The Headless Horseman has become a staple of Halloween lore, appearing in various forms of media.

He was famously featured in Scooby-Doo, further immortalized in Tim Burton’s 1999 film Sleepy Hollow, and even echoed in the character of Nearly Headless Nick in the Harry Potter films. Not to mention, the Headless Horseman plays a key role in Disney's Halloween Parade, where he leads the procession through the park in a dramatic opener, riding his horse without a head, setting the perfect eerie tone for the event.

The legends of the Headless Horseman can be traced back to medieval European folklore, where the figure is known as the "Dullahan" (meaning "dark man") in Ireland and as "Fenyw Heb Un Pen" (meaning "headless woman") in Wales.

These figures through history have traditionally been depicted as riders, upon horseback - are missing their heads.

Here at Mother of Grom we have long pondered making this fancy dress costume, alas there were never many tutorials or resources online that clearly depicted how to make it.

Since we didn’t have a horse, we decided to go with a Headless Waiters costume instead. We had so much fun creating it and were thrilled with how it turned out. Hope you enjoy it!

Please excuse the Christmas decorations in these photos! The Headless Man costume lingered around our house long after Halloween, all the way until Christmas was in full swing. While Mother of Grom was trying to find a spare moment during the holiday rush to create this tutorial, Father of Grom couldn't stand the sight of the "corpse" in our dining room any longer - haha! So, he stepped in to help finish this tutorial.

Follow me on @MotherOfGrom to see the latest homemade costumes and displays.

What you will need for your Headless Waiter Costume

• Cardboard, Cardboard, Cardboard
• Newspaper for stuffing
• Long white evening gloves
• White dress shirt
• Oversized suit
• Duct tape
• Plastic plate
• Plastic bowl
• Facepaint
• Glue Sticks
• Sticky Wounds for the severed neck
• Skin coloured acrylic paint for the neck

Method

1. First, you'll need a pair of long satin gloves and some newspaper. Tear the newspaper into smaller pieces, crumple them up, and carefully stuff the gloves to give them a realistic, human-like appearance. Make sure to evenly stuff the hands and fingers for a natural look.

2. Attach the ends of the gloves to rolled cardboard tubes. Roll the cardboard into lengths with an approximate 10 cm radius, tape them securely for added strength, and then fasten them to the gloves.

3. The arms should look something like this (*though I'm sure you can stuff the hands better than we did!). At this point, we decided to add a plastic Halloween plate for the decapitated head to rest on, enhancing the overall effect.

4. We trimmed a rounded section from the plate, giving it a kidney bean shape, and then used a glue gun to attach it to one of the hands.

5. Now, we're constructing the body. We used a cardboard box measuring approximately 500x300x800mm, as it fit snugly around our son's upper body. As seen in the picture below, we cut a semi-circle out of one side of the open base to allow space for the costume-wearer's head to protrude. To reinforce the structure, we attached another box on top of the original one for added strength.

6. Here's an earlier picture of the stacked boxes before we made any cuts. *I know, it looks a bit messy!

7. A view from the base.

8. A view from the top.

9. We tested our rough 'shoulder-box design' by placing it over our son's shoulders and worked on adjusting it for a better fit. We trimmed the cardboard around the shoulders as needed, lifted the tape, pulled the boxes in tighter, and then re-secured the tape. At this stage, it was still quite rough, but none of this will be visible in the final costume.

10. We were pretty happy with the shoulder fit at this stage.

11. Once we dressed the structure in a white shirt, we were convinced it was a good fit and size. We used a large adult shirt to easily cover the entire setup and accommodate the structure underneath.

12. Next, we cut holes in the upper sides of the box to accommodate the arms. We made these holes slightly smaller in diameter than the arms to ensure a snug fit.

13. We designated the right arm as the 'plate-holding' arm. To secure the arms, we used a glue gun to attach them in place and reinforced them with some trusty gaffer tape for extra stability.

14. We dressed the costume in the white shirt once again and attached a plastic bowl upside down on top of the cardboard structure to create the appearance of a severed neck.

15. To add gore and realism, we decorated the bowl with rubber cushioning stickers and painted it a flesh-toned pink. We then painted the stickers red to create the appearance of boils for an extra creepy effect.

16. We purchased a two-piece suit and fitted our son for the "full dress rehearsal." In this picture, he's holding the plate with his hands, but for the final costume, we safety-pinned the gloves and plate to the suit jacket to keep the plate securely in place. This allowed him to rest his head on the plate while hiding his real arms and hands inside the suit jacket and trousers for a seamless effect.

17. The final touch was some wonderfully cadaver-esque face painting, and with that, our little Headless Waiter was all set and ready for Halloween!

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For 28 of my other Homemade World Book Day costumes click here

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