Celebrate the Release of Star Wars Rebels with this DIY Stormtrooper Costume

Right after I met my husband (he was living in Texas, and I in California), he called and told me he got a tattoo. A Star Wars tattoo. Ummm…ummmm…okay?

Don’t worry, he assured me. It’s not nerdy. It’s the imperial symbol! 

Fast-forward 14 years…and guess what I’ve learned? Star Wars Obessessions are genetic: my kid is obsessed with Star Wars. Not just a little bit obsessed, either. I am talking full-blown, sings-himself-the-theme-song-as-he-falls-asleep-at-night obsessed. We live Star Wars all day, everyday…and I am a fan now, too. So basically, I’ve known about the Star Wars Rebels movie (and the show that will follow) for months now, and we have quite literally been counting down the days to the release.

Quite. Literally.

So, you can bet I was at Walmart bright and early on October 3rd to pick up our own copy of Star Wars Rebels – Spark of Rebellion just hours after the store had stocked it. I had big plans in store for Jack, and I wanted to surprise him with the movie…and a little something extra, too. With Halloween coming up, I decided I’d make him his very own Stormtrooper costume based on the Stormtroopers in Star Wars Rebels. It was a smashing success!

If you’ve watched Star Wars before (and not just one of them…I am talking the old movies, the new movies, the Clone Wars, Star Wars Legos and now Star Wars Rebels), you know that the Stormtroopers all have a slightly different vibe with each show. Luckily for me, the newest ones have pretty simple costumes.

While at Walmart, I also picked up the following supplies for the costume:

• Two long-sleeved white t-shirts (buy one size up)
• One pair of black leggings (from the girls’ department)
• Roll of black duct tape
• Mini roll of glow-in-the-dark duct tape
• Black fabric pen (any permanent marker should work fine)
• Black gloves (had these around the house – I think I got them at Walmart last year for $1)
• White socks (I used an old pair of Jack’s)
• Stormtrooper mask

Here’s how I made it (so easy, you guys…no sewing!).

1. Lay a black piece of tape against the collar.

2. Fold it over. Be sure to leave the back open – the tape doesn’t stretch, and you’ll need to be able to pull this on over your kid’s head! I would actually just do the front half next time…and then tape the back half once it’s on your child.

3. Lay a piece of tape around the elbow area. With tape, you don’t want to pull it tight because it doesn’t have any give, so be sure to lay it flat, and then…

4. Tape around the entire elbow. 

5. As you probably know, Stormtroopers have armor around their crotches. I couldn’t figure out how to do this without making it look like my kid had on underwear outside of his pants. So I just worked around it using the extra length of the shirt. I taped around the sides of the lower half of the shirt and this worked better than I had expected!

6. Use a fabric marker or a permanent pen to draw a black line around where the sleeve is stitched to the shirt.

7. Stormtroopers have belts (or, belt-ish things around their waists). I used two pieces of glow-in-the-dark duct tape wrapped around the shirt to make a belt. BONUS: it glows in the dark.

8. Add two diagnol pieces of tape for some definition in the chest “armor.”

9. For the pants, I just used a pair of black leggings and the sleeves from the second white shirt. Cut the sleeves off right where they are stitched to the shirt and pull them over the pant legs.

10. Use a piece of the black tape to adhere the sleeves to the pants (you can do this after the pants are on your child to make it a little bit easier to pull them on).

11. The gloves were SO easy! Just cut off the tips of a pair of white socks and cute a tiny hole for the thumb, and pull them over the gloves. 

The final result? A huge hit!

Do yo have any Star Wars crazy kids (or, ahem, adults) in your household?