How to Make a Cheese And Cracker Handi-Snack Costume

God: “Jessie, you will not make the dance team, or cheerleading team, you will get denied from every High School talent show you ever try out for so please stop trying, you will not be able to carry a tune, you will have zero rhythm, no athletic ability whatsoever, terrible depth perception, and you will most definitely need Lasik. But I shall give you the gift to dream up weird creative sh&t. And with that you will be the first person to ever make a Giant Handi-Snack Costume.”

#first

Eeeeek! I love this costume. This was one of my favorite lunch snacks growing up as a kid. I was obsessed with the using that little stick and spreading the perfect amount on each cracker.

Scroll down for the tutorial!! And Happy almost Halloween everyone : )

My baby, Lily, the cheese model Xx

Firstly, you need (1) 23”Lx16 1/4” W x 6” H clear storage bin. I purchased mine at Home Depot. You could use a more shallow bin if you find one, but the smaller bin on top needs to be the same depth. This is the best I could find when I went looking. You don’t need the lids.

For the smaller bin I used a clear 16 3/4”L x 11 7/8"W x 7” H bin. This is going to hold your “cheese”.

Next you need (8) yellow sponges. I bought a large pack at Home Depot.

You will need to trim four of the sponges about 3/4” on one side so they all fit together nicely like pictured below.

Stack them inside your clear container to make sure they fit perfectly. You aren’t gluing them in just yet, just cut them to fit then set aside.

Cut your piece of stiff felt to size so it fits perfectly on top of your sponges and is snug in the clear bin. Spray paint golden yellow and let dry. The exact color I used is above.

Next, sand any rough edges on your cut piece of wood.

Blow off any dust and spray paint red on both sides. This is the red I used.

Next we will make the crackers. This is the textured contact paper I used from Home Depot.

Next, you will make the “crackers”. I made all my crackers roughly 22”L x 15” W, but you will need to cut the cardboard to the size of your bin. Once all the cardboard is cut, wrap each cracker in textured contact paper on one side only. I used the speckled contact paper from Home Depot because I think it gives the crackers a more realistic look. Use a small amount of hot glue to adhere the contact paper and secure the corners.

Once you have glued all the “crackers” spray the sides with white spray paint first then follow up with some ivory spray paint. Lightly spray the area so white still shows through. You DO NOT need to paint the center because these crackers will be glued under the main cracker. So 3 half painted crackers and one fully painted cracker.

These are the exact spray paints I used.

And this is the brown acrylic paint from the Martha Stewart line.

Just roughly brush along the edge so it looks unique on all sides. Again, you do not need to paint the centers of these crackers as they will be glued to the main cracker.

For the main cracker that will show, you need to paint the entire cracker. I went back and forth with white spray paint, ivory spray paint, and a light brown acrylic paint to make it look as real as possible.

Once completely dry, you will use your 3/16” drill bit to make 18 evenly spaced holes on the cracker. I just eyeballed these and marked them out with a sharpie beforehand and then drilled right through the contact paper and cardboard. Once I drilled all the holes I went over the holes gently with light brown paint and then sprayed another super light coat of ivory over them so it looked like a cracker. The paint isn’t a science so just keep layering colors until to resembles a cracker and don’t forget to gently brush the brown on certain areas as well. The brown gives it depth.

Using the same drill bit, drill holes directly through both containers. I made 8 evenly spaced holes across the containers and zip-tied them together. The first time I did this I only made 3 holes and it didn’t hold so make sure you make all 8 holes. I would also recommend using better zip-ties. Mine were a little fragile, but I know they have better zip-ties at Home Depot.

Make sure the containers are evenly aligned before you tighten the zip-ties.

Now cut the ends of the zip-ties and turn them into the bottom container so they don’t show and drill through the top of the container into the next container so you can add straps.

Do not put the crackers or cheese in yet. Ignore my picture. I photographed it afterwards. Sorry!

Here is a better photo of how I made the holes. You need to drill through the bottom container and the top container so the weight is even. If you only drill holes through the top, the cheese will pull off the cracker container and break because of the weight. Loop your string through all the holes.

Once the string is in place hot glue your crackers together just at the corners and hot glue them to the base of your container. Don’t go over board with the glue because it adds weight. Just glue the corners. Glue the cheese stick to the cracker on top at an angle. Also glue down your sponges and the piece of felt. Again, just a tiny bit of hot glue in the corners!

Carefully cut the shrink-wrap material to fit over the entire front of both bins. If your shrink-wrap is double sided, like mine, meaning it’s on the roll and when it comes off it looks like a pocket, just cut off the other half. You want the shrink wrap to hang over about three inches. It will shrink up so it’s better long than short! If it’s cut too short you will have to re-do it again.

Now super carefully, yet super quickly add hot glue along each edge not the base of the bin and hold down the edge of the shrink-wrap. Usually when you shrink wrap a basket you place it in the middle of the shrink wrap pocket so it all seals together, but in this case we are only shrink-wrapping the top so we need it to be glued to the sides for it to get tight on top. Does that make sense? Think of it like Saran Wrap on a bowl of food, but the Saran Wrap is already sticky. The shrink wrap isn’t sticky so we need to glue it around the edges of the bin.

Using a blowdryer, on Medium High heat and Medium Strength, carefully blow-dry the shrink-wrap material until it’s completely tight across the bins. If it starts to lift anywhere on the sides just add a dab of hot glue. Once everything is tight, blow dry the edges and shrink the extra long side pieces until they shrivel up. DO NOT use HIGH heat or High power with this. It will shrink it to fast and it will rip.

