superhero cuffs

By day, I am a mum, wife and career girl. I leave at 7.30 each morning, waving goodbye to my family as I speed off in my ordinary car to my ordinary office building. Beyond a certain bounce to my step, there is little to giveaway the fact that my alter-ego is – wait for it – ELASTIGIRL (da-da-daaaaa!). This alter-ego was news to me too, but Harry has lately become obsessed with The Incredibles (or ‘In The Credibles!’ as he is inclined to call it), and my new identity has been resolutely confirmed. In fact, there are times when he won’t call me anything else, which can be head-turning when we’re out in public. Harry is Dash, and I am Elastigirl, and together we will save the world. For those who are not familiar with The Incredibles, Elastigirl is a suburban superhero/mom with hips you could rest a bar-tray on and a questionable haircut, and she is very, very bendy. My husband finds this comparison hilarious.

I’ve realised that as a family we are somewhat lacking in superhero accessories. Sure, we have plenty of spandex, and after three years of parenthood we all have a good repertoire of rocket noises and the kind of finely-honed reflexes that would rise to anything Marvel comics could throw at us… but what we really, really need are some superhero cuffs we can slip on to change our identities in a heartbeat. So I made some:

These are the quintessential ’5 minute makes’, involving nothing more complex than cardboard toilet rolls, glue and paper. I’ve added a downloadable PDF of my graphics below if you want to simply print these and use as a wrapper… or design your own and have a paint & glitter-fest at the kitchen table.

Because we’re very taken with gadgets and buttons, our cuffs have rocket booster features and a special button on the Batman cuff which alerts Robin to arrive at lightening speed in the Batmobile. When I am wearing the Batcuff, it has been reprogrammed to summons a cup of tea, but I’m afraid neither of the men in my life is reliably responding. *Sigh* …you just can’t get the side-kicks these days.

Even the usually sensible Mr B has been seduced by our new superhero wardrobe…

To make your own cuffs you’ll need:

Toilet rolls or kitchen-paper rolls (these are usually a bit bigger; great for older kids – or grown-ups…
glue
paper printables (PDF at end of post) or paints, glitter and embellishments to decorate yourself
odd buttons to glue on for additional gadgets / accessories

Making the Superhero Cuffs:

Cut once along the length of the toilet roll to create a cuff shape and a flexible opening. If you’re making a pair of cuffs like the Superman ones above, cut the toilet roll into two equal halves.
Print out the PDF wrappers and glue around the cardboard rolls, folding the ends over and glueing in place. You might need to resize slightly depending on the size of your rolls. The cuffs should look like this: