At the bottom of this page there is a checklist of items needed to make a Ted costume.

In addition to the information on this page, we highly recommend checking out CreativeDude's
step-by-step account of how he created his Ted costume for even more hints and tips!!!

We'll start with Ted's shirt.  Ted wears a white t-shirt which bears a promotional photo of the band Van Halen used around the time of their album "5150."  The photo shows the band (with Sammy Hagar) strapped into straitjackets.  It may be difficult to track down this particular shot for use on your shirt, but here's a copy I found on a pin for sale on eBay which features the correct photo.  Compare it to the section of the picture showing on Ted's shirt:

So what do you do if you can't find this exact photo for use on your shirt?  Well, you can use a different Van Halen shirt or perhaps an Iron Maiden shirt or something similar (it should feature a heavy metal 80's rock band if possible).  The most important thing is that the t-shirt should be white . . . heck you could even wear a Bill and Ted t-shirt!

Update: February 11, 2004!!

The most outstanding Erik sent us these pictures of the Van Halen shirt which he himself owns!
Most outstanding!  This should give fans a better idea of what to look for, definitely!

The most outstanding Elliot Bobin created this non-heinous reverse design of the Van Halen logo for those of you who want to use it to make a T-shirt transfer on your computer!  Just click on the thumbnail below to bring up the full-sized pattern and right click save it to your computer!  Thanks, dude!!!

Additional Update: November 4, 2006!!

The most excellent Mikey O. sent us yet another version of the Van Halen logo for fans to use in making their costumes.  This .gif is really big and detailed.  Don't forget to reverse the image if you want to make a t-shirt transfer from it!  Thanks Mikey O.!!!

Over the white t-shirt you should wear a black vest.  This can be a very simple black vest, and you should wear it unbuttoned.  If it's a bit loose on you, that's okay!

Ted also wears a red jacket.  The actual color is somewhere between an orange and a rust, but it sometimes comes across as being reddish so anything in that realm of the color spectrum will do.  The jacket should be either a jean or denim fabric or something similar.  Ted usually keeps this wrapped around his waist, the same way Bill keeps his shirt around his waist.  If you do wear the jacket you should add a couple of touches.  One is to put a black and white colored shoestring through one of the buttonholes of the jacket and let it dangle down.  See photo below to see how this should look.

We're not sure if the shoelace has any actual function, but there it is!   The outstanding Steffen pointed out to us that the shoelace appears to be in an argyle pattern, and sent us this link to Fieggen.com which sells this style!  Many thanks, Steffen dude!)  Also Ted has the words "Wyld Stallyns" written down the right sleeve of his jacket with a marker pen.  See the photo below for how this should look.

  Since jackets like this are hard to come by, you might consider buying a white jacket and dyeing it the right color instead.  Be sure to check local thriftshops to try to find something more reasonably priced.  It might take some searching, so be prepared to visit and revisit the stores until you can locate something suitable!

On to the shorts!  Ted wears black shorts which come down to just above his knee.  These can be very plain, simple black shorts and shouldn't be too hard to find.  However, Ted has added a couple of things to his shorts.  On the left leg (when worn) he has a bumper sticker which reads "Save the Humans" and then below that a Smiley face sticker.  You should be able to find a smiley face icon somewhere to use, or draw one yourself.  As for the bumper sticker, I found several for sale on eBay.  A photo of the sticker itself can be found below so you can see what it looks like.  Refer to the photo below that one to to see how these should be placed. 

***new info below!

*** UPDATE!!!!!
Apparently Sundance Solar is no longer selling the Save the Whales bumper stickers.  But the most outstanding Charlotte let us know they are being sold on a website called Bonanzle.com, and the text on this version is green (which B&T fan Steffen pointed out to us is the actual color of the text on the sticker on Ted's pants!)  Many thanks Charlotte for finding these for us!!!  Additional: The bodacious Steffen sent us this link for PeaceProject.com which offers the original design of the stickers for sale!  Excellent!

