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These trophies can be made for about $2.50 each

This year  my boyfriend and I will be throwing our 5th annual Halloween party (well, 5th for me – 2nd for us throwing it together). We’ve really been trying to cheap it up so we don’t end up spending a lot of money, but we still want to add some awesome things to the party. Last year we had a costume contest, and the prizes were just store-bought ribbons. This year, I wanted something a bit cooler than that.
While shopping in Dollar Tree for awesome cheap party supplies, I spotted some fake severed hands and feet. I immediately thought of how cool it would be to paint them gold and use them as trophies for our costume contest. When I mentioned the idea to Jon, he threw in the idea of having a black base and, ta-da! Our idea for costume contest trophies was born! They’re quite elegant, if I do say so myself
Materials Needed:
Several severed hands (depends on however many costume categories you have)
One severed foot (since it’s the biggest, it goes to the “Best Costume” winner)
Several small wooden bases for the hands
One large wooden base for the foot
Gold spray paint
Black acrylic paint
Clear acrylic sealer
One long or several short wooden dowels
Heavy-duty glue
Newpaper
Paintbrush
Drill
Materials

Materials

Step 1 – Lay newspaper down so you don’t get your carpet/floor painted along with everything else. Do this if you’re working outside, too. No point in painting the grass.

Step 2 – Paint the wooden bases completely black, allowing each side to dry before turning them over.

Step 3 – Spray paint the severed limbs gold, again allowing each side to dry before working on the other side. Do this outside or in a well ventilated area, because the fumes are horrible and because you probably don’t want to die.
Painting outside

Painting outside

Step 4 – Spray both the severed limbs and the wooden bases with the clear acrylic sealer so the paint won’t wear off or chip. Again, allow to dry before doing the other side.

Step 5 – Drill a hole comparable to the width of your wooden dowel into the center of each of the small wooden bases. Be careful not to drill all the way through. It’s good to have a piece of practice wood to test out different drill bits since the dowel we used needed a different size drill bit. Had to make a few practice holes before we found the right bit to use. The dowel should just barely squeeze into the hole. It needs to be a tight fit.

Step 6 – Place the dowel into the hole of one of the bases. Place a severed hand next to the dowel to see where you need to break/cut it. We tried to make sure the dowel was long enough to slide into one of the fingers when the hand was placed over it. Break or cut the dowl at the appropriate area.
Hands

Hands

Step 7 – Put a pea-sized amount of heavy-duty glue onto the bottom of the dowel and stick it into the hole on the base. There was a small hole on the bottom of the wrist with the severed hands that we purchsed at Dollar Tree, so I just made it big enough for the dowel to go inside. If your hands don’t have holes, you’ll need to make some. When you’ve made holes in the wrists, slide the hand onto the dowel, making sure the dowel goes up into one of the fingers for extra support. Place more glue at the point where the wrist will meet the base and push the hand down onto the base. Hold the hand here for a minute or two so the glue can start to dry and set the trophy aside.

Step 8 – Glue the foot onto the large base. Hold down for a minute or two for the glue to start to dry. Allow glue to dry for at least 24 hours before handling.

Ta-da! Costume contest trophies! Cost run-down:

Severed hands and feet – $4
Wooden bases – $5
Black acrylic paint – $.50
Gold spary paint – $3 (with 50% off coupon at Michael’s)
Wooden dowel – $.75

Everything else you probably already have. So, four costume contest trophies come to about $13-14. It would be a few dollars less if you only did hands, because the foot base was about $3 (with a 50% off coupon), while the small bases were only about $.60/each. A single “Best Costume” contest trophy bought at a a party supply store would cost around $5-6, without all the wonderful personal touches!

Before the party, I plan on making some identification tags to tie onto the hands. I’ll print them on cardstock and make them look a little dirty with a wet coffee bag. Or maybe I’ll splatter some blood on there. Either way, it’s going to be fun and I can’t wait to display these at our party!

Happy Haunting!

Andrea

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