Want to build a (sock) snowman?
I love sock snowmen, and snowwomen. Their fat, round bottoms, happy faces and colourful hats and scarves bring a smile through cold, dull winter days.
This past November 2020, we were blessed to spend three weeks back in the States, helping my Dad move out of our big, family home and into his down-sized retirement home. Over several weekends, we ran a moving sale and sold these cute sock snowmen. I was shocked how well they sold! One woman bought 10 of them for all her work colleagues’ Christmas gifts.
We had a big box of mismatched socks. My mom had been collecting them for years, and this craft was the perfect use for them! We have great memories of crafting around the kitchen table over the years and my Dad was keen to re-live those fun times one last time in the big house. He was great at cutting and stuffing the socks with rice while I focused on cutting their hats and scarves and hot gluing the pieces into place.
After the first weekend when all the snowmen sold out, we made another 20-30 snowmen and gnomes and again, they were the biggest hits of the sale!
There are loads of sock snowmen tutorials on YouTube. That’s where Dad and I got our ideas, and we watched so many, I’m struggling now to find the tutorials that were our original inspiration, but I do remember that this Christmas Mouse from HappyBird and her accompanying Small Sock Snowmen provided some of our inspiration, especially with respect to the pipe cleaner candy cane decoration.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get good pictures of our work in November, but I do have some old pictures of my first attempt at sock snowmen from back in 2015. I originally posted them on Pinterest. Looking back, they’re rudimentary. I definitely need to refresh my efforts, but they have a certain charm, perhaps.
Why should I spend money on your sock snowman when I can make my own?
Whenever I see home décor ideas, I always think about whether or not I could make something similar myself. So, I would never conceive of spending money for a sock snowman. I was concerned that my Dad would simply have yet another thing that he’d need to move to his new home because they wouldn’t sell. Afterall, everyone has unpaired socks after a few loads of laundry, and rice and a glue gun, right?
I was determined that if I was going to spend my time crafting these snowmen, then they were going to find a loving home with someone other than my Dad. So, I put on my creative writing cap and came up with a little poem to add a bit of flair to my creations.
I’m a little snowman I’m a little snowman, Enjoy me all winter long; I’m here to bring a smile, Even when you’re down. So put me in your fingers, And give a gentle squeeze; I’ll move and twist, With happiness and ease. Once you’ve got your smile, Put me on the shelf; I’ll be there till the next time, You need some smile help. ©2020 parkerlings.com
I printed six at a time on a standard A4 / 8.5×11″ piece of printer paper then cut with a paper trimmer to a business-card-ish sized piece of paper. I mounted each on a cute piece of winter-patterned card stock and made a tag by punching a hole at the corner of each. I attached it with a ribbon around the snowman’s neck and voila! A quick way to add this lovely bit of flare that took my snowmen from cute, easily replicable crafts to a unique, thoughtful creation.
I was thrilled when we got $8 each for our sock snowmen, and one of our buyers was really surprised and thought we could have been charging more… not a bad return for a few hours of quality time crafting with family, some old socks, dry rice and bits of upcycled fabric and glue!
What about you?
If you decide to make your own sock snowmen and want to include my poem for your personal gifting, I am happy for you to do so, and would appreciate if you could credit parkerlings.com if you do. To help you out, I’ve created a pdf printable that you can print, embellish and attach as a gift tag. Need help? Let us know what you need below and we’ll do what we can to help. We hope you’ll have a brrr-illiant snow family all your own to bring a smile to your home this winter!