This post may be long.
But, This is the Way.
(This is the Way.)
Ahhhh. Is your family obsessed with The Mandalorian??! (the new Star Wars show, now in Season 2) We started watching it last year with our cousins, and the kids fell in love with it. They’ve always enjoyed Star Wars stuff. But there’s just something new about this series, which doesn’t have to stick to old plot lines, that makes it so fresh and appealing—Not to mention that it’s amazingly directed by Jon Favreau and Taika Waititi.
And let’s be honest. Most of us are here for baby Yoda. Or as the purists in our family refer to him, “the Child”.
OMG. We’ve set limits on how often the kids can say, Awwwwwwww during an episode.
Cause I mean. AWWWWWWW.
He’s so cute!
But Mando is equally as cool. They’re just a fun combo! The show is a bit wild west (first episode, Tremors anyone??), it’s a bit Star Wars throwback vibe, and it’s just good fun.
So in September I started asking the kids what they wanted to be for Halloween–IF Halloween was even happening (Covid). But one can dream. Owen knew immediately, “I want a Mando helmet“. So I started looking online, and I’m glad I started early—since it shipped from overseas. I looked at a bunch on Amazon, but settled on this one and it’s SO AWESOME (looks like the price has doubled since we bought ours! Mando. So hot right now). Some of the helmets online were soft and rubbery, which might be good for a younger child. But this one is hard plastic, so it looks really legit. To make it fit just right, we added some padding inside….from his old baseball helmet! DING! We just pulled the pieces off from his helmet and glued it into the Mando one. And it’s perfect.
The day the helmet arrived, Owen wore it for hours. I love those moments when your kid is stoked about something (like the Zootopia fox head. So glad that worked out)
I went out for a jog that night, and came home to him doing homework like this:
And then chilling on the couch like this. Haha.
(with a real life shot of our house–backpacks and all.)
The helmet also came with a bunch of funny Star Wars stickers. Bonus!
The helmet was a success.
What I didn’t know, was if he wanted a full-on Mando costume to go along? Was it cool to have a FULL costume? Or cooler to just have a helmet and wear that to school? What does a middle-schooler want?? (btw, Owen is a 7th grade teenager now! He’s grown up before our eyes in the last 6 months.)
So I left it up to him.
And he made his own costume! Yay!
Well, Casey helped a bit. And I sewed a bit. And Lucy, Savannah, and eating candy corns helped a bit. But I was happy that he wanted to make something.
It was actually pretty easy, since the helmet was already figured out.
(Wearing his costume, while working on his costume. Meta).
Easy Mando Costume:
• Spray paint a bunch of cardboard and vinyl fabric with silver spray paint.
• Draw the armor pieces on cardboard, cut out, and outline with a sharpie.
• Use a hot glue gun to attach pieces.
• For the shoulder guards, cut a slice in the middle and fold it over itself to create dimension.
• Use elastic and velcro to attach everything. The breast plate has criss-cross elastic in the back and we glued the shoulder pads right onto the elastic. Arm guards have velcro sewn on.
• Sew a simple rectangle bag for baby Yoda with a long strap (and insert scary looking old yoda doll. Haha. We didn’t have a real baby Yoda—that might be coming for Christmas)
• Throw it all together with some black or brown clothing: Pants, shirt, boots. We should have done a scarf around his neck too.
And you’ve got a Mandalorian!
There’s so much more you can do with this costume—add a cape, a scarf around the neck, some amo straps, etc. But I love that this came together fairly easily, and that he was in charge of it. And dude, if I saw this Mando in my backyard, I’d be a little nervous.
THIS IS THE WAY.
And apparently it’s been the way for a while.
I had to compare these new pics to Owen’s old Halloween costumes.
So much Star Wars love!
From Mace Windu, to JEDI Skywalker, to MANDO:
The Force is strong.
And some things never change for Clara too. This year she said she wanted to be a cat again….like the kind with one of those big funny heads. EASY.
So here you have Clara Cat, THEN and NOW.
Happy Mandoween!
Love the costume! It turned out super awesome ☺️
Thanks Anna! It was fun to see him excited about it 🙂
This pulled at my heart strings!!!!! I remember using your Mace Tutorial for my now 10 year old! Stop growing little people!!! Also, we have lots of helmets (star wars, jurassic world, avengers, etc) and no matching costumes haha. Just fun I guess… Your kids are getting so big! Lucy is your little twin! Love her laugh on the picture. And good job on your costume Owen! Very impressive. And good choice Clara!! I love it
Awwww that’s awesome that you did a Mace costume once too! Love it! Thanks for following along all these years 🙂
Wow, great costume
Thanks Connie! He had fun with it 🙂
Great job! My son went as Mando as well… he made the helmet and some of the armor (he ran out of time for all of it) out of EVA foam. It was a fun process! We are loving this season around here and it’s fun to actually have to wait a week to see the show. We usually watch something that’s already out and we can power through episodes back to back. Kinda feels like the old days of my childhood. 🙂
This is the way.
Oh fun! That’s so awesome! I love that you made your own helmet! This is the way 🙂