Halloween is just around the corner. Trick-or-treating, spooky costumes, and mounds of candy are awaiting those who celebrate the holiday. For many, the costumes are the best part about Halloween.

Permobil recently brought volunteers from our product development and marketing teams together to help design wheelchair costumes for our friends to prepare them for Halloween. Creations included Batgirl, the Flash, and a Barbie car. 

We asked a couple volunteers who have a background in engineering how the process went, what they learned from it, and to share some memorable experiences with the hope that you can apply their learnings to your costume creation. 

What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome?

Andy Kwarciak (Commercial Product Manager, Power):  Designing costumes for our young users was awesome. It was a chance to be more creative and see the reactions of our clients firsthand hand. The biggest challenge was establishing and maintaining structural integrity of the costumes. We didn’t have the ability to see the chairs upfront, so we had to quickly create a frame that could be attached to the chair and support the costume. The approach was get to a solution quickly and test it out. That allowed us to see the weaknesses and make adaptations.

Michael (right), Andy (middle), and Jennifer Gray work on a Mario Kart costume.

Michael Tersingi (Director, Manual Wheelchair Product Development): Some creative problem solving was required! Mounting the costumes to chairs was a challenge – it’s not easy to rig the designs to chairs of all different shapes and sizes, but we tackled it with zip ties, PVC pipe, and copious amounts of well hid duct tape.

What was the biggest lesson you learned?

Andy: The experience taught me to have more fun. Beyond quality and reliability, it's important to consider aspects of our products that will excite our users and make them proud to show them off.

Michael: Building these costumes reminded me that small efforts, like building costumes, can go a long way for a user, specifically for a kid. Stella, who received the Barbie Car retrofit kit, was overjoyed! Her parents also lit up seeing the excitement the costume brought her. 

This experience tells me we need to include kids in the design cycle, ensuring whatever it is we deliver results in actual excitement for the kids who will use these products. If we can prompt excitement in kids with our products they will be thrilled to use our chairs!

What was it like to finish the costumes and see people's reactions?

Andy:  Working with kids is always exciting. They typically don't have filters, so you know right away if you're getting it right or wrong. One of our visitors saw her disassembled car costume on the floor and said "Wow." That's when we knew we were on track to making her happy.

Michael: Believe it or not, I am a bit of a kid at heart, and I love partaking experiences that take me back. Seeing the kid’s excitement, and the parents’ joy in response to their kid’s excitement – it’s priceless. 

If you'd like more practical tips about designing your Halloween costume, check out our blog from last year with tips on where to buy pre-made costumes, nonprofit organizations who specialize in donating and creating wheelchair costumes, and a few expert tips. 

Also, be sure to check out Episode 18 of Wheelchair Nerds, which features a conversation with the founder of Walkin and Rollin Costumes and a physical therapist at Shriners Hospitals for Children – Salt Lake City.