Laredo teen’s homemade costume leads to meeting with MrBeast

LAREDO, Tex. (KGNS) - A homemade Halloween costume built last year sent a Laredo family on a trip to North Carolina to meet YouTuber James Donaldson, known as MrBeast.

Luis Barraza and his family have watched Donaldson’s content for four years. Donaldson has more than 500 million subscribers. Last Halloween, Luis decided to dress as a working Feastables vending machine. His family spent nearly three weeks building the costume from scratch.

“We all put a little piece of everything. My sister put the numbers. I spray-painted it. My dad worked on the interior,” Luis said.

Photo leads to an invitation

The family posted a photo of the costume online. Donaldson saw it and messaged the family, saying, “Tell your son I love the vending machine.”

The family believed that was the end of it. Almost a year later, an invitation came through social media asking them to fly to North Carolina for a surprise MrBeast experience.

“They contacted me about going over there. They’re like, ‘Do you still have it?’ And I said, yes. I’m like, okay, great. We want it. So they had to ship it. And then once everything was done, they shipped it back to us,” said Samantha Barraza, Luis’ mother.

Luis and his sister boarded a plane for the first time, believing it was a family holiday trip.

“It was really sentimental, just watching him there, like, just from an idea he had to being in front of the person that motivated him,” said Luis Barraza Sr., Luis’ father.

Costume contest and warehouse tour

The trip included a Halloween costume contest and a tour of the warehouse where Donaldson films his videos.

Luis left the trip with a new Nintendo Switch and an unlimited supply of Feastables chocolate, which will be delivered to him in a real vending machine.

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