ready to have some fun! For some strange reason I chose to do a lot of the detailed work freehand. You can do this as well, or you can draw it out with a pen before painting.  

Once the paint has dried, you can take a black Sharpie to add a little more detail to the boxtume.

Unless you need to make some alterations (like I had to) your Green Box Ninja Boxtume should be finished!

Remember when I posted about making sure that you don’t paint until everything is measured. Well here is the point of the post where I tell you that I did not do. After doing all the detail painting, we noticed that the thigh pieces were a lot lower than I originally thought. So we had to do some slight modifications to the boxtume to help its look.

We took the X-acto knife and cut around the bottom of the thigh to separate the knee and the foot. I then gave a two finger space from the back of the cardboard to the back of the leg, creating a “new” back of the leg. This helps the thigh piece stay in place as your child is walking around in the boxtume. For more support, you can cut holes in the thigh piece and thread some elastic through or you can tie the thigh piece to your child. Here’s an example of what this should look like.  

Throw on a green undershirt, some gloves, and some black pants to complete this boxtume.

When your child is done wearing their Green Brick Ninja boxtume, use the body of the boxtume for quick and easy storage!

Now that you have seen how easy it can be to make a boxtume with boxes from Amazon.com, go and get your boxes and start building. Make sure you use #Boxtumes and #AmazonPrime so everyone can see the amazing work that you and your family can do.