Print this logo on High-Gloss Printer paper. If you wish to add the bar code, just google “Printable Barcode” and print any one that you desire on High Gloss paper as well.

Lastly use 3M spray glue to attach the Logo and Barcode! If you want to see my tutorial to the Bubble Game Tape Costume Click here: Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum Tape Costume

What You Need

4 pieces of thin light-weight Cardboard to fit your bin

Textured Grip Prints Non-adhesive Drawer Liner material

(1) 23”L x 16 1/4” W x 6” H Clear storage bin

(1) 16 3/4”L x 11 7/8"W x 7” H Clear storage bin

(8) Large Heavy Duty Yellow Sponges from Home Depot

(1) Piece of stiff yellow felt 8.5” x 18”

(1) 0.25” x 0.25” x 22” piece of poplar wood board

(1) Spray Golden Sunset Yellow Spray paint

(1) Ivory Spray paint

(1) White Spray paint

(1) Red Spray paint

Brown Acrylic Paint

(2) 4’ pieces of white Rope or Ribbon

Hot Glue

3M Spray Glue

High Gloss Printer Paper

Scissors

Clear zip-ties

Ritz Cracker Logo

Barcode Printable

** NOTE: You don’t have to use spray paint if you don’t have any at home. It can be expensive. Just use regular acrylic paint if that’s what you have. I just happen to have a lot of spray paint.

Directions

1. Firstly, you need (1) 23”Lx16 1/4” W x 6” H clear storage bin. I purchased mine at Home Depot. You could use a more shallow bin if you find one, but the smaller bin on top needs to be the same depth. This is the best I could find when I went looking. For the smaller bin I used a clear 16 3/4”L x 11 7/8"W x 7” H bin. This is going to hold your “cheese”.

2. Take your sponges and trim (4) of the sponges length-wise about 3/4”. See picture above. In order to fit them in the small cheese bin I mentioned above (4) will need to be trimmed just ever so slightly. You will have two layers of 4 sponges. Place them iside the bin and make sure they all fit. You are not gluing them down yet.

3. Next, trim your piece of felt to fit your small bin. It will go right on top of the sponges.

4. Spray the felt with yellow spray paint and let dry. Make sure it fits perfectly in your small bin on top of the sponges. Do not hot glue yet. Set aside.

5. Take your piece of wood and using sand paper, remove any rough edges. Blow off any dust and spray paint red on both sides. (TIP: There is a hand saw in the wood aisle at Home Depot and you can cut the piece of wood to size yourself, for free, before even leaving the store.)

6. Next, you will need to make the “crackers”. I made all my crackers roughly 22”L x 15” W, but you will need to cut the cardboard to the size of your bin. Once all the cardboard is cut, wrap each cracker in textured contact paper on one side only. I used the speckled contact paper from Home Depot because I think it gives the crackers a more realistic look. Use a small amount of hot glue to adhere the contact paper and secure the corners.

7. Once all the crackers have been glued, spray paint the edges white on 3 crackers, followed by a gentle spray of ivory spray paint and then use a brush to paint the light brown on the edges. Just roughly brush along the edge so it looks unique on all sides. You do not need to paint the centers of these crackers as they will be glued to the main cracker. For the main cracker that will show, you need to paint the entire cracker. I went back and forth with white spray paint, ivory spray paint, and a light brown acrylic paint to make it look as real as possible.

8. Once completely dry, you will use your 3/16” drill bit to make 18 evenly spaced holes on the cracker. I just eyeballed these and marked them out with a sharpie beforehand and then drilled right through the contact paper and cardboard. Once I drilled all the holes I went over the holes gently with light brown paint and then sprayed another super light coat of ivory over them so it looked like a cracker. The paint isn’t a science so just keep layering colors until to resembles a cracker and don’t forget to gently brush the brown on certain areas as well. The brown gives it depth.

9. Now drill through the bottom container and the top container so you can add your straps. You need the weight to be even so drill through both containers. If you only drill holes through the top, the cheese will pull off the cracker container and break because of the weight. Please see the picture above for more complete directions.

10. Carefully cut the shrink-wrap material to fit over the entire front of both bins. If your shrink-wrap is double sided, like mine, meaning it’s on the roll and when it comes off it looks like a pocket, just cut off the other half. You want the shrink wrap to hang over about three inches. It will shrink up so it’s better long than short! If it’s cut too short you will have to re-do it again.

11. Now super carefully, yet super quickly add hot glue along each edge not the base of the bin and hold down the edge of the shrink-wrap. Usually when you shrink wrap a basket you place it in the middle of the shrink wrap pocket so it all seals together, but in this case we are only shrink-wrapping the top so we need it to be glued to the sides for it to get tight on top. Does that make sense? Think of it like Saran Wrap on a bowl of food, but the Saran Wrap is already sticky. The shrink wrap isn’t sticky so we need to glue it around the edges of the bin.

12. Using a blowdryer, on Medium High heat and Medium Strength, carefully blow-dry the shrink-wrap material until it’s completely tight across the bins. If it starts to lift anywhere on the sides just add a dab of hot glue. Once everything is tight, blow dry the edges and shrink the extra long side pieces until they shrivel up. DO NOT use HIGH heat or High power with this. It will shrink it to fast and it will rip.

13. Print the Hubba Bubba logo on High-Gloss Printer paper. If you wish to add the bar code, just google “Printable Barcode” and print any one that you desire on High Gloss paper as well. Attach with 3M spray glue!