Introduction: Where the Wild Things Are Max Costume

My husband and I made Max's wolf suit from Where the Wild Things Are this year for our 5 year old. He actually won the 2009 Virginia Zoo Boo costume contest for his age bracket on November 1st.

The body was made using a McCall's 5956 Pig Monkey Dog Costume Pattern and altered so that the ears went straight up *like wolf ears* and also so that the hood could be taken off. We also didn't add any elasticity so that the suit did not cinch at the wrist or ankles. Thanks to Virginia weather it was 82 on Halloween and 62 the day after so he did a lot of sweating. We used a woolish fabric purchased at a local fabric store and unfortunately, it proved to be very itchy since we did not use a liner inside of the body (but we did put a liner in the hood).

The crown was made with Inca gold and Antique gold metallic craft paints on thin poster board.

The whiskers were made with white floral wire painted with black craft paint and then sewn into the hood.

The buttons were 67 cent buttons purchased at Walmart, 2 per pack.


We wanted to tie in a bit of old school Where the Wild Things Are since our costume was based on the movie, so we made our red wagon into a "boat". The boat and sea monster was made via hand drawn cardboard cutouts and painted with craft paints purchased at Walmart.