My three-year-old desperately begged to dress up as R2D2 for Halloween. I looked at Star Wars Costumes and discovered they are not made affordable for the average mom in this economic times, so I ventured out to see how I could build my son an Artoo and give him a Halloween/Fall Festival to remember.

Materials used:
Plastic 24-inch trashcan (white)
Dome lid for trash can
12X18 Blue Craft Foam (x 4)
Duct Tape
Aluminum Foil
Bungee Cords

The first thing you want to do is cut the bottom out of the trash can. Because my son is about 3’2″, I had four inches cut off the bottom. Then, I put my child in the trash can (I never thought I would ever say something like that!) and measured where his shoulders are to comfortably cut 4X4 armholes just below where his shoulders rest. We had some last minute troubles setting suspenders for my child, but we drilled out holes in the front and back of the R2 unit and hooked bungee cords through them, so they hang comfortably.

Next came the fun creative part–decorating the R2! Artoo is finely decorated with white squares all over his droid figure, yet white squares were just too plain for my personable R2 unit. I cut strips of duct tape and made rectangles all over the droid. Then, I cut assorted blue squares to ornament the gray dome. I used a flathead screwdriver as a model and drew out the blue markings on the front of R2′s body. I used aluminum foil to give the droid a metallic touch wherever I felt necessary and BEHOLD, my child’s homemade R2 Costume:

My child was so excited, he was speechless!!

Of course, the adults got a kick out of it too.

And the epic shot:

Thanks to Johnny for doing all the power tool work with it. And Grampy for helping with the bungee cord situation. Kudos that Grammy’s car looks more like an X-Wing than any of the vehicles we own. Bonus for the sunroof!