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Create Your Own E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Costume

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was the highest-grossing movie of the 80s, and many regard it as one of the greatest sci-fi films of all time. The Spielberg classic tells the story of a lonely boy named Elliot who becomes friend with a stranded extra terrestrial who needs to get back home - we all remember that classic "E.T. phone home" moment, don't we?

If you're looking for a unique costume idea for a 1980s, sci-fi or film and TV party or event, or maybe Halloween, then an E.T. costume should fit the bill for both men or women.



Adults Elliot from ET Movie Costume
Adult Elliot Costume (US)

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial Adults Costume
Adult ET Costume (UK)


Now, you can buy a ready-made ET outfit from Amazon UK or Amazon.com. However, although it's convenient, it's also pretty expensive, and you can very easily create your own costume for a fraction of the cost. You'll notice that ET is wearing a red hoodie and blue jeans in the picture above for the UK costume. However, in the film, it is Elliot who wears this, and not ET. Sadly, the U.S. costume is not available at the UK store and vice versa. But don't ask me why!

E.T. Face Mask


This item is also available from Novelty Print Face Masks on Amazon. Unfortunately, it is not available at the U.S. store for some reason. I have also checked ebay and several US costume stores, but to no avail.

Print Your Own ET Face Mask

I did manage to find a printable ET face mask on flickr. If you view all sizes the you can right-click and save the picture to your PC and load into your favourite software for printing. If you want to play around with the image and resize it, then I can recommend Befunky, a superb free online image editor which can perform all sorts of enhancements.

Recreate the Bike Scene

In the iconic bike scene, ET is wearing a white blanket while sitting in the front basket. You could choose to wrap a blanket around your head for extra fun, but this is entirely optional as for most of the movie he wore nothing. Obviously, you can't simply wear nothing on your bottom half or you'll be arrested pretty quickly, so for the bottom half you can just wear jeans. For an ET costume, it is the top half that is more important.

Red Hoodie for ET Elliot Costume
Red Hoodie by Fruit of the Loom (UK)

If you're going to a party as a pair/couple, then you can easily go as Elliot and ET. For Elliot, just wear a red hoodie and blue jeans. If you wish to dress as Elliot as a solo costume, then you could concoct your own ET using the face mask (featured above) stuck to (or tied to) a party balloon and a white blanket draped over the top. Carry it under your arm, or better still, find a grey bicycle crate or a plastic washing basket. Of course, you could actually ride a BMX to the party for full effect!

Red Hoodies UK

Red Hoodies US

E.T. in a crate with Elliot on a bike
Elliot on a BMX bike with ET in a crate 


ET Hand Glove with glowing finger
ET Hand Glove


As for the gloves, well there is one available at Amazon with a glowing finger tip. However, it has been receiving pretty poor reviews with comments about the finger tip easily breaking and falling off. I guess you could use clear tape to keep it stuck on, but it's far from ideal.

Glowing Light-Up Finger for ET Fancy Dress

A great alternative is to buy this low-cost, light-up finger which would be very effective. I've picked out the best-rated items above, but you can view everything available using the links below. Some products come in packs of two, while others are described as being for the thumb.

View all light-up fingers at Amazon UK

View all light-up fingers at Amazon.com

I think that the ET costume is pretty unique and cool fancy dress idea, and the odds would be pretty slim for someone else to be wearing one at a party - unless, of course, it's an E.T. or alien themed party!

You may also be interested in...

80s Fancy Dress Ideas for the UK at my website simplyeighties.com.

80s Costume Ideas for the US at simplyeighties.com

Creepy Alien Mask
Creepy Alien Mask
Now, this is pretty similar to the view I see first thing in the morning when I look in the mirror! But seriously, you could just dress-up as an alternative alien instead, and there are oodles of face masks available. Here are some links;

Alien Masks at Amazon UK
.
Alien Masks at Amazon.com

Alien Masks at ebay

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