Doctor Who Family Halloween Costume

This might not mean anything to you at first glance, but if it does mean something to you, it REALLY means something to you.

While Atti is young enough to let us get away with it, we love dressing up in family costumes. And this year’s costume plays up our secret nerdiness by being characters from Doctor Who, our new favorite show. We were looking for something to fill the ol’ Netflix cue and I have enough friends raving about this show, so we decided to give it a try. We were hooked after the first episode, and made our way through all six seasons in a month. Now I am totally a full on Doctor Who nerd (and it’s Doctor, never Dr.).

I get off super easy by dressing up as Amy Pond, the Doctor’s companion, and having red hair is half the costume. Bear is dressed up as Amy’s husband, Rory the Roman, which means that he’s dressed up as a Roman Centurion. I promise, it all makes sense in context.

We looked and looked and looked for Roman armor and all we could find was stuff that was priced beyond what I could bear to spend on a Halloween costume, so I made one. I took a piece of foam core, cut it to into a breastplate shape, and painted it brown with gold sponging on top. To create the illusion of muscles I took more of the brown paint and watered it way down so it would be translucent. Then I just drew on a bunch of squares.

To wear the breastplate, I punched some holes and tied it onto Bear. Then I stuck the cape (about 1 1/2 yards of felt) onto the front with velcro.

The little outfit underneath is really just a white T-shirt and a skirt I whipped up out of a scrap of fabric. I folded it so that the fabric’s selvedges could work as the hem, sewed one seam up the back, then sewed a casing for elastic. Easy Peasy.

The TARDIS is the ship the Doctor travels in, disguised to look like a police box (which apparently was a British thing). It was a perfect solution for a way to tie Atti’s wheelchair into his costume, we’ll just secure it to his chair with zipties.

To make the TARDIS, I cut more foam core. I cut two pieces into an L shape just so Atti could have access to his wheels, then I cut two pieces 15″ wide, since that’s how wide the wheelchair is. One of those pieces will be the front with the text, which is black, and all the rest get painted a shocking blue color.

I measured squares and drew them on with black fabric paint to look like the paneling on the TARDIS, and to make the window I glued on a piece of glossy white cardstock with more fabric paint to look like panes.

A little hot glue to put all the pieces together, and the TARDIS is ready to explore the vast reaches of time and space.

Each incarnation of the Doctor has their own look, and the current Doctor, the 11th Doctor, the one who travels with Amy and Rory, wears a tweed blazer and a bowtie, because “bowties are cool.” (*Nerd Alert*) I searched every corner of the internet to find a tweed blazer that would fit Atti with absolutely zero luck, so I made one. And I’ll show you how to make one too. Even if you don’t follow Doctor Who, every kid looks adorable in a wee tweed blazer.

31 thoughts on “Doctor Who Family Halloween Costume

  1. So cool… I've been a Dr Who fan since I was a small child… and it is Dr when you put it with Who.,… but you're new to the Whoness so forgiven.

    Atti I'm so jealous of your TARDIS

  2. This is fantastic – so creative! If you haven't done already, you really need to tweet Steven Moffat (current showrunner) with a link to your post – he will love it!

  3. This is awsome! Im going to a doctor who convention, but Im wheelchair bound due to a knee surgery, your idea is amazing and so practical, thank you for posting this 😀

  4. Hello! I just came across this during my internet travels. As an avid Whovian, myself, and an admin on a Doctor Who fan page on Facebook, I couldn't help myself but share it. You guys are amazing parents and people, in general! Quite a few people on my fan page agree! Stop by Proudly Whovian on Facebook if you want to see! Have a lovely day, all!

  5. This is just fantastic! Atti is very cool as the Doctor and I am really glad you all have become fans. Thanks for sharing this, and welcome to the group of us known as Whovians!

  6. This is so amazing! That's what i call a prober Familiy Halloween! Really, really FANTASTIC. Thanky you so much for sharing this.

  7. This is such a fantastic costume! Can i include a picture of it in my article about amazing wheelchair costumes please?

  8. Hello,
    I used your picture at my blog post TOP 10 WHEELCHAIR DRESSING UP COSTUMES. I added a link back to this page. I added do follow link to this page at my article with anchor “Doctor Who costume“ Hope that is fine for you. Do you allow me to keep your photo at my blog post?

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  13. As a Doctor Who fan, I totally loved this! As the admin for the Cosplay with Disabilities group on Facebook, I doubly loved it!!

  14. So cool… I've been a Dr Who fan since I was a small child… and it is Dr when you put it with Who.,… but you're new to the Whoness so forgiven.
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