We have been obsessed with all things 90s since, well, THE 90s, and it turns out we're not alone in our overwhelming feelings of nostalgia for this delightful decade. Nickelodeon will be launching "The Splat" tonight, a nightly programming block airing from 10PM to 5AM, which will feature the best, best, BEST Nick game shows of our collective youths. Is this real life?? Do we really to get to re-watch Legends of the Hidden Temple contestants get captured by terrifying Temple Guards? Do we really get to cheer for the red contestant on GUTS, as they vie for a piece of the Aggro Crag? YES! The answer is yes.
In honor of this most fantastic new television offering, and because DIY 90s costumes are going to be especially big on Halloween this year, we put together 5 different DIY looks from our favorite Nickelodeon game shows. Many of these Nickelodeon costumes revolve around 90s Nickelodeon t-shirts, but we'll show you how to spice them up for a fully costumed look. It's about to get WILD AND CRAZY, KIDS!
1. DIY GUTS Contestant Costume
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D-d-d-d-d-do you have it, GUTS! (Are we the only ones that answered the TV? "YES! WE DO! WE HAVE WHAT IT TAKES!") GUTS was one of the best 90s Nickelodeon game shows around - it had great hosts (Mike O'Malley and Moira "Mo" Quirk), awesome physical competitions, lots of bungee harnesses action, and something worth fighting for: a piece of the Aggro Crag! We had a blast putting together this GUTS! cosplay, and made sure not to skimp on the shoulder pads.
The Finished Guts Costume
Who would have thought that a Silk Spectre costume from Watchmen, would be the perfect base for a Nickelodeon game show costume? As odd as it sounds, it made for the perfect spandex-ee jumpsuit to get us started. On top of that, we layered on a tee made with a custom printed design, and accented that with a full body harness and a pair of fingerless gloves. We spray painted a green army helmet yellow, added an oversized award medal, and all that was left to do was create some easy shoulder/knee pads. To create a set of these pads for yourself, simply:
- remove the plastic shoulder pads from our children's football pad set.
- Adhere the pads, using hot glue, to pieces of black elastic.
- Slide them on and trim the elastic to fit!
- We added this gun holster
Products Used
Helmet (Spray Painted Yellow) Fingerless Gloves White Socks Jumbo Award Medal
Top Gun Body Harness Shoulder Pads (used as knee and elbow pads)
DIY Aggro Crag
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Let's be honest. You don't want to be just any GUTS contestant this Halloween, you want to be a winning GUTS contestant! As such, you'll need proof of your old Nickelodeon game shows prowess in the form of a chunk of the old Aggro Crag. You could go all out and rig something up using glowing green lights, but there's really no need, when something fashioned from poster board, cardboard, and spray glue will do the trick just fine.
2. DIY GUTS "Mo" Costume
How will you ever know "your official results" without a Mo costume to compliment your GUTS contestant ensemble? All you really need to convey the essence of Mo is a referee outfit, a whistle, a very official looking stopwatch, and, of course, YOUR BEST BRITISH ACCENT! We can help you out with most of those things, but you're on your own for the accent. Maybe you can catch a GUTS re-run on The Splat?
The Finished Look
OH yes - don't forget the headset! That's how Mo and Mike O'Malley communicated between athletic challenges. Our "diva headset" is a must.
Products Used
Women's Referee Costume Referee Whistle
3. DIY Legends of the Hidden Temple Contestant Costume
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Did you and your siblings each pick a team to root for, and then take it as a deeply personal offense if they turned out to be duds? DANG YOU, BLUE BARRACUDAS! Whichever team you hitched your wagon to most often, wouldn't it be fun to dress up as a member of that team for Halloween? Yes, it would, is the answer. We went with a relative underdog, a Purple Parrot. (Pay close attention - Olmec will be quizzing you on this DIY later.)
The Finished Legends of the Hidden Temple Costume
The only thing this DIY 90s costume is missing is a ridiculously oversized mouth guard - may we suggest using a big slice of orange peel on Halloween? Again, we used a custom design to print off the Purple Parrot graphic to make Legends of the Hidden Temple t-shirts, and we completed the costume with our DIY knee and elbow pads. The khaki shorts are actually part of a Reno 911 police costume! This time we painted our green tactical army helmet a shiny gold and gave the model some key accessories, including a full pendant of life, and a name tag.
Products Used
Khaki Shorts Helmet (Spray Painted Gold) Shoulder Pads (used as knee and elbow pads)
4. DIY Double Dare Contestant Costume
The Double Dare stage sure was a messy one, this nobody can deny. (It WAS a famed Nickelodeon slime game show, after all!) The copious amounts of slime, whipped cream, glitter, and more slime, is probably why contestants constantly wore protective helmets, goggles, and padding. Robin couldn't be there for every single slip and fall, after all - she's only one woman! Here's a simple way to put together the perfect DIY Double Dare costume. Just remember: ALWAYS take the physical challenge! What else are ya there for?? YOLO.
The Finished Double Dare Costume
Besides the look on our model's face, our favorite part of this costume has to be the slime bowl on the helmet. To make it, all we did was hot glue a clear plastic bowl onto the helmet (which was pre-painted yellow, of course), mark off "slime lines" with black electrical tape, and smear a whole bunch of green body paint all over the inside of the bowl! The pads were created using the same method detailed above, and you guessed it, the shirt was printed with a printed design. We're pretty sure Marc Summers would whole-heartedly approve of this costume.
Products Used
Goggles Helmet (Spray Painted Yellow)
Shoulder Pads (used as knee and elbow pads) Green Body Paint
So. Our post: d-d-d-d-d-did you like it? (GUTS!) What was your favorite inspired by Nickelodeon costume? What were your favorite 90s Nickelodeon game shows? Do you think they'll honor the members of the midnight society by playing Are you Afraid of the Dark at the stroke of 12AM? Let us know your answers to any of these musings in the comments section below!
