As a youngster I wanted to be Princess Leia from Star Wars.
I loved all of her outfits from the white flowy gown to the nipple chafing metal-like bikini she wore in Jabba’s palace. My teenage acne sprinkled face coveted her porcelain flawless skin and her red lips. And those buns! Her amazing brown hair twirled into two perfect buns on the side of her head. I wanted those. Alas my hair as a child was too short.
My 7 year old,, Henry has been on a Star Wars binge for two years now. At age 5 we gifted him the original three movie series (episodes 4, 5, 6—none of that Jar Jar Binks crap). It was an incredible day watching him stare wide-eyed at all the ships, and battles, light sabers and 80’s special affects. As a result, almost everything in his life has become star wars. Underwear, bed sheets, action figures, birthday party themes, clothing, the legos…good god…the Star Wars Legos! So it didn’t surprise me that he wanted to be one of the characters for Halloween last year.
Frankly, I was ecstatic because after all, it meant that I too could dress up like my favorite Star Wars Character: Princess Leia.
But what about the buns?! With my pixie cut hairstyle, there’s no way I could grow out my locks in time for Halloween. I figured I’d just buy an outfit online. I searched and found several and they all had fake wigs. They looked nice in the picture, but we all know that most mail-ordered Halloween costumes kinda suck. They’re cheap and look cheap. So I set out to make my own buns. I thought, “hey, there must be some sort of tutorial online that shows you how to make buns out of yarn and hot glue guns.” And I was right, there are lots of tutorials. I bought all the supplies and set out on my DIY project. But then I got bored and thought that they just looked lame.
And then it occurred to me…what if I made Princess Leia buns out of cinnamon rolls?
Yes, cinnamon rolls that you eat. The goey soft sticky ones. I mean after all, who hasn’t picked up a sticky bun cinnamon roll and held it up to their ears and exclaimed “Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope?” Right? Am I alone here? Please tell me you’ve done this at least once in your life?
Here’s the 411 on making your very own Princess Leia Buns for your Halloween Costume.
Supplies:
- 2 Boxed Sara Lee Cinnamon Buns (“nobody does it like Sara Lee!” also, they are not sponsoring this post)
- 1 plain brown headband of your choosing—I used a brown plastic one that matched my hair
- 1 package of black Velcro—I used a narrow width
- 1 hot glue gun
- 1 can of spray gloss (bought some random stuff at Michael’s craft store)
Directions:
Buy your cinnamon buns at the store. Take two out the box, and remove outer plastic packaging. They are going to be sticky and gooey. Place the two buns on a cookie cooling rack. Then place the buns out of reach in a dry place somewhere in your house where your kids, partner, dog, or you won’t be tempted to eat them. And now wait…like two weeks.
The point here is you want the buns to dry out and get REALLY stale.
You can blow a fan on them to help speed up the process. There are so many artificial ingredients in these buns that they don’t mold—at least mine didn’t. You want them as stale and dry as possible. Once you’ve reached this point, you can carefully glue on a small strip of Velcro to the underside of the bun as well as a strip that will correspond to it on the headband. You might want to put on the headband and then hold up the buns to see how you’d like them to be placed—each head and headband is a different shape, so you have to see what works for you. Once you’ve glued on the Velcro to each part don’t attach the actual bun to the headband yet—you want to do this on the day you’re dressing up. Lightly spray the buns with a gloss spray to give them a shiny-ish look. Remember this is food you’re working with here, so don’t spray too much or otherwise it might dissolve the bun. Give the buns a few days to dry and to “air” out…the gloss spray stinks, and you want some of that stank to dissipate before you wear them around—unless you like to huff fumes. When you’re ready for your big day, attach the Velcro bun to the Velcro headband. If you’re buns are stale enough and glued enough they will stay attached to the headband. Once you attach them, don’t try and move them around (this is why it’s important to make sure you glue on the Velcro in a position that will feel best for you ahead of time). And voila! Enjoy your Halloween party.
And yes, people will love this costume! And they will ask you if they are real cinnamon buns…and may try and eat them. Don’t let them. Remember—there’s acrylic gloss spray on them…and they’re really stale.
Here is a pics of my final outfit.
