Tree Elf/Yoda Costume Idea

Here's one I'm fond of. I might try this year if my plans to be Dr. Horrible go horribly awry:

Create a costume of a small character, where your head is the head of the character, and most of your body is disguised as a tree. This would be good for a Yoda costume or an elf.

To make this work, you wear dark brown clothes and use foam pool noodles or pipe insulation to make branches that stick up from your back, and you hold branches in your hands, with draping to cover your hands. You wear a doll body (no head) hung from your neck, and fasten the doll's arms to your arms and its legs to your chest. The idea is to make it look like there's an elf standing in the tree.

The biggest problem with this one is that it's likely to be uncomfortable. Well, that applies to almost every elaborate costume idea. That's why I burn through so many costume ideas every year. ;)

I dunno whether the doll body thing is going to work the way I imagine it. This one needs a mockup, but I haven't so far been willing to rip the head off of one of my kids' dolls...