iPhone Halloween Costume – Conclusion
So here I went on Oct 31st 2009, up the streets of Westlake in Lake Oswego, OR, holding my darling 3-year old daughter’s (Tinker Bell) hand, trick or treating. This neighborhood goes crazy for Halloween. To give you an idea, our neighbors counted 450 kids knocking on their door. The response to the iPhone costume, I must say, was fantastic. The fun thing is that everybody asked me to touch on the buttons, and people seemed to notice even small details like the date on the calendar icon, the Halloween application icon… Lots of people asked me details about how I built it, how long it took (I lied… I said 10 hours 
I’ve never heard the word “duuuuuude!” so many times in my life I initially felt sorry about stealing the show from my little Audrey, but then realized that she seemed to enjoy all the attention that her daddy attracted. I think my costume got her a few more candy too.
There are definitely quite a few ways to improve the costume. Among things that bugged me the most, I was quite underwhelmed by the way it hanged while I wore it. Maybe I could have attached the front to the back using PVC pipes or the like at each corner. I confess I simply ran out of time. Maybe I’ll improve the rig a little bit for next year, and post an update before next Halloween. Ideally, this project should also have been completed at least 2 weeks ago: I would have loved for others to follow the instructions and create their own. We’ll see if that happens next year (I hope that Apple won’t change drastically their iPhone form factor). Nevertheless, I’m pleased as punch by the personal satisfaction I got out of it. The cynic in me kept thinking “why are you wasting your time on such a nut project?” while my more free-spirited side reminded me that it is sometimes important to do things that have no immediate purpose. For the first post of my brand-new blog, I wanted to discuss a topic that I thought could generate some interest at this time of the year. To this date, I have had 2369 unique visitors for this post, and 2 (identical) articles have mentioned my project: one on PC World and the other on chiaroscoro. I have also received almost 100 emails, and had about 25 comments on the posts. But most importantly (sarcasm alert), the revenue generated by those pesky ads on the sidebar generated for me a whopping… $1.08!!!!! Ah, ah! I think those will go pronto. No need to disfigure your blog for that. Anyway, thank you all for your support and your friendly comments. Alvin, thanks for your diffraction suggestions. If I had not run out of time I would definitely have tried it! This was my first and probably longest post. Stay tuned for new ones.
It’s now 1:15AM on the West Coast, and I’m ready for bed… What am I going to do tomorrow?
Congratulations Regis!
The results are fantastic!
Mum
Regis,
I came across your site as a result of searching for IPHONE costumes today! AMAZING JOB! Sure wish it was earlier than today. I just made one with lights, plexiglass and cardboard for my eight year old son. A few issues with measurements, but it came out great for a quick build! I had to re-trim the bottom a bit so he could walk. LOL… anyway – I thought it was funny that my daughter was Tinkerbell! Check my son out http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037488&id=1044457215&l=6fc9472b91
Shari, thanks so much for sharing! It is infinitely cuter on your little boy than on me! Great job on the lights! How did you do them?
Thanks again, I absolutely love it!
Hello Regis,
CONGRATULATIONS for the great idea and even greater result !
You did an amazing job.
Laurence
dude, looks like a huge success. Remember that guilt (over upstaging audrey) is temporairy, glory is forever.
Can’t wait to see your Christmas decoration project! A+ Bryce
Hi Regis, Thanks for making me laugh out loud at my desk with your updates and photos. Along with the hilarity, I have great admiration for your workmanship and tenacity. All the best to the family, Toni
Regis,
Thanks. It was fun to make, but wished I had planned a bit better with measurements. I also used 2 sets of battery operated christmas lights, but I did not take them apart like you did. I simply taped them with blk tape along the sides of the plexi glass and strung them below each app. I then covered the whole back of the plexiglass with poster board to conceal the lights. The light was harsh on a few apps – but I was just glad that it worked.
Whats next?
Hi Redge,
Profite vite de la notoriété pour bien le dealer sur ebay, à moins bien sur que tu n’envisages de le remettre l’an prochain … En attendant je clique sur tous les liens sponsorisés qui tombent sous ma souris (faut amortir tout ce travail) !
Big hugs 2 all of U
Very impressive but I do not buy that it took you only 10 hours… no way !
)
Great idea and very well articulated, I enjoyed it big time
btw – did you get any funding from apple for free ad (unless they asked you for royalties ???)
Hi Mary, Thanks for your comment. I admitted it took me way more than 10 hours… probably 20 hours. Although I think that now the ‘research’ is done, it should take me or anyone less than 15 hours to build it. And no, I did not get any funding nor did I have to pay royalties to Apple for it
Oh my god this is out of this world!!!!! The skill and workmanship you have put into this project is unbelievable. What a talent!
Regis,
Thanks. It was fun to make, but wished I had planned a bit better with measurements. I also used 2 sets of battery operated christmas lights, but I did not take them apart like you did. I simply taped them with blk tape along the sides of the plexi glass and strung them below each app. I then covered the whole back of the plexiglass with poster board to conceal the lights. The light was harsh on a few apps – but I was just glad that it worked.
Whats next?
Hi Regis,
This is the best instructional site for the iPhone costome – thank you so much!!! I am trying to follow the steps to make this costume for my son, but having trouble with getting and printing the color images – do you have another link to the 24 images? Or suggestion for how to print each on letter size paper?
Thanks in advance!
Sam
Sam: I have updated the post and provided the file in US letter format, with layers. Thanks for the feedback! Please make sure to share your results once you are done. Kind regards, Regis
Hey Regis,
I hope you can help me. I’ve decided to take on this project and this is easily the biggest thing I’ve ever done for a Halloween costume. Everything has been going “relatively” smoothly until I layed my cut plexiglass down on to the outlined template you provided. My plexiglass is about 46.6″ long, which is what is required to fit in to the 48″ frame between the 1/4 round edges. When I piece together the outlined template, the phone outline is about 42.6″ in length. Long story short, my glass is 4″ longer than the template. When I think about, the template is only 4 pages tall, each page is 11″ for a maximum of 44″ and since there is a margin around the phone, that brings it to about 42″ max. Am I doing something wrong? When I look at your pictures, it seems that your glass is fitting the template perfectly… where in my process did I end up with +/- 4″?
I would sincerely appreciate any help or advice that you could provide to me. I’m pretty far in to this wonderful costume, I would hate to have to turn back.
Thanks in advance for your time!
cool