I've scoured the web for some crazy sock day ideas to get you inspired! I always look forward to making some wacky-looking socks every year for the kid's school fundraising. But I've had a hard time finding some good suggestions all in one spot. So I thought I'd give you some!
I've got some ideas on how you can attach items to socks plus a list of craft and everyday things you can use to create your cheesy socks. Yes. Cheesy.
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What is crazy sock day?
Perhaps you call them crazy, silly, funny, wacky or cheesy socks. It doesn't matter, they're all good fun. It's a competition to see who can wear the craziest socks. The crazier the better, mix and match your favourites! There are some amazing styles that you can buy. However, my favourites are always the homemade cheesy socks that you can't find in the store. Add embellishments and create whatever you wish!
As far as I was aware, schools used Crazy Sock Day to raise money and for some light-hearted fun for the kids. However, it is also used to promote Down Syndrome awareness as well as fundraising for various charities. The US also celebrates National Cheesy Sock Day in January. Then there's Spirit Week which you can use your wacky socks for too. These are just a few of the ways people use their feet for fun!
How to make crazy socks
Many of these DIY silly sock day ideas don't have a craft tutorial linked to them however I'll give you some tips below and as we go along. They should give you some great ideas to start from. Working out how to make them isn't too difficult and many of these ideas can also be made by older children.
Just quickly, most of these ideas link back to a pin as they are uploaded by individual users. However, if you know where proper credit should go please email me or comment below, I'd love to link to them!
Right now, the most common way to attach items to your socks is to use a glue gun or to stitch items on. Some can also be knitted or crochet. But the sky is the limit really, attach them in whichever way best suits your materials.
I usually reach for my hot glue gun as it's quick and stays stuck but it will depend on exactly what you're attaching too. You do need to keep in mind that there should still be flexibility in the socks for movement. This will need to be a judgement call but try to use glue sparingly and not in large clumpy amounts. You could also use cardboard to create 3D objects and templates as I did for the shark fins in my shark silly socks.
Material ideas for making your own crazy socks:
- Felt
- Pom-poms
- Scrapbooking flower embellishments
- Colour/Glitter foam sheets
- Foam Stickers
- Pipe cleaners
- Trim + ricrac
- Googly eyes
- Buttons
- Feathers
- Sequins
- Gift wrap ribbons and bows
- Ribbon
- Toy Cars
- Crayons
- Empty food packaging and wrappers
- Actual food (candy and snacks)
- Any kid's toys
DIY Crazy Sock Day ideas
Silly Shark Socks with DIY template
My son was in love with sharks and asked me to make some for Crazy Sock Day. I wrote up a silly shark sock tutorial plus you can also download the template I used.
Wacky Outer Space/Solar System Socks
Felt is definitely one of my favourite ways to make silly socks. For these socks, you can use pom-poms for planets. Then with felt and a marker, make characters such as the sun, the alien, the rocket ship and the spaceship.

Outer Space Planets Silly Socks
Make the planets on these outer space socks by painting foam balls, and rockets from felt, then add some sequin stars.

Cute Fluffy Sock Characters
The patterned socks chosen for these wacky socks really make all the difference in these cute characters. You could use feathered trim, pom-poms and felt. The eyes could be made from foam balls or ping-pong balls too.

DIY Unicorn Socks for Crazy Sock Day
I love the unique materials used to make these cute unicorns! Pipe cleaners for the rainbow, gift wrap bows as decorative flowers. I'm not quote sure what was used for the other elements but you could use glitter foam for the horn and the ears.

Furry Rainbow Monster DIY Crazy Socks
These funny little guys remind me of a toy I used to have as a child. I can't for the life of me remember what it was called but way back before Furby's were a thing! You could make these from rainbow feathered trim, pom-pom trim and googly eyes.

Minion Wacky Socks
These Despicable Me or Minion socks are adorable! One yellow minion plus an evil purple minion for the other foot. I'm not sure what the mouths are made from but it could quite possibly be drawn or printed onto paper. The eyes can easily be made from paper circles with aluminium foil edges. Or you could try using plastic bottle caps too.

Popcorn + Sprite Movie Socks
Some serious imagination went into these socks – using felt, straws and real popcorn. They are very popular too, with many people having recreated something similar – check the comments on the Pinterest post for more.

Super Mario Crazy Sock DIY
These Mario socks are super cool. I'd say these were created using a cutting machine such as a Cricut to cut the felt characters.

Mario Brothers Silly Sock Day Idea
Create Mario and Luigi socks using felt cutouts and fabric markers!

Spider DIY Crazy Socks
Save those Halloween spiders! This is an easy one – attach colourful plastic spiders to plain black socks and you're all sorted.

DIY Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Socks
Grab a bright green pair of socks, some ribbon and a marker for your favourite turtle socks. You could also use felt and googly eyes.

Stegosaurus Dinosaur Silly Socks
These cute dinosaur tail socks are made with colourful patterned socks, and stitching felt spikes. Great in any colour, you could also make these for the girls who love their dinosaurs too.

