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Build a Halloween prop using a costume and pvc plus a costume giveaway.

October 19, 2020 This post may contain affiliate links.

Dress up a PVC and chicken wire frame for Halloween. It’s easy to create a human body frame using PVC and chicken wire to create a creepy Zombie prop for your front porch.

use pvc and chicken wire to create a human body then dress it up with a zombie costume for Halloween

Today I’m going to stray from my usual tutorial on creating fun holiday food and instead share with you how we built this zombie using PVC pipe, chicken wire, a costume, mask, and a styrofoam head.

Purchasing full-size Halloween props can get very expensive, so we try to reduce those costs by doing some DIY projects each year.

Once you have finished reading this tutorial you can check out all of our other cool zombie-themed decorations on my Zombie Party Post. We created boarded up windows with zombies crashing through them for our dining room, created a creepy graveyard in our front yard and more.

use PVC to create a human form to make a Halloween prop

Create a PVC frame.

Before you cut your PVC pieces, be sure the costume you are using works for this size figure.

We held up the pant legs then cut our pipes to fit the pants. Then we determined how tall the torso should be and cut those pieces.

Our costume had short arms, so we cut accordingly. Use the measurements below as a guide.

PVC pieces needed:

We used all 3/4 inch wide PVC pipe and these are the sizes we cut:

  • 2 – 41″ (that means 41 inches) PVC pipe
  • 1 – 10  1/4″ PVC  pipe
  • 2 – 12  3/4″ PVC  pipe
  • 2 – 4  1/2″ PVC pipe
  • 4 – 2  1/4″ PVC pipe
  • 1 – 2″ PVC pipe
  • 2 – 17″ pvc pipe
  • 4 – pvc elbows (curved pieces)
  • 5 – pvc T’s (T shaped pieces)

Other Supplies needed:

  • chicken wire*
  • costume
  • styrofoam head
  • mask
  • optional, eyes of some kind to fill in the eye holes in the mask
  • optional, steel rebar**

*Chicken wire helps to build out the shape of your human frame, but you can also just wrap the frame with bubble wrap.
You can make the arms and legs using pool noodles or just leave it a PVC frame if you want a really skinny zombie.

**If you want to use this Halloween prop outside, put rebar in the ground then set the pipe over the top of the rebar to hold it firmly in place.

You can find costumes, PVC, and chicken wire from Amazon. I earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you) when you use the links below.

 

wrap chicken wire around the PVC frame to create legs for your zombie

Assembling the human frame

  • Cut and attach all of the PVC pieces together as shown in the picture above.
  • Use the chicken wire to create a structure for your PVC framed body.
  • Create two legs using “tubes” of chicken wire then attach the wire to the PVC frame by snipping the wire and wrapping those cut pieces around the frame.

wrap chicken wire around the PVC frame to create arms and a chest for your zombie Halloween prop

  • Make smaller tubes of chicken wire to create the arms and shoulders.
  • Just feed the PVC arm into the tube and bring the tube up and around the shoulder pieces of PVC.
    • My chicken wire tubes stayed in place after I wrapped it around the shoulder area.
    • If yours does not, just cut some wire and attach it to the shoulder.
  • Make a large tube and wrap it around the torso area.
    • I just fed the neckpiece of PVC around one hole of the chicken wire and it held this in place.

cut a hole in the base of a styrofoam head., tape some eyes to the inside of the zombie mask then fit it over the Styrofoam head

Adding the zombie’s head

  • Cut a hole in the bottom of a styrofoam head, just big enough for a piece of PVC to go into it.
  • Cover the styrofoam head with a mask.
    • My mask didn’t have eyes, so I used some black electrical tape to attach two eyes (actually the eyes are erasers with eyes printed on them) to the inside of my mask. Then fit the mask onto the styrofoam head.

dress the PVC frame in your zombie costume

Dressing the PVC frame

  • Carefully dress your zombie, add the head, and some feet or shoes.
  • You will probably have a difficult time finding both left and right feet for your zombie at a Halloween store. I do not understand why they do not make both! It’s a mystery to me. Anyway, I just hid one foot under the costume and let the other foot stick out.
  • I did have to pin the costume a bit at the top so that it looked more natural.
  • I also pinned the chest piece to the chicken wire underneath it, because at first, it looked too boxy.
  • Now I think it looks great, don’t you?

zombie prop on front porch for Halloween

  • When we finally decide where he will go, we’ll figure out what to do with the feet.
  • He’ll probably end up in our graveyard outside.
  • We’ll hammer two pieces of steel rebar into the ground, cut holes in a pair of old shoes and feed them over the rebar then feed the PVC leg pieces down over the rebar so that it looks like he’s wearing the shoes. I
  • love him and am excited to display him at our Halloween party.

NOTE: This human-sized prop does not stand up on its own. You will either need to prop it up next to a wall or use rebar to attach him to the ground.

