Konban wa!

Muffin Man came up with the idea for his costume this year.

He loves all things Japanese and wanted to be something uniquely Japanese, easy to recognize, but not a human.

So...

I present to you, the Sakura tree (Japanese cherry tree)!

Here's how we made it:

First, we cut the flowers out of tissue paper (there's an origami fold for this). Three at a time works best.

Then we scrunched them into a pleasing shape.

Then we made the branches (this is three layers of out of a utility box glued together with hot glue. A finger may have gotten burned at this stage). 

Then we used a drill press to make holes for the harness, and hot glued on the flowers. A different finger may have gotten burned at this stage. 

Made the helmet. We scored the cardboard to make it bendy.

Added more flowers, put some reflective tape on the back of the branches, attached the branches to the trunk (attired in brown pants, an outgrown brown sweater, and a brown t-shirt), and the costume is complete.

Here he is outside: 

He's out right now with his friends. What costumes are happening at your house?