MATERIALS NEEDED for this homemade octopus costume:
* Black stretchy fabric ($3 scrap at fabric store)
* Pink felt ($0.25 for 1 sheet)
* Purple felt ($1 for 4 sheets)
* Black long-sleeved shirt
* Black pants
* Hot glue
* Fiber fill
* Wire clothes hangers
* 2” wide heavy-duty nylon belt
We did an “undersea” theme for our costumes in 2009. My 18-month-old nephew was the octopus. This was a super easy costume to put together! It’s actually taken from an Ursula (from “Little Mermaid”) costume we made years ago. We just shrunk it down for him.
I sewed a rectangle (pillow case) shape out of the black stretchy fabric for the body of the octopus. I made it long enough to go from his shoulders to his knees but loose enough to not constrict him.
The octopus arms were made out of the same black fabric. I sewed the fabric into long finger-type shapes, filled them with fiber fill, stuck wire hangers inside and bent the arms into shape. I didn’t completely undo the wire hangers, just bent out the body of the wire straight so there would be no tip of wire to poke through the fabric and left the hooked end in tact to hook to the belt. I then sewed up the ends of the octopus arms and hot-glued the tentacles on the bottom using purple felt cut into long strips (the length of the arms) and pink felt cut into circles.
We attached the arms to the 2” nylon belt. It was long enough to wrap about him twice so we bent the hanger hooks over one side of the belt and wrapped it around him again to keep the hangers from pinching or scratching him. The belt went around his waist and when he walked, the arms bounced and wiggled perfectly.
Under the homemade octopus costume, we put him in his own long-sleeved black shirt and black pants. It turned out amazingly well. He could walk comfortably in it and it looked great!
TOTAL TIME: 2 hours
TOTAL COST: $6
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