This post was originally published on September 21, 2012.

PVC Zombie Ticket Taker and Usher

To make the props stand up on its own you need to add more PVC fittings to the bottom of the legs as we did with these zombies.

We used a similar technique to create our zombie movie theater props.

The zombie usher was made with PVC and bubble wrap. The ticket take was actually a skeleton prop that we purchased. We just dressed him up in a vintage movie theater costume.

See more about these zombie movie props here. 

zombie prop behind a creepy concession stand in a dark movie theater

This zombie prop has been used for many of our parties. He’s usually an usher, leading our guests into our Catacomb Cinema, but one year we placed him behind the concession stand.

During the party, that table was loaded up with candy, popcorn, and a few creepy snacks.

zombie window decorations DIY project for Halloween

These boarded up window decorations were our favorite DIY Halloween project ever.

We created frames that fit into our window cavities so the windows were not damaged. The frames fit snuggly so they stayed in place but were able to be removed after Halloween.

You can see more about our zombie-themed party here.

zombie desserts including gumdrop brains, zombie popsicles, zombie cake, PR&J brains, Cake Ball Brains, and Zombie Candy Cups

If you are hosting a zombie party don’t forget to make some creepy, yet delicious) zombie-themed desserts.

Be sure to also check out all these creepy zombie-themed desserts.

Pizza Brain served on a white blood-stained platter alongside marinara sauce.

I wish I would have thought to make this Stuffed Pizza Brain for our zombie party. Next time! You can make one though.

Have you made your own Halloween props? If so, let me know what you made in the comments below.

Filed Under: Halloween Crafts, Games, Parties, Parties Tagged With: zombie

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jessica

    September 21, 2012 at 2:59 pm

    I LOVE the baby Ketchup packet costume!

    jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

    Reply
  2. Jessica

    September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    I Like Hungry Happenings on Facebook

    jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

    Reply
  3. Jessica

    September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    I Follow Hungry Happenings on Twitter

    jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

    Reply
  4. Jessica

    September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

    I Follow Hungry Happenings on Pinterest

    jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

    Reply
  5. Ella

    September 21, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    Hi, I just found your blog yesterday. I love it! You have so many wonderful ideas.

    Enter me please! =]

    Ella,

    Reply
  6. Ella

    September 21, 2012 at 3:15 pm

    I liked Hungry Happenings on Facebook.

    Ella,

    Reply
  7. Ella

    September 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    I followed Hungry Happenings on Twitter.

    Ella,

    Reply
  8. Ella

    September 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm

    I'm following all of your boards on Pinterest.

    Ella,

    Reply
  9. Danielle summers

    September 21, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    I like HH on FB 🙂

    Reply
  10. Danielle

    September 21, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    Hmm this would be a hard decision but I's love a chance to win!

    Reply
  11. juju mama

    September 21, 2012 at 10:31 pm

    So smart! Im doing a grim reaper with an ironing board I can use pvc for the arms. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Beth Jackson Klosterboer

      September 21, 2012 at 11:17 pm

      Wow are you using the ironing board to create the body? That is a very clever idea.

      Reply
  12. Anna Geidl

    September 22, 2012 at 4:54 am

    My favorite costume when I was a kid was Strawberry Shortcake. Even then I was obsessed with desserts. 🙂

    Reply
  13. Hoa

    September 22, 2012 at 6:00 am

    Thanks for the giveaway! I was a hamster with my daughter last year.

    alittlepieceofheaven777(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply
  14. Hoa

    September 22, 2012 at 6:01 am

    Following Hungry Happenings on Pinterest : Hoa Le

    alittlepieceofheaven777(at)yahoo(dot)com

    Reply
  15. louise

    September 22, 2012 at 10:30 am

    I used to make all my own costumes by hand and always loved the ones I made for my children including a witch, pumpkin and clown.

    louisepaints {at} hotmail.com

    Reply
  16. louise

    September 22, 2012 at 10:31 am

    I get your e-mails

    louisepaints {at} hotmail.com

    Reply
  17. golfdad

    September 22, 2012 at 10:33 am

    Your zombie turned out great. The chicken wire is a great addition. Thanks for the tips.

    golfdad303 [at] g.mail.com

    Reply
  18. Khandra Henderson

    September 22, 2012 at 2:44 pm

    I would live to win this giveaway

    khandra.henderson@gmail.com

    Reply
  19. Emily

    September 22, 2012 at 3:26 pm

    Fun! Thanks again for the snack cake party 🙂 Kids LOVED it!!

    Reply
  20. Fiddlesticks

    September 22, 2012 at 4:18 pm

    That's Awesome….
    We have a full size Mummy that we sit out on the front porch every year and he lights up and as soon as someone gets close enough to him he makes a loud scary noise and it never fails to make everyone scream LOL!!!!
    Got to Love Halloween :))
    dwmarks33@comcast.net

    Reply
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