How to Make a Candy Cane Costume

The ugly sweater Christmas party is a big deal these days. And I’m not going to lie, I’m here for it! It’s casual and easy you get to wear costumes! Best of all, no fretting about what cute holiday outfit to wear. Our friends kick it up a notch and host a hideous Christmas party every year. Here’s Andy and I’s 10 minute super easy costumes: A candy cane and a Christmas tree costume.

Remember last year, we did a Texas theme ugly Christmas sweaters? (And then I cut off Andy’s sleeves to make ugly sweaters for wine bottles.) This year, we needed entire outfits! So, I pulled out my all time favorite red, strapless costume dress and figured I could turn it into something Christmasy awesome. That dress has been the base for a lady bug and a coke can costume! And now it gets to be a candy cane, lucky dress. All I had to buy was some silver tinsel, candy canes, and a green long sleeved t-shirt for Andy.

What you need to make a diy candy cane costume

The supplies you see in the picture below include supplies for Andy’s full body Christmas tree costume. Oh and if you happen to have a white dress on hand, use red Duck Tape (or red electrical tape) for stripes! I prefer Duck Tape because it’s thicker.

Red dress
White Duck Tape
Cardboard
Red spray paint
Headband
Hot glue gun
Cardboard cutter

How to Make a DIY Candy Cane Costume

Andy and I attended hideous Christmas for the first time this year and whipped up these hideously awesome costumes just in the nick of time! I’ll do a post soon with the amazing prize winning Christmas costume ideas.

Step 1- Cut a candy cane

I used a cardboard cutting tool to cut out a candy cane shape from cardboard. I made the curve of the candy cane fit my face perfectly, ha! I happen to have red cardboard on hand, but if you don’t have red card board, use spray paint to spray the brown cardboard red.

Step 2- Add white stripes

After you have the candy cane shape cut, it’s time to add the stripes! Use white Duck Tape to make horizontal stripes on your face framing candy cane. I even used the same headband I used to make the bottle top for my coke can costume. I just ripped off the coke tab and hot glued on the candy cane, voila!

Step 3- Glue candy cane to headband

Use a hot glue gun to glue the candy cane to the headband.

Step 4- Add stripes to the dress

Last but not least, use white Duck Tape to add stripes to the red dress. Try to make the white stripes consistent with the stripes of the candy cane you just made! The candy cane costume is definitely a whole look, ha!

Candy cane costume accessories

How to make a Chrsitmas tree costume

As for Andy, his tree was inspired by this Christmas tree costume. His entire costume was safety pinned together 10 minutes before we walked out of the door. I pinned on the tinsel, led light pack and 3 giant red ornaments and then hung the candy canes from the tinsel. Oh so fancy! I cut a star out of yellow card stock 2 seconds before we walked out of the door. Ribbon would be a fun addition to a Christmas tree costume.

Oh and Andy wore a tree skirt around his waist. He wore that thing as a cape to another Christmas party a few years ago, ha! Here’s my big candy cane mug shot complete with a crafted bow tie made by Rachelle! Yep, this party even had a craft table!

I’ll share lots more hideous Christmas costumes soon! Has anyone else attended a full out Hideous Christmas party? Any awesome costumes ideas I must know about? We had Christmas Wrappers, an Elivs Santa, and even a Chrsitmas story leg lamp in attendance… so fun! Hop on over here to see who took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd prize in the hideous Christmas costume contest!

What you need to make a diy candy cane costume