DIY Norbert Ancient Yellow Minion Costume Idea

In the Minion Movie, we meet Norbert, a new Minion, who is a not like the other ancient minions, so makes for a unique costume idea.

He appears to march to his own tune and has his own unique style of dress compared to the other minions in dinosaur time or 65 million B.C.E.

Norbert could be described as the most modest minion or perhaps absent-minded minions.

This ancient yellow minion seems to be the most concerned about not wearing clothes or the seaweed skirt that the other minions wear.

Meet Norbert, the Modest Minion

We discover in this trailer from the Minion Movie that the minions have been here on the planet far longer than we have and share the same goal “to serve the most despicable master around.” This trailer is where we are introduced to Norbert, the modest Minion, who makes sure to cover his chest with starfish.

The narrator, in the clip below calls him an “idiot” which I don’t really like. I’m surprised that no one complained about it (though they did seem to use the term less in later previews).

Norbert’s Minion Costume

To make a presentable and wearable Norbert Minion Costume you need a few more items. Start with the basic ‘au natural’ or birthday suit look and then add in the extra accessories, in this case two starfish strategically placed.

The items needed to become Norbert:

A full yellow body suit, or a yellow unitard, or yellow top and pants/leggings
Yellow face paint
Leaf covered Green Minion Goggles
Starfish images, stickers, decals, appliques, felt cutouts or plastic toy

Making a Norbert version of the minion yellow costume is pretty easy as we can see from the Minion’s instructions for dressing like Norbert.

According to the official instructions for looking like Norbert, all you need is the ancient green Minion Goggles and a right starfish in orange and a left starfish in pink. (I thought they were the same color in the trailer)

The best option I found for quickly making a costume with an orange and pink starfish is to use mirror image stickers or decals. These 5 inch stickers can be easily attached to a yellow top for an adult costume, for a child you would need smaller starfish 2 to 3 inches in size.

Norbert Starfish Coverings

There are a few options for the starfish modesty coverings. The size of the starfish depends on the costume needs. The larger the costume, e.g. for an adult or teen, a larger the starfish (4 to 5 inches), the smaller the costume, e.g. for a child or tween, a smaller starfish (2 to 3 inches).

The 5 inch size starfish decal above or the toy starfish below are good options for an adult costume. For children or tweens you may need slightly smaller starfish like the Rhinestone starfish applique, which can be ironed on or attached to a yellow top.

Using starfish toys like the Safari Sea Life Starfish will give more of a life-like effect, but might be more challenging to wear. With the assorted plastic starfish, you can use several for chest covers or create several versions of the Norbert Yellow Minion costume.
Paper or Felt Starfish

Another option for the starfish would be to use the starfish template and cut out two starfish from orange and pink felt or fabric. Make it easier and print the template onto orange and pink card stock paper. (Click on the Starfish Template to get the largest size for printing.)

Starfish template adapted from Starfish by Irlandia on Openclipart. Royalty Free Use.

A final option would be to printout the two modified Starfish photo images that I’ve colored into pink and orange. (Click on the Starfish images to get the largest sizes for printing.)

Starfish images adapted from Starfish by Schwarzenarzisse. Creative Commons Deed CC0.

Once you have created your starfish, attach them to a yellow top. For more help in making the basic minion costume, see the DIY Yellow Minion Costumes for the Minion Movie page.

Norbert Green Leaf Minion Goggles

As do all of the other ancient yellow minions, Norbert wears green leaf-covered goggles (We still don’t know why they are wearing goggles in the days of the dinosaur).

Green Minion Goggles — Green Leaf Minion Goggles

To make the Green Leaf Goggles you need the following materials:

Large cardboard tubes or 3 inch circles for templates
Palm leaves or strips of green felt, fabric or plastic
Hot glue
Green twine
Bamboo knot skewers or cocktail picks
Green elastic

The easiest way to make the Minion Green Leaf Goggles is by modifying the instructions for making minion goggles using large cardboard tubes for the basic lenses.

Cut two pieces of a large cardboard tubes into 1/2 to 1 inch rounds for the lens frame.
Cover the lenses with the palm leaves (silk or real) or felt strips, gluing and overlapping the strips as you go to create the effect in the green minion goggles.
Use hot glue or twine to hold the eye frames together. (Remove the cardboard tubes if your wrapped green frames are strong enough on their own)
Hot glue the two green frames in the middle to join them together.
Decorate the side of the frames with the bamboo knot skewers.
Create a strap using more of the palm leaves or fabric by looping it through the frame. Carefully finish off with another bamboo cocktail pick to hold the ends together.
Alternatively use green elastic to create a strap to keep the goggles in place.

If you want to make a single lens goggles, like Norbert’s, make sure that the size of the lens is large enough for the wearer to see through with both eyes.

For more ideas on how to make Minion Goggles see our page just with 5 Easy Ways to Make Minion Goggles or Glasses.

Cute DIY Norbert Minion from Polymer Clay

For those who are crafty see Erzsébet Egri‘s tutorial for making Polymer Clay Minions Prehistoric Tutorial or CandiWare’s tutorial on Norbert The Minion Magnet Starfish – Polymer Clay for how to make your own Norbert minion using polymer clay. Candace of CandiWare has a very clever trick to attaching his removable starfish, by using magnets.

Au Natural Minion Costume

If you want to create other ancient yellow minion or au natural minion costumes take a look at the related Minion costume page for the all natural version of the Yellow Minion Costume.

DIY Yellow Au Naturel Minion Costume Ideas
DIY Bello Yellow, Birthday Suit Minion Costume

More Yellow Minions

For those who would rather wear a more traditional minion costume, we have other pages for the original Despicable Me Minion costumes and the new (retro) Minion costumes from the Minion Movie and of course King Bob. You can also find several suggestions for doing your own minion make-up and hair and making your own minion goggles.

Our Pinterest Board for DIY Yellow Minion Costumes

We’re big Minion fans here at the Costume Detective site so you’ll find many of the ideas and inspiration for making your own yellow minion costume at the Pinterest board especially for the DIY Yellow Minion Costume Ideas and Fun.

Be sure to pop over to Pinterest and follow us for updates.

Follow The Costume Detective’s board DIY Yellow Minion Costume Ideas and Fun on Pinterest.

This board is a collection of Yellow Minion images from Despicable Me, Despicable Me 2 and from the Minion Movie that inspired the costume, DIY goggles, hair and makeup.

Minion Images from the Minions on Facebook.