The mischievous trio from The Nightmare Before Christmas — Lock, Shock and Barrel — make a standout group costume. Below is a clear, practical guide to assembling each character’s look using a mix of DIY techniques and easy-to-find store items. This approach offers a fresh alternative to the typical Jack and Sally costumes and works great for a family or small group.
Best Lock, Shock and Barrel Masks
A quick way to get an accurate trio is to start with realistic masks. Affordable, movie-accurate masks make the costumes come together fast:
- Lock Mask
- Shock Mask
- Barrel Mask
How to Make a Lock Costume
Lock is the easiest to create. A simple hack is to use red pajamas as the base of the outfit — comfortable, simple, and instantly recognizable.
- Red pajamas for an adult or child
For the devil tail you can either buy a pre-made tail or make one from red felt: cut two identical tail shapes, glue or sew them together, stuff with fiberfill, and safety-pin it to the waistband of the pants.
Style your hair with temporary red spray and create small spikes or buns to suggest horns if you like. Finish the look with a Lock mask and you’re set.
Shock Costume Tutorial
Shock’s look centers on her exaggerated purple witch hat and wild hair. Gather these items to build the costume:
- Shock mask
- Purple witch hat (or materials to make an oversized one)
- Blue pipe cleaners for hair
- Purple dress or sweater dress
- Purple felt for collar and hem details (optional)
- Black tights and black shoes or boots
Purple Witch Hat Tutorial
Make a tall, sculpted purple witch hat using purple felt, basic sewing tools and hot glue. This hat is the defining element of Shock’s silhouette.
- Fold purple felt and cut a tall cone shape for the hat top.
- Cut two large half-donut shapes from felt to form the brim pieces.
- Sew the long edge of the cone, stitch the two brim pieces together along the outer edge, trim curves, turn right-side-out, and attach the cone to the center of the brim.
- Glue a contrasting felt band around the base of the cone for detail.
- Curl blue pipe cleaners and glue them inside the hat to mimic Shock’s hair.
Add scalloped felt accents to the neckline and hem of a purple dress to match Shock’s costume silhouette. With the hat, mask and dress complete, Shock is ready.
DIY Barrel Costume (with printable)
Barrel’s look is a gray skeleton pajama set. You can buy a ready-made skeleton sleeper or create a screen-accurate version using an iron-on bone pattern. A printable bone template makes the process straightforward.
Supplies for Barrel’s costume:
- Barrel mask
- Gray pajamas or gray base layer
- Printable bone pattern (sizes for cutting by hand or with a cutting machine)
- White iron-on vinyl
- Scissors or a cutting machine and an iron
- A black and red lollipop prop (or materials to make one)
Barrel’s Skeleton Costume Tutorial
To apply the bones to a gray pajama set:
- Cut the bone shapes from white iron-on vinyl (mirror the design if using a cutting machine). If cutting by hand, trace and cut carefully.
- Place the bone shapes on the pajamas and iron them on following the vinyl manufacturer’s instructions so they adhere smoothly.
Barrel’s Lollipop Tutorial
Make Barrel’s classic red-and-black lollipop from simple household materials:
Cut two identical circles from scrap cardboard, paint a red-and-black swirl on both sides, paint a dowel or popsicle stick for the handle, and glue the circles around the stick to seal the prop.
These step-by-step instructions make it easy to create a recognizable Lock, Shock and Barrel trio. Whether you mix store-bought masks with handmade clothing details or craft each element from scratch, the final result will delight fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas. Have fun assembling your group costume and enjoy trick-or-treating as these iconic troublemakers!