Hungry Happenings

  • RECIPES
    • All Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Decorated Cookies
    • Decorated Cakes
    • Cheesecake Recipes
    • Everyday Desserts
    • Homemade Candy
    • Everyday Meals
    • Readers’ Gallery
  • HOW TO
    • Chocolate Making Tips
    • Chocolate Making Course (video lessons)
    • Make Modeling Chocolate
      • Modeling Chocolate Recipe and Tutorial
      • How to Color Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Store and Work with Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Greasy Modeling Chocolate
      • How to Fix Dry Modeling Chocolate
      • Use Colored Candy Melts to Make Candy Clay
    • Candy Clay Creations
    • How To Color White Chocolate and Candy Melts and Paint Candy Molds
    • How to Use Food Coloring Markers
  • HOLIDAYS
    • ALL HOLIDAY RECIPES
    • Valentine's Day
    • St. Patrick's Day
    • Easter
    • 4th of July
    • Halloween
      • Hungry Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
    • New Year's Eve
    • MORE HOLIDAYS
      • Mother's Day
      • Father's Day
      • April Fools
      • Chinese New Year
      • Cinco de Mayo
      • Day of the Dead
      • Earth Day
      • Mardi Gras
  • PARTY FOOD
    • Super Bowl
    • Graduation
    • Birthday Party
    • March Madness
    • Summer Fun
    • Baby Shower
    • Wedding Shower
    • School/Teacher
    • Movie and T.V. Characters
    • Kid's Treats
    • Fun Party Recipes
  • MY COOKBOOKS
  • ABOUT
  • MY BLOGS
    • HowToMakeCerealTreats.com
    • HowToMakeEasyCookies.com
    • HowToMakeEasyFudge.com
    • TheSugarAcademy.com
menu icon
go to homepage
  • recipes
  • chocolate tips
  • about
  • cookbooks
  • subscribe
  • holiday recipes
  • Halloween recipes
  • party food
  • appetizers
  • decorated cheese balls
  • cute food for kids
  • dessert recipes
  • chocolate recipes
  • homemade candy
  • decorated cakes
  • cupcake recpes
  • cheesecake recipes
  • cookie recipes
  • rice krispie treats recipes
  • fudge recipes
  • modeling chocolate treats
  • ice cream recipes
  • popcorn recipes
  • everyday meals
  • recipe roundups
  • readers' gallery
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • search icon
    Homepage link
    • recipes
    • chocolate tips
    • about
    • cookbooks
    • subscribe
    • holiday recipes
    • Halloween recipes
    • party food
    • appetizers
    • decorated cheese balls
    • cute food for kids
    • dessert recipes
    • chocolate recipes
    • homemade candy
    • decorated cakes
    • cupcake recpes
    • cheesecake recipes
    • cookie recipes
    • rice krispie treats recipes
    • fudge recipes
    • modeling chocolate treats
    • ice cream recipes
    • popcorn recipes
    • everyday meals
    • recipe roundups
    • readers' gallery
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×
    Home » Party Food » Parties

    Build a Halloween prop using a costume and PVC

    Modified: Sep 11, '23 · Published: Oct 19, '20 · By: Beth Klosterboer · Commission earned on paid or sponsored 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, a 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 and 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 ¾ inch wide PVC pipe and these are the sizes we cut:

    • 2 - 41" (that means 41 inches) PVC pipe
    • 1 - 10  ¼" PVC  pipe
    • 2 - 12  ¾" PVC  pipe
    • 2 - 4  ½" PVC pipe
    • 4 - 2  ¼" 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.

    Complete 3D Zombie Adult Co...Shop on Amazon California Costumes Men's R...Shop on Amazon Obtai Halloween Child Kille...Shop on Amazon FunWorld Young Men's Teen S...Shop on Amazon BSTWM Chicken Wire Net for ...Shop on Amazon PVC Cutter, Cuts up to 2-1/...Shop on Amazon CHARLOTTE PIPE ¾ SCH 40 T...Shop on Amazon Spears 406 Series PVC Pipe ...Shop on Amazon Premium Landscape Pool Spa ...Shop on Amazon

    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 it to the ground.

    This post was originally published on September 21, 2012.

    zombie ticket takers made out of PVC and Halloween costumes.

    PVC Zombie Ticket Taker and Usher

    To make the props stand up on their 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.

    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-Themed Recipes

    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 had 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.

