A Sweet DIY Idea: Upcycle Goodwill-Found Items into an Ice Cream Cone Costume

While Halloween is just days away, there is no need to be afraid!  Hit Goodwill for unique finds to transform into a very sweet costume!  A collection of pieces picked up for pennies is upcycled into a one-of-a-kind ice cream cone costume—perfect for kids of all ages AND good for anyone’s diet.

Other than candy and goodies for your trick-or-treaters, Goodwill is very likely to have what you need to transform your home—and your family— for this fun and festive holiday.  Find your good at Goodwill as you think about what your loved ones will wear for this creative and creepy night.  Check out each department, section, aisle, and rack for things that can be turned into a unique scary costume—or a sweet one–like this ice cream cone!


Ingredients

Here are the “ingredients” found at Goodwill or reused from my stash: a round clothes basket, a pair of badminton racquets, a sweatshirt, a beret, Post-it notes, “netted” pants, a tulle-covered dress and a furry pillow. 

Step 1: A clothes basket & netted pants become a waffle cone

Carefully cut away the bottom of a round, plastic clothes basket.  Place the remaining part and your pants outside on a drop cloth and apply a couple of light layers of orange spray paint.  Allow time to dry well, then flip them over and add more orange there, too, so the top of the cone (the clothes basket) and the part you hold (the netted pants) match each other color-wise.

Step 2: Create an ice cream scoop & topping from a sweatshirt & furry pillow

A brown sweatshirt was turned inside out to become a scoop of chocolate ice cream. A white one could be vanilla, and a pink one is perfect as strawberry. Sweatshirts available at Goodwill often have logos or messages on them and can be turned inside out with a flick of your wrist. Cut off any labels that might be showing now.

The fabric from a furry, toffee-tone pillow was cut apart and carefully hot-glued to the top around the sweatshirt’s collar. This will create the look of whipped cream or frosting. A white scarf will work well in this role, too. A small child’s blanket or towel could also be enlisted here.

Step 3: Turn Post-it notes into “sprinkles”

Cut brightly colored Post-it notes into pieces, then hot glue them to the front, back, and sleeves of your sweatshirt scoop. 

Step 4: A red beret is the cherry on top

Any dessert always looks sweeter with a cherry on top, so tap a red beret for this role.  By design, berets have a little tail poking out of their tops; this now becomes your cherry’s stem.  Very charming! The beret used here was a dark orange, so red paint was gently sprayed to make it more cherry-like.

Step 5: Serve up a spoon full of fun with an upcycled badminton racquet

A spoon was created from a badminton racquet by tracing, cutting, and hot-gluing white paper on it.  A black marker gave the spoon’s “bowl” some definition.  Scrap fabric from the fuzzy pillow and more Post-it note parts were glued on the end of the bowl to show its functionality and give it some color and personality, too.

Follow these fun steps to create your own eye-catching costume. Thanks to Goodwill, your Halloween will be a sweet one, too!


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Tim Kime

Artist, Motivational Speaker, Life Coach

Tim Kime is an artist, life coach, and connector. He is the President of Kime Leadership Associates, offering executive coaching, meeting facilitating, and motivational speaking. He is also the Chief Creative Force of Transformation Junkies which upcycles furniture and other household items into functional works of art. He combined his two passions—unleashing the potential in people and transforming items with the launch of the Art of Possibilities Workshops. These workshops are part upcycling, part dreaming, and part goal setting.