Octopus!

It has become a tradition in our home to make Halloween costumes. I love Halloween and dressing up my daughter but store bought costumes were just not cutting it for me. I needed some thing original, easy, cute (even if its scary it has to have a cute aspect) warm ( its cold this time of year in Idaho) and affordable. I searched Pinterest and found this. It was perfect for this year. She has in depth instructions you can go check out. When I was making Jessa's costume I didn't plan on posting it, as a result I don't have any pictures of the process but it was super simple.

I went out shopping one day and found a three pack of calf high socks on clearance at target for $2.50, talk about cheap.
I had thought about buying stuffing when my grandma told me she had some laying around that I could use if I gave the stuffing back after Halloween. So free stuffing another score. If you don't have a grandma with extra stuffing on hand it is pretty affordable at craft stores like JoAnn Fabric and Crafts (Click for Stuffing).
I measured Jessa's waist and did all this marking and cutting and thought I had the perfect measurement only to find after I sewed the socks on that they were to close and it was too big for Jessa. I had to take it all apart and try again.

This is how you do it.

• Measure your child's waist and add a few extra inches on each side to tie it around their waist
• Take a piece of thick ribbon and cut it to your measurements.
• Mark the middle of the ribbon and split your child's waist measurement with the remainder being used to tie each end together.

Next measure the opening of each sock to see how far to space each one so that when its tied around the waist they aren't too close. It worked out for me that I didn't need to space them, because Jessa's waist is so tiny. I could have even overlapped them a bit so it fit her waist tighter. I pinned each sock in place along the bottom edge of the ribbon and then flipped the other edge over the sock and hand stitched it all together. I chose not to tuck in the ends of the sock or the heels. I like the natural sock look.

Then I attached buttons for suckers on each leg two rows of six. I just sewed them on by hand.

Got out a nice warm hat and sewed some simple eyes on with a big stitch so I can remove the eyes later and not harm the hat. I found a matching top and pants and called it good.

Total cost:

• $2.50 for socks 
• Free stuffing
• Free ribbon and buttons I had leftover from other crafts.
• Her pants and shoes we already owned.
• I did break down and buy her a new shirt but I figured she'd wear it more than just with this costume because its very cute. $5.00

Total: $7.50

Halloween doesn't have to break the bank with just a little work it can be cute enough to win a costume contest. Which we did.