Zacchaeus, wee little man in the tree

This is my kiddos' third year in AWANA and Bible Character Night is always a favorite. This year my son couldn't decide between the talking donkey, the burning bush, and Zacchaeus.

We went with Zacchaeus.  {Luke 19: 1-10}




We used items we had on hand and this costume cost nothing!
We used the biblical clothing we had made 2 years past. (See Jonah blog post) (Hint: use a scarf or small towel for head covering, and a large towel for robe)












I wanted my son to be able to "put on " the tree. So with a paper grocery bag we made him a vest, which became the base /trunk of the tree.

I had been collecting paper towel rolls for awhile and used about 9 for the branches. I unrolled them loosely, so that they still remained somewhat curled. I then just started stapling the "branches " here and there on the vest,  concentrating in the front around his chest area.
Once the branches were in place, I took our "seaweed " (green plastic tablecloth from the Jonah costume) {you can also use leaves cut out of construction paper}  and cut it up and stapled leaves to the branches.
 
Next was Zacchaeus' legs. I used a pair of my youngest son 's pants and stuffed them with craft paper,  leaving some hanging out for feet. I used flesh color socks to cover the craft paper feet and stapled the straps of a pair of small sandals to both the sock and craft paper feet.


I used binder clips to clip the legs to my son's clothes. I clipped them near his chest to give the illusion that he was in the tree. When putting on the vest I gently rested the front flaps on the legs and let the branches and leaves cover the binder clips.
The costume was a hit!