Ethan’s Fire Engine Halloween Costume

Ethan's Fire Engine Costume for Halloween

The rain poured and poured and poured this weekend. But it wasn’t that terrible to be confined indoors with two sick little kids. We spent plenty of time with Legos, firefighter toys, superhero capes, short walks outdoors, a few movies, carving a pumpkin, and finishing Ethan’s Halloween costume.

When we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, he was insistent that he wanted to be a fire engine. Of course not just any ‘ol fire engine. He wanted to be a ladder engine. Hmmmm. Laura scoured the internet for ideas to see how other parent’s assisted children’s Halloween costume dreams. She found many ideas but none that exactly fit Ethan’s vision. We put our minds together and began to cut, glue, and paint.

The final product took a few weeks to assessmble. Here are the steps we followed:

1. We found an old moving box in the attic, sized up Ethan, cut out the hole, and painted a few coats of red, then white for the cab and striping.
2. We cut some black construction paper to size and glued on a couple front and side windows.
3. The lights were Ethan’s idea. Ethan and I found front headlights at a nearby hobby store  and grabbed a set of back bike lights from Fred Meyer.
4. The ladder was essential. I picked some 3′ long 1/4″ x 1/4″ pieces of wood from the lumber store. Both ladders are the same sizes, except one is attached to the base with screws so it can swivel around.
5. The two side hoses are 5/8″ rounds of wood. They are tied on with a couple of ties.
6. The side hose reel is an old bike tube wrapped around a black painted toilet paper roll.
7. The front and back bumpers are packing styrofoam wrapped in aluminum foil and screwed to the box.
8. The tires are two paper plates glued together and then glued to the fire engine.
9. We grabbed a couple fire stickers and stuck them on the front grill and two side doors.
10. Laura personalized it with the words “Ethan’s Fire Engine” on the back.
11. Laura picked up a set up rainbow colored suspenders so that the box would balance well on Ethan (it’s a little back heavy).
12. Last, duct tape not only holds the world together, but also this costume.

Ethan loves his costume. Actually Autumn loves it too because of the working lights. We spent about $40 on this project, but we know that the lights and suspenders can be used again, while all the other materials were from other projects.

Ethan and his John Deere Tractor costume (2009)

This costume is a step up from last year’s John Deere tractor. Of course if we keep trying to raise the bar Ethan, and soon Autumn, will expect great things from his Mom and Dad each Halloween.

>> For more of our D.I.Y. project photographs (forts. crafts, tables, and more), please visit our D.I.Y. Photo Album.

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