Fruit Loop Cereal Silly Socks
I love the simplicity of sticking cereal to socks with food packaging! Definitely, an easy one you could have supplies for at home.

Pom-Pom Eye Ball Wacky Socks
A great example of simply crazy socks – pick some colourful patterned socks then add pom-poms and googly eyes to them.

Pom-Pom Sequin Stockings
Another simple but effective DIY, attach pom-poms and sequins to stockings.

Colourful Pom-Pom Stockings
Adding different colours can completely change your look. Choose a bright-coloured pair of stockings, tights or leggings, then add colourful pom-poms to them in various sizes.

Button Leggings
This is a simple yet different crazy sock day idea. Simply hand-sew large colourful buttons to a pair of leggings or stockings. You could pick some crazy pattern buttons for extra silliness!

Feathered Fiesta DIY Crazy Sock Day Idea
As a bride who chose a wedding dress with a train full of feathers, these socks definitely speak to me!

Elsa + Anna Frozen Silly Sock Day Idea
I have to admit that as a boy mum, it took me a minute to realise exactly what these socks were supposed to be! They are so adorable and you can see that a lot of work has gone into this masterpiece!

Wacky Pipe Cleaner Cheesy Socks
These socks really are wacky with their colourful pipe cleaners, pom-poms and googly eyes!

Crocodile Socks
This Crocodile sock knitting pattern can be purchased from EmmaBermudezDesigns or you can buy a ready-made pair of crocodile socks from YBKIMstore

Easy Pom Pom Character Socks
These are great for last-minute or as an easy crazy sock DIY for kids to make. Simply glue pom-poms and googly eyes to which ever socks you like.

Balloon Silly Socks
Add some fun colour using balloons (or water balloons) to your socks.

Dinosaur Crazy Sock Day Idea
This Dinosaur sock knitting pattern can be purchased from EmmaBermudezDesign or you can buy a ready-made pair or dinosaur Crazy Socks from YBKIMstore

M&Ms Pom-Pom Silly Sock Day Idea
Start with M&M socks then add more! Attach M&M candies and pom-poms for an easy crazy sock day idea.

DIY Road Wacky Socks
These are a simple idea – create a road and a traffic signal from paper/card. Then attach cars to the shoe laces.

Race Car DIY Crazy Socks
These knee-high socks were decorated using race track duct tape and plastic toy cars.

Lady Bug Gumboots
Ditch the socks and go for gumboot decorations! These fluffy bugs are decorated with pom-poms, pipe cleaners and googly eyes.

Dr Suess Thing 1 + Thing 2 Socks
There aren't any instructions for making these however there are some posts from other people who have made similar socks. You could use feathered/fluffy trim for the hair. Then you could draw or use fabric paint on felt for the faces. You may even be able to find Dr Suess fabric patches or Cricut designs.

Striped Dr Suess Silly Sock Day Idea
I love the simplicity of these Dr Suess themed socks! Simply use stripey socks (or you could cut the feet for them to be similar to those pictured). Then add feathered trim and pom-poms.

Dr Suess The Lorax Crazy Socks
Another for the Dr Suess lovers! These Lorax socks look like they're made from felt, pom-poms and hand-drawn Truffula tree trunks.

Batman Crazy Sock Day Idea
There isn't a pattern for these socks but you might be able to figure one out. If you don't crochet, you could make something similar with black socks and felt.

DIY Wacky Fish Socks
Sew some plastic fish to your socks! You could do this with various toys such as plastic dinosaurs or zoo animals. The zebra socks are also a simple idea, simply sew some colourful ribbon, organza or fabric to the top of your socks.

Loads and Loads of Curls Pink Wacky Socks
Create a super fun character in your favourite colour! It looks like these pink socks are made with curling ribbon, gift wrap bows, googly eyes, pom-poms and felt.

Matches + Sour Patch Candy Socks
The next few ideas are all from the same family! Attach matches and sour patch candy (or any type of candy) to your socks.

Balloon + Pom-Pom Crazy Socks
These mini balloons (or water balloons) look like so much fun blown up. Add pom-poms to the other sock for extra wackiness.

Army Men + Pretzel Wacky Socks
Grab some army men and pretzels from the cupboard… wacky socks done!

Crayon + Colourful Sequin Silly Sock Day Idea
I love all of the socks with crayons! Instant colour. I don't know about you but I have so many different sizes and shapes of sequins. They would be perfect for a project like this.

Googly Eye Pom-Pom Socks
Another version using googly eyes and pom-poms, these socks are nice and simple. Mismatching them is a great way to do it.

Crazy Sock Day ideas you can buy
If you don't want to make your own crazy socks, I found some fun socks that you can buy too!
Colourful Duck Silly Sock Day Idea

Teacher Pencil + Notebook Personalised Socks

Chicken Leg Novelty Socks

Animal Stocking Socks

Fries Chip Socks

Whimsical Silly Blue Monster Socks

Funny Novelty Beer Socks

Great White Shark Socks

I hope you've found some inspiration from these wacky crazy sock day ideas. I'd love to see your creations! You can tag me @avisualmerriment on Instagram or Facebook.
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