Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) combines creativity, strategy, and physical activity, allowing participants to immerse themselves in fantastical or historical scenarios. A key component of safe and realistic gameplay is the use of custom foam materials for weapons, shields, and armor. These foams provide impact protection, durability, and design flexibility, enabling LARPers to craft personalized gear that reflects their characters while maintaining the highest safety standards.
Polyethylene Foam for Boffers and Padded Weapons
Safety is key in LARP events, and weapons are constructed from materials designed to minimize injury. Foam-wrapped cores are standard, providing padded surfaces that allow participants to engage in combat simulations safely. We supply a wide array of materials for crafting LARP weapons, offering extensive customization options while meeting rigorous safety standards.
The most commonly used combat items are swords and shields. LARP swords can range from simple foam tubes to intricately sculpted and layered designs. Shields follow a similar spectrum, with functionality and safety as the primary design considerations. Polyethylene foam is an ideal choice for both, offering durability, impact absorption, and shape retention.
Available in sheet form, polyethylene is a resilient closed-cell foam supplied in five densities ranging from 1.7 to 9 pounds and thicknesses from ¼ inch to 2 inches. Sheets can be laminated for additional thickness, making them suitable for shield cores and armor. Sizes range from 24 by 54 inches to 48 by 108 inches, allowing for large, uniform surfaces that maintain their rigidity when wrapped in fabric.
Polyethylene cylinders are another key material, used to form the cores of foam swords. Rigid cores—often PVC pipes or fiberglass shafts—are covered in layers of foam for impact protection. Rounded polyethylene cylinders, similar to pool noodles, are available in diameters from 1½ to 6 inches and lengths of 17, 35, and 70 inches. These cylinders can be bored to fit specific core sizes, and specialized spray adhesive is available for secure assembly.
For thrusting tips, soft open-cell craft foam is recommended to maintain safe contact during combat.
Additional Foam Materials for Costuming and Armor
Beyond basic weapons, closed-cell foams such as neoprene and polyethylene foam roll are widely used for costuming and armor applications. Both materials are moisture-resistant and available in multiple densities and thicknesses. Polyethylene roll features a smooth, shiny surface and an irradiation cross-linked structure, available in widths up to 60 inches and long rolls of 50 or 100 feet. Neoprene is more flexible, with a matte finish, offering resistance to sunlight, ozone, and oxidation, and is available in full or half sheets. Gym rubber sheets provide additional options for shock absorption and layered weapon construction.
For intricate sculpting and decorative details, fine-celled cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE) is an ideal choice. XLPE is highly durable, moisture-impervious, and comes in two densities and seven colors. It can be cut, laminated, sanded, taped, or shaped with tools like Dremels to create custom weapons, armor, and accessories.
Safety and Creativity in LARP
No matter the genre—medieval, fantasy, futuristic, or otherwise—LARP offers an active, social, and immersive experience. Creating custom weapons and armor allows participants to showcase creativity while maintaining critical safety standards. Foam Factory provides the materials and technical support necessary to build fully customized gear that is safe, durable, and visually impressive.
Note: Foam by Mail assumes no liability for incidental or consequential damages, injuries, or losses related to the use of its products, even if advised of potential risks.
I am looking to make a shield for boffing (LARP), and want to know which type of foam to use. I would like to to hold a rigid shape, but some ability to bend or compress slightly. It would not be the type of foam that could come in a roll. But it would NOT be totally rigid like a Styrofoam cooler or house construction 4’x8′ foam sheets. I am thinking it would be 2″ thick cross linked polyethylene. Would that be what I am thinking of?
The foam that is typically recommended for this application is either our 2lb Crosslinked Polyethylene foam or our Minicel T200 foam.
I am wanting to make a LARP Kitana. What type of foam do you recommend?
The foam that is typically recommended for this application is either our Minicel T200 or our 2lb Crosslinked Polyethylene foam.
I’m looking to replicate some LARP swords I have from a camp. The foam blade is open cell lightweight foam that comes in sheets 2-1/4″ inches thick and at least 3 feet wide. The camp counselors cut them into long (~3′) triangle shaped blades then hot glue a pvc pipe handle into the base of the triangle and soften/trim the edges a bit. So, the dimensions of the sheet would be 2.25″ thick, at least 3′ wide and ? feet long (will impact how many swords I can make out of each sheet). Thank you in advance for your advice!
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Do you know the best foam for LARP arrow tips? We were thinking about layering the 1/2” thick polyethylene foam roll and capping it with 3x3x3” charcoal foam blocks. Thanks!
Thank you for reaching out to us via Foam by Mail via our blog.
Per your question, the Polyethylene foam will work as the outer layer for this application. We have also seen other customers use the Neoprene foam as well.
You will then want to use a softer Polyurethane foam for the middle, for example the Charcoal Foam. This will provide the “squishy” feeling you would be looking for.
However, you will need to make sure it is thick enough that the arrow shaft won’t break through easily. This can typically be prevented with a “skin” for example, duct tape.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!
Hello, I am looking for foam for a particular larping use case. I would like to make a larp boffer that glows via led lights contained within the prop itself. I believe that I would need a type of foam that is strong enough that it will not break down over 1000s of repeated strikes, is soft enough to not overly damage someone when it comes into contact with them and also allows the light of the led light through to have the glowing effect that I desire. Would appreciate any thoughts on foam types that would work for this. Thank you!
Hello Alex,
If you are trying to make a useable prop meant for contact, I personally would not recommend adding LED’s as the impact can damage and short our your wires – this is typically only good for cosplay props only. I would suggest making one for combat without LED’s and one with LED’s for photo prop use.
As for the foam, EVA or our 2LB Cross Linked Polyethylene is the most common and popular used and holds up fairly well to impact, You can also use the 4LB which is a little firmer, going denser would be overkill.
To get the LED’s to shine through, you would need to carve in channels or layers of foam for the LED’s to sit in and use either another sheer material or the thinnest Polyethylene (Pool Noodle Material – I have seen cosplayers make floating wings with it) for it to have a soft glow look to it when lit up. for references, you can look up on Youtube – Kamui Cosplay; her expertise is LED weapons for cosplay and one of the most recommended for tutorial builds.