Halloween will be here before we blink. And it seems like every kid is currently obsessed with Minecraft. (If you don’t hear about this game at least 50+ times a day, you obviously don’t have a 5 to 15-year-old). Trust me: Minecraft is HOT.
Problem: if you stroll down your local big box store or seasonal costume shop, you will NOT find any Minecraft costumes. What? You will find them online—to the cha-ching of $25 and up: Minecraft: Steve Cardboard Head
You want the official Minecraft Blue Diamond Sword
Don’t know about you, but I’m far too cheap to shell out $75 for a cardboard box and a couple of pieces of foam.
Solution: make your own! I am about the un-craftiest mom in the world, and I made one pretty easily. And I’ll show you how so you can make your kid(s) do Minecraft happy-dances, too.
Very happy 10-year-old in his homemade Minecraft costume.
After some online research, I found this post at SteveLange.net which gives a link to a free Steve face PDF.
How to make a Minecraft Steve Head for less than $10
You’ll need:
PDF pattern
11×17 printouts from PDF
11x11x11-inch box
glue stick or spray adhesive
scissors
tape (not necessary, but handy)
- Download the PDF from this link via SteveLange.net.
- Save the PDF to a thumb drive and take to your local copy shop to print out. My home printer can’t handle the paper size or quantity of ink, but my local Office Max/Kinkos/whatever can. Tell them to print it in poster setting with tile scale 100% and 0.005 overlap. I had to walk the employee through it. The Steve Head PDF makes 5 11×17-inch color prints and the Steve Hair PDF makes 2. The pages cost me $1.19 each.
- Trim off the white edges.
- Prep your box. The pattern is scaled for an 11 x 11 x 11-inch box (can buy at Kinko’s, etc.). This box actually will measure 11.5 x 12 x 11.5. I didn’t want to buy a box, so I cut down a beer case to about an 11-inch cube. (There’s some room for overlap in the printed patter, so it worked just fine.)
- Glue the hair on top of the box first for a nice overlap. I was going to use my can of spray adhesive, but it was giving me fits. (Yes, I did spray myself in the face. No, it wasn’t fun.) I broke out a glue stick, and it worked perfectly. Note: I did reinforce the bond with clear tape around the edges—the face pages will cover, so no worries.
- Glue on the rest of the head printouts. I did a rough placement to make sure it all lined up correctly before I slathered the papers with glue. On my box, I had several inches of overlap on the back of the box (hair) but it still looked perfect!
- Cut eye holes. Yeah, your kid might want to see (he had to remind me).
That’s it. You should now have a kick-ass Steve head for less than $10.
***UPDATE*** I’ve had many people ask how to keep the box centered on the wearer’s head. I first used bubble wrap and newspaper padding (yes, it kind of worked). I also tried using a plastic play construction hat that fit neatly inside and anchored the box to the head well. BUT, the best option came from checking out a “real” Creeper head. See this simple device? It doesn’t look pretty (neither does wadded up newspaper) but it works great and is EASY to make.
- Cut a cardboard square about 4 inches larger than your box head. (So, if your box is 12 x 12, cut it 16 x 16.)
- Measure about 2 inches out from each side and draw an inner square to use as a folding template.
- Score cardboard along fold line, if necessary.
- Cut out squares along corners.
- Cut a rough oval in center so it can sit on your child’s head. (This one measured 6 x 7 inches)
And guess what? You can make the diamond sword and pickaxe too! Check out my next post for download PDF and easy instructions. (check them out HERE) I made both for less than $5 total!
According to my Minecraft Expert, Steve wears a blue T-shirt and jeans. I picked up the proper aqua/blue shirt at the dollar store (score!) and paired it with some jeans.
Entire costume (Steve head + diamond sword + pickaxe + shirt) for $13!!!
Happy Kid + Happy Mom = HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
Need a cool Minecraft trick-or-treat bag?
Check out this super easy (and cheap!) DIY Creeper bag:
These bags are perfect
for Halloween trick-or-treating
or Birthday party goodie bags.
And the best news:
each one costs less than $1.50!
Super easy (and cheap!) DIY Creeper bag
Looking for Minecraft-themed crafts for a party or program?
Check out this post with 5 crafts/activities including full instruction and downloads for Minecraft Creeper Magnets, Construction Paper Mob Masks, Minecraft Printable Stickers, and more!
Need a gift for a little Minecrafter? How about a book?
Check out this list of awesome Minecraft books—all librarian, parent, and kid approved!
Update: As of 3/14 the prices of these “official” products seems to have gone down.
