Sharing our DIY Hungry Hungry Hippos costumes for a Halloween family costume idea that is inspired by our baby’s appetite and the Hungry Hungry Hippo board game!
Our moment has finally come! We are so excited to have put together our family costume idea. So without further ado, here’s our DIY Hungry Hungry Hippos costume reveal to show off our chunky little Gwen!
The meme options were endless when it came to dreaming up our first family Halloween costume ideas. But we landed on hungry hippos because, well… Gwen loves to eat!
Plus, we can be colorful. It’s a unique costume concept. And it wasn’t super hard to make. That being said, we always have to be a little extra.
So we decided to REALLY try and give the full Hungry Hungry Hippo game effect by turning Gwen’s baby walker into the board game. I wanted for her to look like she was actually one of the hungry hippo players.
That part… was a little trickier! Not to mention the logistics of getting to the family costume party with our circus-load of costume things, diaper bag, walker, car seat, etc.
Now for the DIY fun, you can go as in-depth as we did for this costume. (Looking at you, baby walker.) Or you can even just whip up the hat and hippo onesie in a pinch, and be on your way!
Needless to say, this is by no means your plain bank robber costume. Though it’s inspired by the Hungry Hungry Hippo game, you could also just skip the explanation and call this a hippo costume in general.
This even makes for a great couples costumes or Halloween group costume idea.
Materials and Tools Needed to Make the DIY Hungry Hungry Hippos Costumes for the Family
Before we delve right in, I thought that I’d mention that we decided to start with plain white clothing versus searching for matching pieces.
The, we dyed them with fabric dye to make the hats and clothes match to the right colors.
It may be a bit more time consuming doing so.
However, I found that it was actually cheaper to do so also.
But it also meant that each color would match rather than it looking like 4 different janky colors of orange, blue, pink, etc.
Totally up to you on if you want to go the fabric dyeing route!
Materials and tools needed:
Felt craft sheets — Or foam sheets to match your dye colors
Scissors — Or an Exacto knife if using foam sheets
Fabric dye in pink, golden yellow, and aquamarine — Needed if you’re dying your clothes and hats to match. The 4 classic board game color ways are yellow, orange, blue and green.
Our Family Costumer Idea Materials | DIY Hungry Hippo Costumes
For the outfits themselves, all you’ll do is dye them to the colors of your choice according to the manufacturer instructions and let dry.
Once you’re all ready to go, you’ll use a dab of hot glue to randomly place the white ball pit balls on each outfit.
How to Make the Hippo Hats
I cut shapes for the ears and nostrils from felt (for the blue) and foam sheets (for the pink and orange) to be able to match them to the hat colors.
Using either felt or foam sheets work.
To make the ears:
1 — Add a dot of hot glue to the center of the ear and pinch them closed in half until the glue is dry.
2 — Then, glue the ear to each side of the hat. You can sew it on if you want the ears to be more secured.
To make the eyes:
1 — Cut out pieces of white and black foam sheets for the eyes and teeth.
2 — Hot glue (or sew) the eyes and ears in place.
I found that giving the ears and nostrils a bit of dimension by gluing them on at a curve made it feel more realistic!
How to Make a Hungry Hungry Hippo Baby Walker
I used different cutout shapes of craft foam and painted styrofoam balls to give the illusion of the game while also trying to keep them out of her immediate reach.
Not going to lie, the walker portion was the hardest part, and only time will tell how well they hold up to her little crab fingers!
So what do you think?! I’d say Gwen makes the cutest hungry hippo you’ve ever seen!
Nothing like getting a good laugh from the UberXL drive-partner when they saw us juggling our 520,235 in abstract hippo form, haha!
What are your plans for Halloween?! Let’s hear them! See some more of our Halloween costume ideas below!
DIY Hungry Hungry Hippos Costume
Equipment
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun
- Scissors
Materials
- 2 adult hat
- 1 baby, toddler, or kids hat
- 3 fabric dye in the colors of your choice
- Foam or felt crafting sheets that match your chosen hippo clothing color
- White ball pit balls or foam balls
Instructions
For the family outfits:
- Dye each garment to the colors of your choice according to the manufacturer instructions and let dry.
- Once dry, randomly hot glue the white ball pit balls on each outfit.
For the hippo hat:
- From felt of foam sheets, cut out the shapes for the ears, nostrils and teeth and glue them in place onto the hate.
- To attach the ears: Add a dab of hot glue to the center of the bottom of the ear and pinch the corners closed and together until the glue is dry. Repeat for each ear.Then, affix the ears to each side of the hat. This way, it mimics hippo ears.
For the baby walker:
- To avoiding gluing the hippos directly to your walker, tape cutout of felt or foam craft sheets to serve as the base of where you want you want your hippos to be.We put the hippos on the edge of the walker tabletop.
- Cut styrofoam balls in half to form the hippo's body. And glue them to the base.
- Glue styrofoam or ball pit balls to the body to form the head.
- Cutout black rectangles from your felt or foam sheet to form the handles as seen on the Hungry Hungry Hippo board game.
Hi, how did you get such a light pink? I used the same Petal Pink dye and it turned out more like hot pink. Thanks!
Hi Katie! Oh no, we are so sorry to hear. That’s interesting that it turned out hot pink. We just read the reviews and feedback on the Petal Pink dye. Some fabrics seem to hold onto the dye more than others. So if you’re dying cotton, the colors will be a lot vibrant. Some people had the same issue but they recommended using doing cold water instead of hot, using a very little amount or even diluting it. Hope this helps!
Yes, this at least helps for the future! I want to redo it, but of course that doesn’t make sense so I’m just hoping I can find felt/foam that will match. It is good to know for the other outfits, though! Do you recall if you added salt like the dye instructions mention? I wonder if that was part of it too. Thanks so much!
Is there a pattern for the eyes, nostrils, ears and teeth?
Hi! Unfortunately, we do not have a pattern. We actually freehand cut the shapes out since the eyes are basically long ovals. The nostrils, ears and teeth are oval halves too. Hope this helps!
OMG! This photoshot is so cute.
Beautiful sensational ideas and photos, congratulations for the article!
You guys just won Halloween – and it hasn’t even happened yet!!
Rebecca | http://www.peppermintdolly.com