    • Author
    • Recent Posts
    Beth Klosterboer
    Beth Klosterboer
    Hi, I'm Beth Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com
    Beth Klosterboer
    Latest posts by Beth Klosterboer (see all)
    • Irresistible Sweets with Dixie Crystals® - July 13, 2024
    • How to make peanut butter? - February 15, 2024
    • OREO Penguins - December 20, 2023

    More Parties

    • New Year's Eve Appetizers and Desserts including a savory cheesecake countdown clock and mini cheese balls
      New Year's Eve Party Food
    • pumpkin carving party dessert table
      Pumpkin Carving Party Ideas
    • Display of cookies arranged on platters and cake stands for a Christmas Cookie Exchange.
      How to Host a Christmas Cookie Exchange
    • chocolate football cookies decorated with chocolate and vanilla frosting served on a white platter on a green tablecloth.
      Football Cookies

    About Beth Klosterboer

    Comments

      Please leave a comment. Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    1. Fiddlesticks says

      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
    2. Emily says

      September 22, 2012 at 3:26 pm

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

      Reply
    3. Khandra Henderson says

      September 22, 2012 at 2:44 pm

      I would live to win this giveaway

      khandra.henderson@gmail.com

      Reply
    4. golfdad says

      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
    5. louise says

      September 22, 2012 at 10:31 am

      I get your e-mails

      louisepaints {at} hotmail.com

      Reply
    6. louise says

      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
    7. Hoa says

      September 22, 2012 at 6:01 am

      Following Hungry Happenings on Pinterest : Hoa Le

      alittlepieceofheaven777(at)yahoo(dot)com

      Reply
    8. Hoa says

      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
    9. Anna Geidl says

      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
    10. juju mama says

      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 says

        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
    11. Danielle says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:47 pm

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

      Reply
    12. Danielle summers says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:47 pm

      I like HH on FB 🙂

      Reply
    13. Ella says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm

      I'm following all of your boards on Pinterest.

      Ella,

      Reply
    14. Ella says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:16 pm

      I followed Hungry Happenings on Twitter.

      Ella,

      Reply
    15. Ella says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:15 pm

      I liked Hungry Happenings on Facebook.

      Ella,

      Reply
    16. Ella says

      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
    17. Jessica says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      I Follow Hungry Happenings on Pinterest

      jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

      Reply
    18. Jessica says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      I Follow Hungry Happenings on Twitter

      jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

      Reply
    19. Jessica says

      September 21, 2012 at 3:00 pm

      I Like Hungry Happenings on Facebook

      jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

      Reply
    20. Jessica says

      September 21, 2012 at 2:59 pm

      I LOVE the baby Ketchup packet costume!

      jessicarwarfield at gmail dot com

      Reply
    Newer Comments »
    Beth Jackson Klosterboer

    Welcome to Hungry Happenings!

    I'm Beth. I've been a professional chocolatier & baker for over 30 years, have written 5 cookbooks, and love creating fun food for holidays and special occasions.

    Read more about me →

    Popular

    • Mini cheesecakes collage of images with plain cheesecakes, cheesecake cups with toppings, and decorated edible flower cheesecakes.
      Mini Cheesecakes
    • homemade candy bars including dark chocolate bars, milk chocolate cashew bars, white chocolate cookies and cream candy bars, and more
      The Best Step-by-Step Chocolate Bar Recipes
    • Marry a chocolate cake ball with a chocolate dipped maraschino cherry to get these amazing Chocolate Cherry Bombs.
      Chocolate Cherry Bombs - Cherry Filled Cake Balls Dipped in Chocolate
    • Giant Reese's Cup on a cake stand with a slice cut and served on a small dessert plate.
      Giant Peanut Butter Cup
    • Cakesicles with red and green drizzle, rainbow sprinkles, and chocolate drizzle
      How to make Cakesicles (cake pop popsicles)
    • Delicious chocolate truffles coated in chopped cashews, shaved dark chocolate, cocoa powder, cookie crumbs, and a blend of dark and white chocolate shavings.
      Chocolate Truffles Recipe

    Buy my cookbooks

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    use policies

    • privacy policy
    • photo-use policy
    • terms of service

    join us

    • subscribe (newsletter)
    • our online courses
    • readers' gallery

    contact

    • contact
    • about Beth
    • FAQ

    As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2025 Hungry Happenings