If you want to check out of the “real” products:
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Oh, this is awesome! All three of my boys are obsessed!
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That’s awesome!! Great job!
My 7 year old would LOVE this! Of course, he might try to wear it for just every day, but that’s cool too, right?
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You ROCK! Sometimes I think Halloween would be easier with boys. This year I am trying to craft a “feminine” Winne the Pooh that is age appropriate for an eleven year old…sigh.
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Love this. I’m all about making Halloween costumes. Not only is it, in most cases, a huge money saver, but I think they usually look better and are so much more meaningful than something bought online.
Of course, that said, I’m making one kid’s and buying one kid’s this Halloween …
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I teach middle school, and I have a slew of nephews, so I hear about Minecraft a lot. Your costume idea is cool. I may have to share this with my nephews.
Nice work! My kids are wanting Minecraft costumes this year too.
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Fun idea!
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Love Minecraft tutorials! Seriously, why aren’t they sold in more places?! I had to make a Ghast pinata, and other party decorations for my kiddo’s birthday party. Thank you for sharing! Here from SITSShareFest
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This is AWESOME! I wish my boys were still dressing up this year!
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I just wanted to say thank you do much for your post. I found this on Pinterest and was thrilled. My 8 yr old son wanted to be a mine craft person and I wasn’t sure how to do this. Thanks to your tutorial and PDF , I made him the box and sword. He was thrilled how it turned out and absolutely loves it already. I can’t tell you how helpful you were, but I hope you get a general idea from my post. 🙂
Thank you tons- you made me the “hero “mom..
Theresa
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What’ѕ up, I check yoir bloog daily. Yօur story-telling style is
ѡitty, keep doijng what you’re doing!
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How did you keep the box from slipping around on his head?
At first I wadded up some newspaper–didn’t work too well. I made one version where I glued an old dollar store plastic construction hat inside–that worked pretty well. I ended up taking a piece of cardboard, cutting a head-sized hole in it, and folding up the edges to make a stability insert. (That’s what the store bought ones have inside). Thanks for visiting!
**Update** Someone suggested using black foam tubing (the stuff used to insulate pipes). She cut it to fit around her child’s head and taped it to the inside of the box. She said it worked great!
For mine, I’ve taped my son’s skateboard helmet into the box with duck tape.
It worked perfectly and it is so confy!! I could wear it myself! 🙂
Anyone have trouble printing at Kinkos fed ex due to copyright? They want clearance from minecraft company to allow commericial printing?
Sweet thanks for the instructions! = D
FANTASTIC!!!!I made one for my son just yesterday. I found a box 12 x 12 x 12 at Staples.
then I had the PDF printed on 12 x 18 paper. Cut everything and glued it on the 12 x 12 box it fits perfectly!!
I bought two 1/2 inch foam boards at the dollar store. Cut 2 diamond sword images and 2 Pick axe images and glued it to the board, then cut the board following the image and glued the second image on the other side. that’s it. I bought a fruit of the loom blue T-shirt at Walmart for 5$ … It costs me 12$ total and took 3 hours of my time.
Yay! So glad it worked for you! Hope your and your family have an AMAZING Halloween 😉
I enjoy what you guys are usually uup too.
Such clever work and reporting! Keep up the awesome works guys I’ve
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If you want to do this easy, this is the website for you. http://www.pixelpapercraft.com/print/minecraft-character-head-life-size
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I’m thinking about using this page to create different blocks from minecraft.
My doesn’t that look awesome!
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Ummm, so I downloaded and printed the pdfs. Just laid them out and I’m missing half of Steve’s face. In the description for printing it says there should be 7 pages in total. But in the photo of the page set up it shows 10 pages….not sure where the other 3 pdfs went!? HELP PLS!!
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The MINECRAFT Steve Costume worked brilliantly.
Great instructions.
Thanks you saved me a huge amount of time!!!
David
Hello there, You have done a fantastic job. I will definitely digg it and personally recommend to my
friends. I’m sure they’ll be benefited from this website.
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OMG !!! perfect for my summer party 😀
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I realize your post is several years old now, but I just found it last week in my search for a Steve head that I could make at home. THANK YOU SO MUCH for this! My son is so happy with his costume and I’m thrilled we didn’t have to buy one for one night of activity!
Hi there. Thanks so much for this. I’d like to see if my office’s printer can do the job. Is 11″ × 17″ the size of what will be cut out or the size of paper that is needed. If not what size paper do I need to get? thank you.
Thank you so so so much for this!! You’ve saved a mumma’s butt for Halloween!
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