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.
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.
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.
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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.
- 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.
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.
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?
- 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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Angel Musick says
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Jeff says
Nice. When I was in the Air Force years ago, I dress up as a fighter pilot with the helmet, oxygen mask and all. I would sit by the door and wait for the kids. Some wouldn't even come close.
Beth says
We've had kids too afraid to come up on our porch too. I go out to the driveway to give them their candy. I don't want anyone to pass by our house without candy! What fun would that be?
Angie says
Just a friendly question: is there a particular reason you didn't just use a larger diameter pvc pipe instead of the skinny pipe AND the chicken wire? I'm having a hard time with the chicken wire getting it to form a halfway decent tube around the pipe. I'm almost tempted to scratch this technique and just go buy pvc pipe with a larger diameter. Say, 3 inches or so. Then it seems like the chicken wire could just be omitted altogether.
beth says
Hi Angie,
We used the smaller pipes because they are much more cost effective. If you use larger pvc pipes, it costs more plus the fittings are more expensive. My husband always gets big bags of the fittings which saves money. The chicken wire we bought came in a roll, so I just cut off a piece, and allowed it to go back to it's original shape. It made perfect arms. We've also used pool noodles to make arms, but I liked the chicken wire better. Some people don't use anything on their pvc frame, and just allow the shirt and pants to hang. That works too, but I like my bodies to have more volume.
I hope this helps.
Angie says
Ahhh......that would make sense! Ok going to take a stab at it again. You wouldn't happen to know right off the top of your head how big/wide of a piece you cut off, would you? (My 4 yr.old daughter and I are planning on making a scarecrow with our form and using an old pair of Daddy's jeans.)
beth says
It's been two years since I made this, so I really don't remember exactly, but I would guess for the arms, I cut off about 10-12 inches, then let it roll back up so it's arm shaped. For the legs, I probably cut off more than twice that. Once rolled, the chicken wire overlaps, which gives it more stability. Cut the ends right along the next part of the grid patter, so that you have about 1 inch pieces that you can, carefully, fold over to secure the chicken wire in place.
Jason Holton says
These tips on props Halloween Costumes are my favorite so far in helping me the right costumes I have always wanted. I really appreciate this blog for giving this great information for regarding halloween costumes.
mo says
I too was dressed up in a Halloween costume when I met my future husband. I was a dead bride! We've been married 11 years now.
TLR says
Love your site and so do the kiddies. Thanks!
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I originally found you on Pinterest
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TLR says
Love your site and so do the kiddies. Thanks!
Kleber says
THANKS FOR POSTING ALL YOUR GOODIES! I ENJOY READING THEM..
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Thanks for posting all your goodies! I enjoy them.
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Sharon says
I follow on pinterest
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Sharon says
oooh, I love dressing up for Halloween! I usually try to coordinate w/my son but I don't know if that will work this year .. we'll see. I might be able to do something w/my husband, maybe ketchup & mustard or bacon & eggs 😉
D...SawJones says
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Jessie says
Pick me, pick me. I'd love to win for one of my kids.
jessc2 [at] frontier.com
Anonymous says
Your zombie is so cool. I build static displays every year and your directions are so easy to follow. I love it and everything you do. You are so talented. I'd love to go to one your parties!!!!
I hope to win. wickedvickie {at} woh.rr.com
Eileen Shows says
I am following you on pinterest