If you want to take your cosplay to the next level, one thing you can do is add lights to your costume. For most cosplayers, LED wire strips are the easiest option to craft with in order to make glowing parts for their cosplays, whether that be in their costumes or props. However, exposed wires and battery packs can ruin the illusion you’re going for when you add lights to your cosplay. It’s best to find ways to conceal these pieces in order to get the most professional look for your light-up cosplay. In this post, we’ll discuss hiding LED wires and battery packs with some clever cosplay tricks.

Ways to Hide Your Cosplay’s LED Wires and Battery Packs

• Build them into your cosplay, not on top of it. The best way to make sure your lights look like they’re part of your cosplay and not just something you put on top of all the work you did is to sandwich them between layers of your cosplay. That way, they don’t stick out and look like something added in at the last second. A few ways you can do this, depending on what type of cosplay you’re making and what materials its made of, include securing lights underneath a transparent fabric (like we did in our Avatar belt) or tucking them underneath the edges of your armor (like we did in our Kat build).
• Use Wire Manager strips to hold your LEDs in place. You want to make sure you keep your LED strands in place, and CosBond’s Wire Manager is a great solution. Our Wire Manager can be cut into strips with a clear channel between peel and stick adhesive on either side. By sticking down these strips, you can place your LEDs exactly where you want them, meaning your lights and wires won’t be dangling out in plain view, keeping your wiring job looking clean.
  
• Create secret pockets inside your armor. One way to keep your battery pack hidden away is to create a secret inner pocket on your armor that can hold the batter pack out of sight. We created a quick and helpful tutorial that explains exactly how you can tuck a secret pocket under a piece of armor that doesn’t sit directly against your body, like hip, leg, or shoulder pieces, for instance.
• Or make a custom bag or pouch for your battery packs. If there’s no space inside your cosplay to hide your battery pack but you don’t want that ugly box showing on the outside of your cosplay, you can make a bag or pouch that matches your cosplay while concealing your battery packs (and other essential items as well, if you need). At the very least, you can paint your pouch to match the color and aesthetic of your cosplay, which is much more cohesive than letting your battery pack show.

Keep these tips in mind the next time you add lights and battery packs to your cosplay for the best build possible!