One year while attending the SXSW conference in Austin TX and I met some folks from Japan that made these simple yet fun "Big Head Boxes" (they called them "Big Face Boxes"). I loved theses things and decided to make my own.
I had difficulty finding fresnel lenses that filled the entire side of a box so I had to settle on these 8.3" x 11.75" fresnel lenses from amazon. The fresnel lens is taped to the inside of the box.
I bought the cardboard box (measuring 14"x14"x14") from a local big box office supply store and reinforced the cutout for people to stick their head through with duct tape.
I bought the battery powered LED "strip lights" on amazon (link). Although these strip lights have a sticky back, I found the sticky stuff won't keep the strip lights on for long so I use small "zip ties" to secure them to the box. You'll see this in the photos below. I use a long rubber band to secure the battery pack inside the box. This allows me to easily remove the battery pack and replace batteries.
I made four of these Big Head Boxes because I found that people like to do group photos with them. I usually bring them to events where the Asheville Makers are exhibiting (I volunteer there).