Finding Dory Hank the Octopus Costume

Everyone loves Nemo and Dory but I am super excited to meet some of their new friends in Finding Dory. Hank, their octopus friend caught my eye in the previews. I couldn’t wait to create a Finding Dory costume, a Hank the octopus costume.

Hank the Octopus Finding Dory Costume is an easy DIY Halloween costume: an easy Octopus costume idea using a sweatshirt, felt and duct tape. Duct Tape costume |Sweatshirt costume | Ocean costume — Pin this fun octopus costume perfect for a Finding Dory costume theme.

Octopus in Finding Nemo Costume

Note Hank is technically a septopus because he lost one of his tentacles along the way. You could totally drop one of the arms in this costume for authenticity if you like. 😉

This would also make a fun dress up idea for an ocean themed party or seasonal costumes for a shark week party, anything under the sea fits, right?

DIY Octopus Costume from Finding Dory

This octopus costume is another hoodie costume. I find sweatshirt hoodie costumes really easy to make because I get a solid color base and a hood to create the upper details like a hat, hair or face.

I happen to find the perfect red hoodie for this project at a local thrift store. It’s perfect because it was an XL women’s sweatshirt, this costume requires an oversized sweatshirt because of its design.

It also didn’t have a front pocket which is unusual. In fact I can’t even find a similar one on Amazon to suggest but I don’t think the pocket would make much of a difference.

Hank the Octopus Finding Dory Costume Materials

Red hoodie – at least a few sizes larger than the costume wearer
Black, light blue and white felt
White duct tape
Stuffing material

How to make a Hank the Octopus Finding Dory Costume — Use a long sleeve shirt or sweatshirt to create this simple octopus costume.

How to Create 8 Arms for this Octopus Costume

An octopus has 8 arms, the sweatshirt arms will become 2 of them. We need to create 6 more arms with the rest of the sweatshirt.

Start by cutting along the side hem, stopping an inch short of the armpit on each side. Now cut the front section into three even strips and the back section into three even strips.

DIY Hank the Octpus Costume Directions — A sewing machine would speed up the process but hand stitching worked fine for me.

These 6 strips will be sewn into tubes to create the rest of the octopus arms. Fold each strip in half and sew up the side to create a tube. Stuff each tube with pillow stuffing and then sew up the tops.

I did this all by hand, if you have access to a sewing machine, this would be a super quick step. Alternatively you could use spare fabric to create 6 tubes and attach each one to a hoodie with a safety pin.

Suction cups on Octopus Costume for Halloween

I used white duct tape to create my suction cups. Draw template circles onto parchment paper and tape a strip of white duct tape to one side.

The parchment paper trick allows you to 1) use a template for your duct tape design, 2) easily cut through the duct tape and 3) peel the duct tape off the parchment paper easily.

Adding suction cups to octopus costume — Attach white duct tape circles to create the octopus’ suctions on each tentacle.

Stick the white circles onto the back of each arm. They stuck fairly well for me but you could make them more permanent by using a hot glue gun to attach them.

Hank the Septopus Costume Eyes

Cut different circles of felt to create Hank’s octopus eyes. I hot glued the eye pieces together but then sewed the completed eyes onto the hood.

I wasn’t sure about the final placement, so I didn’t want to use hot glue for the final step. Either method works well for this part of the process.

Add eyes to the Hank the Octopus Finding Dory Costume — A hooded sweatshirt is the best option for an octopus costume because you can attach the eyes to the hood!

It’s definitely a silly costume but those are my favorite kind. If you love Hank as much as we do don’t miss this Hank the Octopus Craft.

DIY Hank the Octopus Finding Dory Costume — Technically I should have cut off one of the octopus costume tentacles since Hank is a septopus.

I love that it turned out pretty cute and it didn’t require much money or skill.

red octopus costume — This easy costume is a silly (and fun) Finding Dory costume to make.

I consider this one of my great costume ideas. It can easily sized down for a toddler or baby octopus or much larger for a giant octopus costume.

How to make an octopus costume — I’d recommend wearing red shorts and a red shirt with this diy costume to keep the color in theme with this octopus costume.

More Homemade Costumes from Pixar Movies

This post was originally published June 11, 2016.