I’ve had a few people ask how I made the yarn octopi for the girls stockings, so here are the directions for those (from Family Fun):

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Scissors
Skein of yarn about 100 yards long
3-inch Styrofoam ball or a tennis ball
5 feet of yarn or ribbon, for tying the braids
Tacky glue
Large googly eyes

1. PREPARE THE YARN: Cut two 10-inch pieces of yarn from the skein. Hold your hands about 3 feet apart and have your child wrap the rest of the skein around them to form one large ring of yarn. Knot one of the 10-inch yarn pieces around the middle of the ring. Place the tied ring on a tabletop and snip both loops. (Note from Mandi: I had to redo this step a couple times because I didn’t make my loop big enough, so you may want to double check before you get too far into it!)

2. FORM THE HEAD: Center the knot atop the ball and drape the yarn so that the ball is evenly covered. Knot the other 10-inch piece of yarn just below the ball.

3. BRAID THE TENTACLES: Divide the yarn strands into 8 equal bundles, then braid each one, securing the ends with yarn or ribbon.

4. GLUE ON GOOGLY EYES.