Gremlins Family Halloween Costume

Halloween is a REALLY big deal in our household. It is such a creative holiday for us, and we go ALL OUT. Every year we try to put together a family costume better than the last. It seemed for the longest time we struggled to find a family costume that could compete with our Where The Wild Things Are costume that I put together back in 2016, where I made gigantic paper mache heads. We had a couple of years where we had newborns in the house, making it extra challenging to pull off what we would have liked. Some years were definitely harder than others, and there were times where I would spend months making handmade costumes only to find that when it came time to photograph the kids, one of them would inevitably have a last minute meltdown. There was always one that wouldn’t be looking at the camera, and quite a few where our puppy Wilfred would jump into the frame spoiling an otherwise perfect shot. Even though it was near impossible to capture, I was committed to this family tradition and knew that it would be a nice capsule for the kids to look back on one day. We haven’t missed a year yet when it comes to Halloween family portraits, and we are in the process of putting together this year’s costumes. So, stay tuned to see what we came up with.

Back in 2021, we decided to go with something nostalgic and teach our kids about our childhoods growing up in the 80s. It was such an inspiring time to be born in terms of pop culture, and many of our childhood favs have come back with a vengeance. After compiling a list of our top 10 family Halloween costumes and careful deliberation, we narrowed it down to none other than, The Gremlins. We thought it would be the perfect way to introduce our kiddos to a classic film that we loved when we were kids and give them an appreciation for these clever characters, practical special effects and fantastic story lines.

For those of you not in the know or born as of late, Gremlins is not just a movie, it’s a cultural phenomenon. It has influenced the horror-comedy genre significantly over the years and has inspired and continues to inspire numerous filmmakers and movie goers of today. The Gremlins themselves became iconic figures and continue to pop up in unexpected places including your very own closets. This 1984 cult classic was directed by Joe Dante and produced by Steven Spielberg.

The making of the Gremlins was not without its challenges, including limitations of animatronic technology available at the time. Yet, the dedication of the cast and crew, combined with innovative techniques really brought the characters to life.

To recap, let’s dive into the world of mischievous monsters called Mogwai, and the chaos they create. The movie takes place in the small town of Kingston Falls, and the story centres around a young boy named Billy Peltzer who receives a pet Mogwai named Gizmo as a Christmas present. There are strict rules around caring for a Mogwai, including not exposing them to bright light, not feeding them after midnight and not getting them wet. However, rules are meant to be broken and the Mogwai multiplies, leading to an army of mischievous Gremlins wreaking havoc on the town. The process of the adorable Mogwai transforming into Gremlins is both amusing and terrifying at the same time. It really showcases the special effects and puppetry that made this movie so memorable.

Gremlins left a lasting legacy with two sequels, Gremlins 2 and Gremlins 3. This timeless classic has captured the hearts of viewers for 4 decades now, and continues to be cherished to this day, capturing the attention of the next generation. Therefore, it seemed only fitting that we would choose Gremlins for our Family Halloween costume. Here’s how we did it…

Materials:
Das Modeling Clay
2 Plastic Masks
Acrylic Paint
Faux Eyelashes
White Faux Fur
Mod Podge (Glossy Finish)
Velcro
Sponges
10 White Foam Sheets 9′ x 12″
5 Brown Suede Headbands
Hot glue gun with glue sticks
Wire Coat Hangers
Heavy Duty Wire Cutters
Men’s Spandex Full Body Suit – Green
Face paint
Green Wig

The first step was making the adult Gremlin masks. I was dressed as Greta with the big ruby lips, and my husband was Stripe, most notably known for his white Mohawk. To make these masks, I used Modeling clay that I hand sculpted onto plastic masks. After the faces were sculpted and the clay was left overnight to dry, it was time to bring these characters to life with Acrylic paint. For Greta, I wanted the lips to look like actual lipstick so I used Mod Podge on top to give it a shine. I used tin foil that I crumpled up to give the masks added texture. After all the details were painted, I added Faux lashes to make the eyes really pop and give her a feminine touch. For Stripe, I hot glued white Faux Hair to the center of his head to give him a Mohawk. I lined the masks with sponges that I cut and glued to the inside of the masks to make them more comfortable and secured the masks to our head with Velcro that I strapped around the back and top of the masks.

Next on the list was Stripe’s body suit. For this I used a green Men’s Spandex Body suit that I purchased from Amazon. I wanted to give it some texture, so I hand painted it with Acrylic paint and I used a sponge brush to dab the paint. I layered on the paint to give it some depth and added detail too. In the end I was really happy with how it turned out, even if it was a little snug and left zero to the imagination!

Finally, I made the ears for all of the Gremlins. These were made with large foam sheets that I hand painted and cut out. I rolled the ears around metal hangers that I straightened and cut with heavy duty wire cutters. I secured them to headbands that I picked up at the Dollar Store.

The Facepaint that I did on the girls was done with a pallet that I picked up online. Over the years I’ve found that water based paint works best over the face paint that you usually see at the local Halloween stores in your neighbourhood hobby shop, as these tend to be dry and “cakey” and can irritate your skin. For Oxford, he was in his terrible twos at the time and wouldn’t sit still long enough to have his face painted, so we chose to forgo it and put him in a Gizmo costume. You have to pick your battles, am I right?

The rest of our clothes were pieced together from whatever I could find in our closets and at the retail shops at that time. My wig was from Amazon, and was the perfect finishing touch in its emerald green color.