NEW: Monkey Business

by Joy Howard, Photographs by Ed Judice

Combine two traditional costumes to make one outfit that's totally bananas.

Materials

Instructions

Tail: Untwist and straighten a wire hanger. Snip off a 3-foot length and fold in the tips so that they don't stick out (all adult jobs).

Place a 3-foot by 6-inch piece of short-pile brown faux fur face down and lay the hanger along one long edge. Secure it with duct tape. Roll the fur around the wire and secure it with hot glue (an adult's job).

Bend and tuck 4 inches of the tail into the waist of the costume pants, and secure it with duct tape. Bend the tail to give it shape. (We cut our tail from a 2/3-yard piece of fur and used the rest for the ears and hair tuft.)
Ears and hair tuft: From faux fur, cut two ears and a rectangular tuft with one jagged edge. (Download our free templates.)

Hot-glue the tuft, pile-side up, to the center of a headband (an adult's job). With the pile sides facing backward, pinch the ears as shown to give them dimension, and hot-glue them to the side of the headband.

Glue a piece of tan felt to the center of each ear.
Briefcase and tie: Cut a long narrow side panel from a small, rectangular box. Snip two handles from scrap cardboard and cover them with brown duct tape. Tape the handles to the box as shown, then cover the box with tape. Write "This monkey means business" on poster board and attach it with ribbon to one of the briefcase handles.

For the tie, cut out a banana shape from craft foam using our template and tape it to a real tie.