DIY Make your own Russell and Kevin Costume from UP

This Halloween I was on the hunt for the perfect couple's costume for my husband and me. Last year, we opted to go to Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party dressed as ourselves, and that turned out to be boring. There were so many people dressed up in cool costumes at the party we knew next year we were going to do something.

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I ended up choosing Kevin and Russell from the Pixar movie Up. It looked easy enough to put together and there were lots of great resources out there to guide me in the right direction for putting this whole thing together.

How to Make Up! Costumes

Kevin Costume Instructions

Everyone's favorite, chocolate loving bird! The biggest shock to every Disney cast member at the party? Kevin turned out to be a girl!

Shirt for Kevin

For Kevin's top, I simply went out and purchase a royal blue shirt that was in my size. Since I knew it was going to be really hot still here in Florida I opted for a short sleeve but it's really up to you.

The next easiest thing for this costume was the feather headband. At Joann's, you can pick up a plain headband in solid colors. I choose purple and attached a few large feathers to the top of it with lots of hot glue.

A Skirt for Kevin

The skirt for Kevin I sewed myself. However, I did spot some rainbow tulle skirts on eBay if you aren't up for a small sewing project. You will need about 1" wide elastic for the band or larger if you like.

The wider the elastic, the more comfortable the band. You will need 1 yard of tulle for each band of color you want to add to your skirt. I had four different colors in mine but there is nothing that says you can't add in some more!

Next, you will need to cut 4.5" strips of each color. Cut the fabric until you run out of fabric. Once you have your strips cut then you need to sew 3 to 4 together to make a longer piece. You want about 4 to 5 times the length of the circumference of the skirt you are sewing around to get the extra ruffle and fluff. The longer your pieces are the more ruffle you will get.

Once you have all your long strips sewn together you will need to run a basting stitch down each end. A basting stitch is basically a really loose stitch so you can ruffle all the layers of tulle. I ruffled until it fit around my base skirt. Then I simply just ran a stitch to attach the bands from the top of the skirt down.

My finishing touch for the skirt was attaching a series of feature boas. I bought the boas cut to the length of the skirt and tacked each one to the top of the back of the skirt.

Russell Costume Instructions

I really loved making this one and it was a lot simpler compared to assembling the Kevin costume. You will need a plain basic yellow shirt and a solid yellow hat. Both of these items I just ordered off of Amazon.

In addition, I went to Joann's and picked up a yard of brown felt for the sash and then some smaller precut squares in orange for the Wilderness Explorers logo I was going to add to the shirt and hat. Last but not least you will need to pick up transfer paper for the badges as well as a pack of 50 felt furniture stoppers. I used 1" inch wide ones but I wish I had splurged for the ones that were a little wider.

You can get the prints of the badges I used here (already reversed for transfer paper) - This image will fit an 8.5" x 11" piece of paper and has been scaled for the one-inch felt badges.

Heat up your iron! Then apply the badges to your felt stoppers. These felt stoppers are peel and stick but we chose to hot glue them to the sash for extra security. We referenced a picture we found on the internet for the correct order of badges. Don't forget to leave an empty spot for the missing badge.

So we hope this helps you on your quest to make the perfect Up costume. Be sure to share your finished costumes if you do!