Minecraft cardboard box

“Sticks an’ stones, love. I’ve saved your life an’ you’ve saved mine. We’re square.”

– Jack Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean

Ever heard of Minecraft?

If not, you probably don’t have a son between the ages of 10-16. Yes, I naively believe that the obsession will end at 16.

Minecraft is a computer game about using blocks to build anything. It looks really cheesy, like a 1980’s video game. Yet, left to his own devices, my 11-year-old son would play it all day and night.

My boy eagerly came to me the other day and announced, “I’m going as a Minecraft character for Halloween. And, best part, the costume is only .”

I love Halloween. If I had to choose between Christmas and Halloween? No contest. Halloween would win every time.

It’s always a little disappointing when I don’t get to make the costume. Some of my favourites through the years include. . .

But I’ve also relented and let him buy a few costumes.

“Okay, ” I replied. Let’s have a look.

For the price of $29.99 you get a cardboard box. Seriously. Most of the reviews say, “Save your money. It’s a cardboard box.”

“No way, ” was my answer. “We’ll make one.”

After a few image searches, I discovered that, generally, the characters are 10X10 squares. That’s it.

I looked for instructions about how to make a costume, but no luck. Who would need instructions to cover a box with squares? Don’t judge me.

What’s a cheap Mom to do? Off to Illustrator I went.

For the character of Creeper, I made an Illustrator file and tried my best to approximate the facial features. The top, back and sides can be the same file as it’s just green squares. Again, it’s just black and green squares.

My first attempt is the beta version. I’ve learned a few things that I will do differently for the final product.

Here’s what I used:

11”X17” paper (to print it off at 10”)

colour printer

10”X10” Box (I got mine from the Dollar store, but it was a bit too big)

Scissors

Glue stick

Tape

Ruler

X-acto knife

Cut out the pictures, eliminating any of the white margins. Tape the front to one side of the box. Next, tape the top, but make sure that you line up the squares. Continue with the remaining sides. Use the glue stick to stick down the seams.

Using an X-acto knife, cut out the mouth (not the eyes). Why? Because the mouth falls were his eyes are.

I would not recommend this for younger kids, especially if they are ‘trick or treating.’ My son is planning to take it to school because they are having a contest.

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