Whenever my brother-and-sister-in-law host Christmas, it’s always a hoot. They go out of their way to make it interesting with games and competitions – for the little kids and big ones (aka the adults) alike. A few years ago, my B-I-L and S-I-L introduced an ‘ugly sock contest’ to the festivities – a twist on ugly Christmas sweaters. I don’t know how they came up with the idea but I’m always up to a fun challenge so was eager to get started.
I ended up making matching ugly socks for both me and hubs. I started with some festive dollar store toe socks and an empty lip balm container (the one I actually used was shorter than the one shown below).
I used the empty lip balm container combined with the top of a pen sporting a red tip and fastened them together with double-faced tape (don’t use glue if you want the pen back afterwards!). I also used a pen shaped as a lipstick, red tip and all, (like the one shown below) to fashion two rocket-like objects (one for each of us).
In retrospect, the lipstick pen would make a great stocking stuffer – but I chose to use it ‘outside of the stocking’!
SOURCE of Lipstick Shaped Ball Point Pen: Amazon
I sewed a piece of velcro below the first toe on the sock. This is my sock below; the velcro is on the left foot. For hubs, I attached the velcro to his right sock.
I wrapped the lip balm container with glitter vinyl to match the metal of the pen used for the other rocket. To make it even more rocket-like, I also fashioned the burning fuel flare coming out the ends out of more glitter vinyl and added an ID number using Letraset (SN-2 for me and CN-5 for hubs).
Here’s a close up of the ‘rockets’:
On the back of the rockets, glue another piece of velcro (the hook side that corresponds with the fuzzy piece sewn beneath the toe). Knot a piece of thin elastic into a circle and glue it just above the velcro (this will help stabliize the rocket once it’s on the sock).
Wrap the elastic now on the rocket around the big toe. Here, it’s shown from the back.
Flip the rocket around and bring the two pieces of velcro together to connect them.
Here it is once attached. 
A left foot for me and a right foot for hubs is shown below:
I got the smaller rocket because, as hubs always jokes, my feet are like stumps (my toes don’t even fill the socks!). Hubs on the other hand has piano toes so he can sport the bigger one 🙂
Confused? Have you guessed where I’m going with this? If not, all will be clear and you’ll understand when you see the reveal at the very end!
To accompany my ugly socks I upcycled some old leg warmers. Remember those? I can’t believe I still had some tucked away. I found a great graphic on the internet and turned it into a knit pattern. I used my scraps of black, red and white cotton yarn to spell out ‘Bah Humpug’ under a pug wearing a Santa hat! I stitched it onto the front of one of the leg warmers.
I’d like to attribute the original source of the pug graphic, but several different t-shirt companies are using it so I have no idea who the original creator was to link to (if anyone can figure it out, let me know so I can update)!
Getting back to the ugly toe socks, like my late father-in-law always used to say, ‘People have more fun than anyone’! But since I’m such a punny girl myself, I’ve adapted his saying to ‘People have more pun than anyone’!
SPOILER ALERT: if puns drive you crazy, drive the other way now 🙂
CREDIT: Lim Heng Swee aka ilovedoodle
So below is the final ugly toe socks as modeled by me and hubs. If you haven’t already figured it out, it’s ‘missle toe’! Get it? It’s a play on ‘Mistletoe‘.
I’ll get a lot of traction out of this project this Christmas. Don’t tell (shhh), but I’ve turned it into this year’s Christmas card – similar to the final reveal below! I know my husband’s side of the family will appreciate the silly humour in it 🙂
If you found this project amusing, please pin and share!
Did you know the tradition of hanging Mistletoe goes back to the times of the ancient Druids and is supposed to bring good luck to the household? ‘Missile toe’ didn’t bring us luck in the contest however: we came in just a foot or two behind the winner. The grand winner was our hostess’ father who cut off the toes of his socks and bared his naked toes (it was a consensus that nobody could top that for ugly). If this was a humour contest, I’m still not sure if we would have won hands down (or should I say feet down?): those ugly toes peering through the socks for all the world to gaze upon were pretty funny too. I guess I must have been having too much fun at the Christmas party because unfortunately I didn’t photograph the winner and other contenders 🙁
If you feel like being adventurous, why not take the ugly Christmas sock concept one step further: make ugly Christmas stockings to adorn the mantle! Personalize them for each family member and see if everyone can guess which one is theirs!
Check out my other seasonal ideas for both Christmas and Hanukkah:
BYOB Upcycled Gift Bag:
Shot Glass Oil Burning Candles:
Reusable Wicks:
Plastic Clamshell Shrink Art:
This one could be adapted for Christmas; you could hang one on the tree for each family member!
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That looks like a fun tradition, Sara. I like the variation on the theme (socks instead of sweaters). And those little rockets. You re so clever!
Sara, hands down those are the funniest socks I’ve ever seen. 🙂