How to Make a Poster Board Anchor Halloween Costume

Making a poster board anchor as a Halloween costume can be fun. It also can be a unique Halloween costume. As long as you can follow the instructions in this article, you can make a poster board anchor Halloween costume in a jiffy.

Materials Needed for an Anchor Halloween Poster Board Costume

Anchor Pattern - The photo with this article is the anchor pattern. You will need to keep enlarging it to the size big enough for the adult, teen, tween or young child wearing it.

Marker- You will need a marker to trace the anchor pattern onto the poster board.

Pencil - You will need a pencil to be able to enlarge the pattern to fit the person who is going to be wearing the costume for Halloween.

Newspaper or other large pieces of paper - I chose the newspaper because there is enough of it to be able to create the pattern. You can cut the piece or pieces out of one size of paper and cut out a large enough pattern from the newspaper sections.

Scissors - To cut out the pieces as you enlarge them and to cut out the final anchor costume.

Tape - You will need tape to piece the anchor pattern together every time you enlarge it.

Poster Board - You will need to have enough for one front or one front and one back.

Gray Paint - You will need enough grey paint to cover the anchor.

Rope or Twine - You will need rope or twine to keep the anchor on the person's body.

Grey or white sweatshirt and sweatpants - Who ever is wearing the costume will need this under their the anchor costume.

NOTE: You can take the pattern to Kinko's or someplace similar and have it enlarged instead of doing it the way I have written in the instructions below.

Enlarging the Anchor Pattern for the Halloween Poster Board Costume

Print the anchor pattern from the photos attached to this article. Once they are printed, cut them out from the paper.

Starting with the round part with the hole, lie it on the newspaper. Trace around it at least one inch wider than the pattern. Lay the anchor body on the newspaper matching it to the anchor hole. Trace around the pattern the same way you did the eye of the anchor. Lay the final piece on the paper and follow the prior instructions. You will need to do this step for each side of the anchor.

Once you have the first enlargement made, cut it out of the newspaper. You will move to the next paragraph to make the next enlargement from this one.

After you have the first enlargement done, continue enlarging the anchor in one to two inch increments. After each enlargement, cut it out so you can make the next one larger.

Make sure you check the size of the enlarged anchor on the third or fourth enlargement. You will want to the anchor to be just smaller than the vertical height of the poster board. Once you have the anchor pattern the size you need, you can stop with the enlargement process. Now move to the next step.

Tracing the Anchor Pattern Onto The Poster Board

Now comes the easy part of making your anchor costume. Trace your finished pattern onto the poster board. If you are making a front and back, do this twice.

Once you have finished the tracing of your anchor onto the poster board, decide whether you want to fill in the anchor with the grey marker or paint before or after cutting it out.

If you decide to paint the anchor before cutting it out, go ahead and do so. Wait until the marker or paint dries before cutting out your anchor. If you decide to cut it out before coloring it in, do that and then fill in the anchor. Lie newspaper under it to keep from getting the marker or paint on the surface you are using.

Putting the Poster Board Anchor Costume Together

You will need to make two holes on each side of the base, the long skinny part, of the anchor. If you have a front and back, make sure to have holes in the other piece of anchor in the same places. I will leave it up to you how you make the holes. I would suggest using a single hole punch for this.

You will need to make one hole on each side about half from the edge and the eye of the anchor where the chain goes. Same thing applies if you have a front and back as it does with the anchor body.

Now that you have the holes made in the anchor where I suggested, have the person who is wearing the anchor costume hold the front piece up to their front and have another person hold the back of the anchor on their back so they match up equally.

Now that you have the pieces in place on the body, take the twine and measure from side to side. You will need to cut enough extra off to tie off the twine. Do the same for the shoulders.

Gently push the twine through the holes and tie off each end on the sides. For the shoulders, push one end through one side of the anchor and tie off. When it comes time to put the anchor on, you will need to push the twine through the other holes and tie the ends off. Make sure the person who is wearing the poster board anchor costume has their sweatsuit on first.