Home / Wheelchair Halloween costumes for adults / Semi Truck
Semi Truck Wheelchair Costume: How to Build It
- Time About 2 hours
- Help needed Cutting and painting the box
- Best for Funniest build
The semi truck is the one that gets the laugh. The cab is one large cardboard box, worn on shoulder straps so its weight rides on your shoulders and not on the chair. The grille, bumper and headlights are all painted on, so there is no wiring to fail and nothing to plug in.
What you will need
- One large sturdy cardboard box (an appliance or moving box, wide enough to sit around your lap and chest)
- Cardboard scraps and two cardboard tubes (paper towel or wrapping paper tubes) for smokestacks
- Wide webbing straps, two old belts, or adjustable suspenders for the harness
- A small piece of foam or an old towel to pad the shoulder straps
- Black, silver, white, yellow, orange and red paint (acrylic or craft paint)
- Duct tape, brass fasteners or heavy-duty zip ties
- Hook-and-loop strips for the smokestacks
- A small buckle or quick-release clip for the harness
Step by step
- Cut the top flaps off the box. Cut a notch or U-shape out of the back so the box clears your backrest and armrests, and trim the bottom flaps so it can rest on your lap without catching.
- Try it on. Sit in the chair, put the box around your lap and chest, and mark where the top edge reaches. It should end below your chin, so your arms and head are free and your view is clear. Trim the top edge until it does.
- Make the harness: attach two wide straps to the inside front corners of the box with brass fasteners or zip ties, and run them over your shoulders to the back of the box. Pad the shoulder part with foam. Add a chest strap with a quick-release buckle so you can take it off in seconds.
- Adjust the straps so the box hangs on your shoulders and just touches your lap. The box should not press on your chest or belly, and you should be able to breathe deeply.
- Paint the front: silver grille with black vertical lines, a silver bumper strip along the bottom, and a license plate with a name such as BOO.
- Paint the headlights: two large circles on the front corners in white with a yellow center and a black ring. Add two smaller red or orange circles above as marker lights, and a row of orange dots across the top edge.
- Make the details: cardboard rectangles on each side as mirrors, and a windshield frame standing up in front of your chest, painted with a dark glass area and a sun-strip across the top.
- Build the smokestacks: paint two cardboard tubes silver, and attach them to the back of your chair or the back of the box with hook-and-loop strips, no taller than a foot above your shoulders and clear of any push handles.
- Dress as the driver: a trucker hat, a plaid shirt and a pair of sunglasses.
Before you roll
Check. Roll slowly in a room before you go out. The box should not touch the wheels, hand rims, brakes or controls. On a power chair, cut a clear notch around the joystick and any display. Check that the harness does not pull on your neck and that the quick-release works.
Mistakes to avoid
- A box that rests on the wheels or armrests and pushes down on them. The harness carries the load.
- A box that is too tall and blocks your view. Cut the top edge low.
- Straps without padding. Cardboard and thin straps dig into your shoulders after an hour.
Make it better
Tape small battery LED lights behind the painted headlights and trim the paint thin so they glow through. Add a sleeper cab behind you from a second, lighter box, kept narrow and short, with reflective tape on the back.
Where to buy
Amazon links; check the product page against the notes before you order.
- Battery LED puck lights (battery powered and cool-running)
- Reflective tape (a small roll is enough)
Safety for every build
- Nothing may block, touch or catch in the wheels, hand rims, brakes or controls. Keep fabric above the wheels and make every attachment quick to remove.
- On a power chair, also keep clear of the joystick, cables, battery and vents.
- Keep tall pieces light and low on the chair so they do not change your balance.
- Check that the finished build fits through a standard door.
- Add reflective tape or a battery LED so you are visible in low light.