Coolest SpongeBob SquarePants Costume

My 7-year-old loves SpongeBob. To make his costume this year, I first looked here on this website for ideas; there is obviously no shortage of ways others have made this SpongeBob SquarePants Costume. I personally did not want my son’s costume to cover his head, and I preferred to sew a softer costume rather than paint a rigid cardboard box. I liked the idea of essentially building a cube with foam creating the soft form.

I bought about 1.5 yards of yellow craft felt for the body and sheets of felt in different colors for the eyes, mouth/teeth/tongue, tie, belt, eyelashes, sponge “holes,” etc. For the 3-D nose, I sewed a small strip of yellow felt and stuffed it. I cut a small slit in the middle of the face, inserted the end through, and sewed the end down on the back side of the front panel.

I created 6 slipcovers, one for each of the sides of my “cube”: front, back, 2 sides, 2 shoulders. Before assembling each slipcover, I sewed down strips of white and brown at the outside bottom for SB’s shirt and pants.

I also inserted “tabs” along each side that was adjacent to another costume side; the tabs were used to connect the pieces together toward the end of the process. On the backside of each slipcover, I sewed two smaller pieces that overlapped each other so that foam could be inserted as the last step.

Once all of the slipcovers were individually finished, I sewed Velcro onto the tabs connecting the sides to the back panel. I glued the face parts and sponge holes onto the yellow craft felt. I used a red sharpie for the cheeks and a black sharpie for the shirt collar. I then sewed together the front, shoulders, and back. I sewed on the sides to the front, and then closed the Velcro to finish the cube.

Finally, when the SpongeBob SquarePants Costume was all set, I inserted the 6 foam pieces into the slipcovers. I used a 2” thick foam for the front and 1” foam for the other five pieces. I used markers to color blue and red stripes at the top of white socks.

This was not an expensive costume – maybe $10-20. If you don’t sew or if you’re looking to make a quick costume, my approach is not the one you should use. The slipcovers were a bit of a time-consuming process, but I’m happy with the soft, spongy look of the foam. Thanks for reading!

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