Star Wars costume for boy with cerebral palsy

A Star Wars-loving Utah family devised an elaborate and awe-inspiring solution to the challenge of finding a Halloween costume for their 5-year-old son with cerebral palsy.

Chantelle and Patrick Bailey built a detailed replica of the Millennium Falcon that fits around Sebastian Bailey’s walker. It is made of corrugated plastic with a wood foundation. It features blue lights in the back and headlights in the front to match the famous spaceship.

On top near Sebastian’s arm is a small black apparatus with a big yellow button called a speech button. It’s what Sebastian uses to communicate since he can’t talk. For the costume, they’ve programmed it with his older brother saying, “trick or treat” interspersed with some of Han Solo’s iconic one-liners from the Star Wars movie, such as “Sure hope the old man got that tractor beam out of commission, or this is gonna be a real short trip. Ok, hit it!”

Sebastian will go trick-or-treating in it dressed as Han Solo. His older brother, Holden, 8, is dressed as Luke Skywalker and their parents will go as R2-D2 and Chewbacca.

But the Baileys couldn’t persuade their two daughters, Eden, 9, and Ava, 3, to join the theme. Eden insisted on being a bee and Ava Spiderman.

Chantelle Bailey said she and her husband stayed up late nearly every night for three weeks after their four children were asleep to build the spaceship. She assigned the job to her husband, but she quickly realised it would be a two-person job.