Growing up, Halloween was always my absolute favorite holiday (partly because my birthday is the day before). I grew up throwing a costume party almost every year. And every year my costume got bigger and more elaborate. Now that I’m a mom, I find myself being even more over the edge than probably necessary.
This year, my daughter was Deanarys Targaryen, from Game of Thrones. Yup. I’m that mom. And that would typically be an easy costume… but because I have to be the super crafty, over the top artsy, creative person that I am… her costume would not be complete without a “dragon”.
So…. I scoured the internet and mommy markets until I found a red wagon. And then spent the next week drawing sketches of how I could turn the damn thing into a dragon. I googled, “red wagon dragon”, “dragon wagon”, “stroller into wagon”, “kids wagon into dragon”. I’m sure I searched a thousand other options. NOTHING. NOTHING!
How is that possible? No one has done this before? I’m the only crazy person out here that wants to do this? Ugh. Here we go. I’m on my own.
And here I am… sharing how I did this “dragon wagon”. SO if you’re here because you were me at some point googling and I’m the only salvation you have found – thank you! For everyone else, I hope you enjoy the madness that consumed my life for two months, and took in total, 27 hours.
I first brainstormed the best way to get that scaly look of a dragon’s skin. Then, how I would shape the wings that would be durable… Miss M is 21 months old… and struggling to learn what “gentle hands” are. Plus, we were transporting it for trick or treating. The other obstacle was making sure I could get it onto the wagon without ruining it.
I decided on crepe paper (the stuff you use for streamers) and foam board. Both of which are readily available at the dollar store. I could cut the crepe paper into small squares, then round the top off to look like a scale. Then I could glue it onto the foam board (after cutting it into shape) in rows, staggering them a bit for depth.
Each wing took two cups of coffee, two glue sticks, a roll of crepe paper and about two and a half hours. But I was really pleased with how it came out!
Next, I worked on the outline for the neck and tail. We used foam board to mold the tail (top and sides) and secured them with hot glue. I’ll warn you… this project uses A LOT of hot glue. I left the bottom open since you didn’t see it. We attached the tail to the wagon with coroplast (that can be purchased at a local hardware or craft store) and yes, more hot glue. The coroplast can be bend, so it works good. Any other material that has some flexibility might work well for you.
I then scaled the tail and neck – which was less intense than the wings – maybe just one cup of coffee and an hour and a half.
I struggled to come up with an easy solution for the head. I felt like foam board or cardboard would look cheesy. I thought about just printing the photo of Drogon (that’s the black and red dragon from Game of Thrones, and the one we were trying to make) and laminating it so you could see it from either side… but it seemed like a cop out. So instead, in my shear brilliance (please read that with sarcasm) I decided to paper mâché it. Yup. Brilliant. Except that I’ve never paper mâchéd anything before. It was relatively easy, one I molded it out.
I used a few sheets of copy paper, because that’s all I had. I rolled it up and taped it with duct tape. I HIGHLY recommend using masking tape instead. The duct tape didn’t stick well and was a nightmare to cover. Once molded (top and bottom of head were molded separate, by the way). I decided to make the handle the head so that it would look like my hand was in the dragon’s mouth… pretty cool, huh? So that’s why I left mine separate. One piece would go on the top of the handle, the other on the bottom.
I made a solution of 50/50 water and glue with a bit of salt to keep it from molding. I cut small strips of copy paper (newspaper will work way better I’m sure) and one by one I dunked them into the glue solution and over the paper mold I made. It dried overnight and I was excited for how it was coming together.
I was going to use thick paper to make scales, but that would be too easy, right? So, instead, I bought this baker’s clay that you mold and bake in the oven. I had never heard of it before… but man, this stuff is amazing! So I made little scales and big scales and tossed them in my oven. They came out perfect.
I scaled the head with crepe paper and then using my trusting hot glue, attached the scales. And I found these awesome red marbles that were the EXACT size and color I needed for the eyes! Super exciting score there! Now we are looking more like dragon… though Miss M seems to keep calling it an “algator”.
I found jack-o-lantern teeth in the Halloween section of Walmart which were the PERFECT size for my dragon wagon. I cut off the spikes and just hot glued them on. I added some red crepe paper between black foam board spikes to give the neck a bit of character.
Then I glued every single piece onto the wagon. The wings had a hard time staying on with the curve of the wagon, so I cute small squares and built up the edges. The head was a bit heavy, so I supported it with a few small strips of foam board on the inside of the handle. I took black crepe paper and glued it from corner to corner on the top of the head and the jaw. It hid the strips and looked like the same texture as side of a dragon’s mouth (cause, we’ve all seen those in person, right?).
Oh, I almost forgot… to cover the red part of the wagon that was left showing, I grabbed a couple black cheesecloth pieces from the dollar store and glued them on.
I’m so proud of how it all came out. I really, really am. Miss M was an absolute hit! Did I ask myself almost every night that I worked on this, tired after a long day of working and parenting, WHY on Earth I got myself into this? Yes. Almost every. Single. Night. BUT when I saw the final product, all those perplexities subsided.
And Miss M was over the moon excited to ride her dragon. And after 27 hours of hard labor, we only made 4 houses. *face palm* Oh well. ‘Tis the life of the over the top creative mom.
Here’s my sweet Deanarys Targaryen proudly riding on her Drogon. Oh, and we dressed her favorite doll up in dollar store warrior gear so that he can play the part of Grey Worm (my Game of Throne fans will appreciate that).
Thanks for stopping in and sticking out the long post today! Hope you all had a happy Halloween. Anyone else do an over the top costume? I’d love to see them. And if you’re still with me make sure you share our Facebook post with your friends! There’s a 360 video that really shows you the full view.
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