Beneath Ted's black shorts he's wearing a pair of gray sweatpants.  These are long pants but he has them rolled up to cover his knees.

Ted wears gray tube socks with a thick red stripe near the top.
For shoes Ted wears black high top sneakers with white soles and accents.
His shoelaces are purple, which is somewhat hard to tell from these photos!

Update: according to ChucksConnection.com, Bill and Ted both wear Converse All Star "Chuck Taylor" canvas basketball shoes.  For more information on "Chucks" than you could ever hope to want, click here.

Like Bill, Ted wears friendship bracelets on his right wrist.  These are
fairly simple black ones, two loops total.

You're almost done, but of great importance is Ted's watch, which he wears on his
left wrist.  Ted's watch is a very specific style which may be hard to find . . .
the band is a thick leather strap all the way around and
under the watch face.  If you can't find a watch similar to this,
don't worry!  There is a trick you can do to solve the problem.  If you can find
a watch with a simple black band, get a wrist sweatband that is black and
put the watch on top of that.  It looks enough like a wide band to make the
costume look correct!

As for Ted's hair, if you're not naturally graced with short dark brown hair you may need to resort to finding a wig that matches Ted locks, but be careful because a majority of wigs are made for women and it's a fine line between Ted's hair and a woman's bob!  It might be necessary to buy a wig and then have it cut to the right style, but that can be quite expensive.  Check with your local wig store or supplier (or even an online wig store) to see if they can assist you in finding something that will work.

Optional props

As Ted in Excellent Adventure you have the option to carry
some additional props around with you.  If you can find a red backpack you can
use it to carry several items, listed below.

In your backpack you can include as many of the following items as you like:
An orange Nerf football (good for keeping historical figures occupied during time stops)
A history book (never know when you'll need to look something up)
Pudding cups (unfortunately there are only plastic ones now**+.  But these are nice to
hand out to people during prehistoric pit stops!  Chocolate is best!)
Bubble gum (comes in handy in case the antenna on your phone booth breaks)

**Hold the phone!!!  A most excellent personage by the name of AutoDMC sent along this info about the pudding cups!  Apparently you *can* find pudding still in metal cans similar to those carried by Bill and Ted.  Unfortunately they are not the same brand . . . in fact these are nutritional pudding cups!  We won't venture to guess how they might taste, but if you want to check it out, you can visit their website:

For small layovers (oops, wrong number, dude.  Bill, you forgot the Era
Code!  Here, historical dude, have a pudding!), you can buy 4 packs by clicking here.

He suggests maybe you can make labels like the original ones used in the movie to make them more authentic.  This excellent dude also reminded us not to time travel without taking along some Twinkies!!  Wouldn't want to run into any aggressive Mongol barbarians without them!!  : )

Thanks AutoDMC dude!

+ More pudding cup news!!!!!!

The most outstanding Dragonrider2 informed us that Rocky . . . yes, the Sly Stallone Rocky . . . has a line of pudding cups out as well.  But not just any chocolate pudding . . . this is High Protein Pudding!!!!  We suspect this would be most appropriate to hand out Stallone pudding cups and the added benefit is the high protein aspect would give you lots and lots of extra energy which is most necessary when racing through time!  A bit on the pricey side, but hey, it's Stallone pudding!!!!

Here's a link to a site which is selling this pudding . . . don't know if they're reliable or not but maybe worth a try!

Checklist of items you'll need to make Ted's costume:

White T-Shirt with Van Halen photo (or similar band)
Black vest
Orange - reddish denim jacket
Black and white shoelace
Black shorts
Smiley face sticker
Save the Humans bumper sticker
Gray sweatpants
Gray and red striped tube socks
Black high top sneakers with white highlights
2 black friendship bracelets
1 watch with wide leather band
Black wrist sweatband
(to substitute for watch band if needed)
Black felt pen

Optional items:

Red backpack
Orange Nerf Football
History Book
Chocolate Pudding Cups
Bubble gum
Twinkies

Have fun!!!!