DIY Halloween Costume: Porcupine

I have made so many different costumes to wear to SeaWorld San Diego’s Halloween Spooktacular over the years and this year I wanted to do something different. Instead of a marine animal I made a porcupine costume like animal ambassador Kandoro. 

I met Kandoro and learned about porcupines on the Conservation Connections Tour when I was at SeaWorld during my summer vacation. I have a pet hedgehog named Skittles so it was neat learning about another animal with quills. Kandoro’s quills are really sharp and he can use them to keep him safe but he’s really friendly just like my hedgehog.

To make the costume you need a black, long-sleeve shirt with a hood, black felt, fabric glue, white fabric spray paint, face paint, scissors, and cardboard to fit in the shirt.

First, cut rectangles of black felt as wide as the back of your shirt. 

Glue them with fabric glue on the edge in layers up the back of the shirt like tiles on a roof.  Do the same thing on the back and top of the hood until you get to the front by your face. Leave the sides of the hood plain. When you are gluing you should put something in between the shirt so it doesn’t get stuck together. I put a big piece of cardboard inside my shirt.

Next, cut the layers of felt into strips like porcupine quills. Just make sure you stop at the part you glued to the shirt. 

It takes kind of a long time to cut all the quills and your hand might get tired so you can take a break during this part. When you’re done cutting your shirt will have hundreds of quills on the back.

Go outside to paint your costume because it’s really messy. Paint the top of the hood white, then paint stripes on the quills. Cut strips of something like fabric or plastic to put on the felt to make the stripes. Paint over the stripes, then take them off and the quills look like a real porcupine.

I looked online to see how to paint my face with Halloween makeup. I painted my nose black, eyelids and lips black. Then, I kind of blended black, brown and white on my nose and forehead. Every porcupine face looks a little different so it doesn’t have to be perfect.

I really like my costume because all my friends are going to want to know why I wanted to dress up like a porcupine. I’ll tell them about Kandoro at SeaWorld San Diego and how he is teaching people about how to keep animals safe.

I hope I get to go to Halloween Spooktacular to go trick-or-treating this month. I’m going to make my little sister a costume like Peanut the beaver so we both can trick-or-treat together.