DIY Last-Minute Cactus Costume _ DIY Halloween Costumes

# DIY Cactus Costume: A Fun and Easy Halloween Idea

Halloween is just around the corner, and if you're like Danielle, you might be scrambling to find a costume at the last minute. In this video, Danielle shares her creative solution: a super easy cactus costume that can be made in about 20 minutes using simple materials. If you’re looking for an inexpensive and fun Halloween outfit, this is the project for you!

## The Inspiration

Danielle was invited to a fancy Halloween party but found herself in a bind when she realized she didn’t have a costume. With only a week to spare, she knew she needed something quick, easy, and affordable. Enter her love for cacti—Danielle is known as the "cactus queen" around her apartment, with succulents and cacti adorning every corner. Inspired by her green thumb, she decided to channel her inner plant and create a cactus costume that’s both cute and quirky.

## Materials You’ll Need

Before you start crafting, gather these simple materials:

- Green pipe cleaners (for the cactus needles)

- Hot glue gun and glue sticks

- Scissors

- A green dress or t-shirt (green fabric works best, but any green clothing will do)

- Pink tissue paper (for the flowers)

- Elastic band or hair clip (to secure the flower on your head)

- Yellow pipe cleaners (for the flower stems)

## Step-by-Step Guide: Making Your Cactus Costume

### 1. **Preparing the Cactus Needles**

The first step is to create those iconic cactus needles that will make your outfit stand out. Danielle demonstrates how to trim and shape green pipe cleaners into perfect little v-shapes. Simply cut a pipe cleaner about an inch and a half long, then bend it in half to form a sharp point at one end. Repeat this process until you have enough "needles" to decorate your dress.

Danielle recommends putting the needles only on the front of the dress if you plan to sit or drive during the party—otherwise, go wild!

### 2. **Attaching the Needles to Your Dress**

Once your cactus needles are ready, it’s time to attach them to your green dress. To avoid damaging the fabric, place a piece of paper or cardboard between the layers of the dress as you glue. Use the hot glue gun to secure each needle randomly around the dress. Danielle jokes that there’s no wrong way to arrange them—just go with the flow!

As the glue starts to dry, gently stand up the needles so they stay upright and look sharp.

### 3. **Creating a Desert Flower for Your Hair**

No cactus costume is complete without a flower. Danielle shows how to make a cute paper flower using pink tissue paper and yellow pipe cleaners. Here’s how:

- Cut six pieces of hot pink tissue paper in half, creating long rectangular strips.

- Stack the layers neatly and fold them accordion-style to create a compact bundle.

- Wrap one end of a yellow pipe cleaner around the folded tissue and twist it tightly.

- Gently pull apart the layers of tissue to reveal the vibrant flower shape.

For extra flair, Danielle adds a few more yellow pipe cleaners to the base of the flower for stems.

### 4. **Securing Your Flower**

Once your flower is ready, you’ll need to attach it to your head. If you’re using elastic, measure it around your head and tie it securely. Alternatively, you can clip it into your hair for a mess-free solution.

Danielle opts for the elastic method since it keeps the flower in place perfectly.

## The Finished Look

After putting it all together, Danielle’s cactus costume is nothing short of adorable. The green dress with spiky pipe cleaner needles and a bright pink paper flower add up to a fun and unique outfit that’s sure to turn heads at your Halloween party.

Danielle even jokes about wearing this costume year-round—after all, who wouldn’t want to be the life of the party dressed as a flowering cactus?

