Turn boring socks into cool pumpkin Halloween decorations!

Have you ever noticed that inspiration comes from the strangest places? Mine came as I was browsing the sock aisle at Walmart! You won't believe what these stunning Halloween decorations were before they became pumpkins.

RELATED: Felt Food Pumpkin Tutorial, Rolled Paper Pumpkins, Olaf Sock Snowman

I guess the title of the image kind of gives it away! These pumpkins used to be socks. How fun is that? (Yes, I kind of have a thing for making stuff out of socks and rice.) Have you seen my Olaf Sock Snowman or my Easy Sock Snowmen Kids Craft? It worked for snowmen, so why not for pumpkins?

I originally planned to make plain orange or cute striped pumpkins, but I couldn't find the right socks. (Apparently, September is too early to find crazy Halloween socks. I thought stores put all of their Halloween stuff out in September, but I guess the socks haven't made it to the stores yet. I'm kind of glad, because these socks (found in the boy's section) were perfect!

Ready to learn how to make your own? It's super easy. Here we go!

Materials:

• Socks! Any socks will do. Just choose a pattern or color that has the look you want. I think colorful horizontal stripes would be adorable.
• Scissors
• Elastic hair ties or small rubber bands
• Jute twine
• Hot glue and glue gun
• Coordinating ribbon
• Rice for filling
• Funnel (optional)
• Large plastic Easter egg or plastic ball

Instructions:

1. Choose some cute socks, or raid your drawers for lonely socks that have lost their match.
2. Decide which part of the sock design you want on your pumpkin, turn the sock inside out, and secure an elastic hair tie or small rubber band around the sock at the point that will be the bottom of the pumpkin.
3. Cut off the part of the sock you don't need, and turn the sock right-side out.
4. Using the funnel, fill the sock with rice. Continue to shove the rice down until the pumpkin is your desired size. Want to use less rice? Insert a large plastic Easter egg or plastic ball into the sock with the rice. (My orange pumpkin has an egg in it, but the gray pumpkin does not.)
5. Seal the top of the pumpkin with another elastic hair tie.
6. Using jute twine and hot glue, wrap the top of the sock to make a stem. Continue wrapping in increasingly smaller circles across the top of the stem. If your stem seems too tall, cut off some of the top of the sock, before you start gluing. (Wrap without glue first to see how you like it.)
7. Tie coordinating ribbon around the stem.

Done!

These sock pumpkin Halloween decorations are super easy, and kids can definitely make them. (Just be sure to help with the glue gun.) I left my materials out, and my girls immediately started creating when they got home from school. I guess there's just something super fun about pouring rice into socks! (And, if there's ever a major food shortage, I know I can raid my Halloween and Christmas decor for a meal!)

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Have a fantastic weekend! Happy Spooktastic September. Be sure to check out more Halloween decorations ideas by clicking on the images below.