DIY Sea Anemone Balloon Costume

At first, balloon costumes seem like an impractical idea for Halloween, but I don't think so! What I like most about a balloon costume is that it's inexpensive and quick to put together. It's perfect for Halloween and even a school play! This sea anemone costume took about 2 hours to put together while watching the Golden Girls!! 

Tools:

• Hot glue gun
• Glue sticks
• Balloon Pump
• Mini Balloon Pump
• Paintbrush
• Scissors
• Shears
• Clown fish template

Materials:

• Black acrylic craft paint
• 1 sheet of orange felt (8.5"x11")
• 1 sheet of white felt (8.5"x11")
• Poly-fil
• Headband
• 30- pink 260q balloons
• 12- wildberry 160q balloons
• 1 small laundry basket (this one is from the $1 store)
• 2 yards of thin ribbon 
• Glue dots

Costume:

• Long sleeve pink leotard
• Pink tights

Step by Step:

1. Take your laundry basket and using your shears, cut the bottom off. 
2. Blow up 15 of your pink 260q balloons. They don't have to be all exactly the same size. Make sure when you fold them in half, they're long enough to pass the top rim of basket about 4-6".
3. Once you've blown up all your balloons, take 8 un-inflated balloons and cut them in half. Fold your balloons in half unevenly, where one side is about 2 inches longer than the other. Use the un-inflated balloons to tie the inflated balloons to the basket.
4. After you've tied all your balloons to the basket, shape the ends of the balloons a little to be more organic.
5. Take your remaining pink balloons, blow them up halfway and tie them off. Cut the remaining piece of the balloon and blow it up to make a second balloon. You should be able to get two balloons out of one. Insert these balloons into your tied up balloons on the basket. The un-inflated balloon holding them should extend enough for you to slip in the single balloon. 
6. When all balloons are ready, using glue dots, adhere any balloons together that may look too separated. 
7. Measure the ribbon to from the front of the basket to the back to fit at the desired height for the person wearing it. Tie the ribbon to the laundry basket using a double knot. 
8. Using the wildberry 160q balloons, follow the picture tutorial below or video to make what I like to call balloon frosting/ruffles.
9. For the headband, cut out 2 clown fish out of orange felt using the Clown fish template. Cut 1 set of white pieces as listed in the template. 
10. Hot glue the 2 orange felt clown fish silhouettes together, leaving the bottom open. Stuff with Poly-Fil and then glue the bottom closed together. 
11. Glue the white pieces to the front of the fish. Paint the black details to the fish using a paintbrush and black acrylic craft paint. 
12. Adhere the finished clown fish piece to the headband using hot glue.