## What Are You Dressing Up As This Year?

Whether you’re channeling your inner plant or going for a totally different theme, we’d love to hear from you! Share your Halloween costume ideas in the comments below and let us know if you tried this cactus costume. Happy crafting—and happy Halloween!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys welcome back to HGTV handmade with me Maryanne and my friend Danielle hey guys so Danielle here was invited to a fancy Halloween party out of town I was yes Halloween's one of my favorite holidays and I'm really excited to go to a party out of town this year but kind of short notice and if you don't have a costume I don't it's about a week away so I'm really looking for something inexpensive it's gonna be quick I think you can help me out I totally can help you so what you don't know about Danielle is she's the cactus queen she has cactus and succulents all over her apartment yes I love them if I could be a cactus for Halloween that would be a dream so that's what we're gonna do I'm gonna show you guys how to make a super easy cactus costume that you can put together and about 20 minutes here's what you'll need if you want to make your own cactus costume green pipe cleaners hot glue gun scissors a green dress or t-shirt pink tissue paper elastic and yellow pipe cleaners okay they can yell so the first thing we need to do is trim our pipe cleaners these are going to be our little cactus needles you know keep anyone from dancing too close to you so the perfect length for these is trim about an inch and a half off the end of a pipe cleaner and then cut it in half then you simply bend them into a little v-shape and that's gonna make our cactus needles easy enough and so I'm assuming that you only put these on the front well yes if you plan on who's sitting or driving or you know anything like that I recommend putting the needles on the front only all right so we have all our needles made it's time to attach them to your dress great first you want to put something like paper or a piece of cardboard in between the dress so you don't glue the whole and you know just keep in mind as you're gluing around the dress to keep moving your paper around so just put a generous dot of hot glue and I guess there's really no specific way you have to a place you know I think the more random the better really I love it because it's just I mean it's just wearing a dress you're not uncomfortable or anything like that and then once we finish this we're going to make a paper flower to go oh on your head cuz you're a flowering cactus yes my favorite kind of cactus as you go along and the glue starts to dry a little bit more go ahead and go through and kind of stand up so when it dries completely they are standing at attention alright Danielle our cactus is looking oh this looks great optically oh I love it it really I mean they've kind of hurt gosh can I wear this just every day you might get some looks but I don't just Halloween person I would like to see that okay but this is not all like I said we're also going to make a little desert flower for your hair to make our desert flower you've grabbed about six pieces of hot pink tissue paper and I went ahead and cut them in half so this is these are half sheets of tissue these flowers are actually really similar to the paper marigolds that Mary made recently on the channel so you guys should definitely go check that video out to lay that out and then just do a simple accordion fold and just give it and smooth it down and make sure all your creases are nice and folded and now we're going to grab one of our yellow pipe cleaners so we're just gonna put that around and twist it okay once you have it tied around then you just grab layers of tissue look at that hold them up and you just kind of fluff each one and paper flowers I can do that yes it's really this is easy okay just make sure all your layers are separated and it's all lift at my gosh and our finishing touch is to grab a few more of our yellow pipe cleaners and just kind of stick them down in there and twist them to your other one our next step is to take a piece of elastic we've already kind of measured this around your head for size we're just gonna give that whole knot you could also try attaching this to a hair clip if you wanted to clip it then but I find that the elastic helps it really stay put so just give that simple knot take the pipe cleaner oh so easy yep interesting place so you know that we were required so pretty so cute all right guys I don't know about you but I am ready to see the finished result Danielle I love it oh my gosh oh it's so perfect I think the flowers my favorite part I think I love it it's adorable give everybody your best cactus okay I'm gonna try wait oh my gosh it's perfect it's for no really I can't even like get a girl it's very prickly well guys I want to hear from you what you're dressing up as for Halloween maybe maybe you're gonna be a cactus you'd be a succulent garden bring all your friends everyone dress up as a cactus you could be a succulent garden what's cuter than that thank you so much for your help it's gonna be perfect I hope you have fun at your party thank you let us know in the comments below what you're dressing up as this year happy Halloweenhey guys welcome back to HGTV handmade with me Maryanne and my friend Danielle hey guys so Danielle here was invited to a fancy Halloween party out of town I was yes Halloween's one of my favorite holidays and I'm really excited to go to a party out of town this year but kind of short notice and if you don't have a costume I don't it's about a week away so I'm really looking for something inexpensive it's gonna be quick I think you can help me out I totally can help you so what you don't know about Danielle is she's the cactus queen she has cactus and succulents all over her apartment yes I love them if I could be a cactus for Halloween that would be a dream so that's what we're gonna do I'm gonna show you guys how to make a super easy cactus costume that you can put together and about 20 minutes here's what you'll need if you want to make your own cactus costume green pipe cleaners hot glue gun scissors a green dress or t-shirt pink tissue paper elastic and yellow pipe cleaners okay they can yell so the first thing we need to do is trim our pipe cleaners these are going to be our little cactus needles you know keep anyone from dancing too close to you so the perfect length for these is trim about an inch and a half off the end of a pipe cleaner and then cut it in half then you simply bend them into a little v-shape and that's gonna make our cactus needles easy enough and so I'm assuming that you only put these on the front well yes if you plan on who's sitting or driving or you know anything like that I recommend putting the needles on the front only all right so we have all our needles made it's time to attach them to your dress great first you want to put something like paper or a piece of cardboard in between the dress so you don't glue the whole and you know just keep in mind as you're gluing around the dress to keep moving your paper around so just put a generous dot of hot glue and I guess there's really no specific way you have to a place you know I think the more random the better really I love it because it's just I mean it's just wearing a dress you're not uncomfortable or anything like that and then once we finish this we're going to make a paper flower to go oh on your head cuz you're a flowering cactus yes my favorite kind of cactus as you go along and the glue starts to dry a little bit more go ahead and go through and kind of stand up so when it dries completely they are standing at attention alright Danielle our cactus is looking oh this looks great optically oh I love it it really I mean they've kind of hurt gosh can I wear this just every day you might get some looks but I don't just Halloween person I would like to see that okay but this is not all like I said we're also going to make a little desert flower for your hair to make our desert flower you've grabbed about six pieces of hot pink tissue paper and I went ahead and cut them in half so this is these are half sheets of tissue these flowers are actually really similar to the paper marigolds that Mary made recently on the channel so you guys should definitely go check that video out to lay that out and then just do a simple accordion fold and just give it and smooth it down and make sure all your creases are nice and folded and now we're going to grab one of our yellow pipe cleaners so we're just gonna put that around and twist it okay once you have it tied around then you just grab layers of tissue look at that hold them up and you just kind of fluff each one and paper flowers I can do that yes it's really this is easy okay just make sure all your layers are separated and it's all lift at my gosh and our finishing touch is to grab a few more of our yellow pipe cleaners and just kind of stick them down in there and twist them to your other one our next step is to take a piece of elastic we've already kind of measured this around your head for size we're just gonna give that whole knot you could also try attaching this to a hair clip if you wanted to clip it then but I find that the elastic helps it really stay put so just give that simple knot take the pipe cleaner oh so easy yep interesting place so you know that we were required so pretty so cute all right guys I don't know about you but I am ready to see the finished result Danielle I love it oh my gosh oh it's so perfect I think the flowers my favorite part I think I love it it's adorable give everybody your best cactus okay I'm gonna try wait oh my gosh it's perfect it's for no really I can't even like get a girl it's very prickly well guys I want to hear from you what you're dressing up as for Halloween maybe maybe you're gonna be a cactus you'd be a succulent garden bring all your friends everyone dress up as a cactus you could be a succulent garden what's cuter than that thank you so much for your help it's gonna be perfect I hope you have fun at your party thank you let us know in the comments below what you're dressing up as this year happy Halloween\n"