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If you want to show off your love of the cartoon, you need to know about the best SpongeBob shirt ideas. There are tons of shirt ideas, and I found some that are ready to buy while others require a bit of crafting.
That means you can get creative with your shirt, so you can stand out. And you don’t have to wear what everyone else is wearing when you partake in SpongeBob fan events.
Bottom Line Up Front: The best SpongeBob shirt idea is one that showcases your favorite character. I love the Squidward shirt that says “I hate everyone.” But you may prefer a different design, so consider multiple ideas.
Best SpongeBob Shirt Ideas
If you want to show off your love of SpongeBob SquarePants or Bikini Bottom, you can wear a shirt or two. You can find cute shirts to wear around the house or when running errands.
I looked for some of the best shirt ideas to help inspire you. Then, you can shop for a specific shirt or even get crafty and bring your idea to life yourself.
Here are some of the best SpongeBob shirt ideas to consider.
A SpongeBob Face
One of the most classic ideas is to get a shirt with SpongeBob’s face on it. You can find a shirt with his standard smile or go a bit more nerdy and choose a shirt with SpongeBob wearing glasses.
I like that this is a pretty easy shirt to find, so you don’t have to shop for too long. Plus, the shirt comes in a variety of sizes for adults and kids, so you can even get matching shirts for your family.
Of course, the bright yellow isn’t always the most flattering color. You may want to get a shirt with SpongeBob’s face or body but with a black or white background.
If you go with the full body, you can look for a shirt where SpongeBob is wearing his standard shirt and tie or something completely different.
DoodleBob Face
Ah, DoodleBob, one of the weirdest yet most interesting SpongeBob characters. If you want a more neutral-colored shirt, consider using DoodleBob as the design.
You can find a shirt already made so that you can just buy it. However, this is one of my favorite ideas if you want to get creative and make your own shirt.
Get a plain white shirt and a black fabric pen, and you can go to town drawing DoodleBob. I’m not the best artist, but I still think it would be fun to try and draw the character, and you can always use a pencil to do the outline first.
Patrick Star Face
Of course, you can also get a Patrick Star face shirt. I like this idea especially because I’m more likely to wear pink than yellow, so this may go with more of my personal style.
It’s a great shirt to buy if you have a friend with a SpongeBob shirt. You can wear your shirts together, so you can show off your friendship.
The shirt also makes for a nice starting point for creating a Patrick Star costume. All you need is some green shorts, and you have a full outfit ready to wear.
Squidward Face
I could make a list of all of the main characters and tell you to get a shirt with their face on it. But I’ll stop after Squidward since he rounds out the main trio of neighbors.
You can find tons of different Squidward shirts, including one of just his face. Another one of the shirts I found that I think is great has Squid’s full body and the quote “are you squiding me right now?”
There are also shirts with pictures of Squidward playing his clarinet or with the quote “I hate everyone.” As a musician, the clarinet idea is great, and as a sassy person, I love the “I hate everyone” quote.
The Main Characters
If you can’t choose just one character to put on a shirt, do all of the main characters. I found a shirt that has the full body image of SpongeBob, Patrick, Squidward, Mr. Krabs, Sandy, and Gary.
You can choose from black, white, and other colors for the background. That makes it nice since you can choose a color that you would wear anyway.
Plus, the shirt I found comes in adult and youth sizes. So you can get a shirt for everyone in your family, and you can get the right background color based on everyone’s preferences.
The Characters as Ice Cream
Another cute shirt idea I found had the three neighbors as different summer treats. On the shirt, SpongeBob takes the form of an ice pop, Squidward is an ice cream cone, and Patrick is an ice cream sandwich.
This shirt is perfect for the summer, and it’s great if you happen to run an ice cream truck. I remember seeing the SpongeBob treat on the menu, so you can bring that idea to life to customers.
The shirt features a black background, so it can go with many different bottoms. I also like that you can cover up the design with a jacket if you don’t want to show off the characters, such as at a special dinner.
A Fusion of the Characters
Squidward probably feels like SpongeBob and Patrick are just this big bubble floating around him that will never leave. I like that someone turned that into a shirt design.
SpongeBob and Patrick form two halves of a donut shape with Squidward in the middle. Squidward’s expression is great, and I love that his neighbors don’t seem to notice he’s unhappy.
This is an excellent shirt to wear if you like all three characters. Plus, it’s more creative than just the characters’ faces or even their full bodies.
Sponge Painting
If you want a unique SpongeBob shirt, make your own using some sponges and paint. You can get a regular kitchen sponge and find some paint in yellow, pink, or other signature colors.
Take the Sponge and dip it in the paint color of your choice. Then, blot the sponge on a blank t-shirt to create a design that you won’t find elsewhere.
You can then let the paint dry and add more paint to add eyes or other features. Or you can keep the design more vague, which is nice if you don’t want to showcase your SpongeBob love so bluntly.
Wanted Maniac
I just rewatched the “Hall Monitor” episode a few days ago, and it spurred a great shirt idea. Now, I didn’t think of the idea, but I still want to share it.
In that episode, SpongeBob goes crazy and causes problems around Bikini Bottom. He causes so much damage that the police put up a sign for a wanted maniac.
I found a shirt with the very wanted poster with a drawing of SpongeBob. This is a great option if you like more graphic tees but still want to include a bit of Bikini Bottom in your fashion choices.
Different Expressions
Many of the SpongeBob shirts you’ll find have him smiling. However, you can find a shirt out there with the character making different facial expressions.
I love the different smiles and shocked faces that SpongeBob makes. This is also a great shirt to wear when you feel a bit all over the place, or if you just want to have some fun.
You may get tons of compliments, and you can even use it as a conversation piece. Ask people which SpongeBob they relate to the most at that moment, and you can share yours as well.
Blowing Bubbles
One of SpongeBob’s hobbies is blowing bubbles, and that makes for a perfect shirt idea. I couldn’t find a direct link to a shirt that you can buy, but I found a design on Pinterest.
Even though you can’t buy a shirt that’s ready to go, you can find a screen printing service or do it yourself. Get some iron-on paper and use your iron to help put the design on the shirt.
I would go with a professional service to make sure the design lasts longer. If you iron it yourself, the design might not stay in place after you wash the shirt. However, it’s still a nice option, and you can make your own custom design.
A Birthday Shirt
If you like wearing a themed outfit for your birthday, this idea is for you. I found a cute idea that includes the year you’re turning and the “I’m ready! I’m ready!” quote.
From the listing, I can’t tell if you can customize the age, so it may just work for a seven-year-old. However, if you can’t buy that exact shirt, you can create one yourself.
Find a blank shirt or even one with SpongeBob already on it. Get some fabric markers and write the quote above SpongeBob’s face, then write “for my [your age] birthday” below the face.
If you want to wear the shirt year after year, leave out the age. Then, it will always work as a birthday outfit.
Your Imagination
I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen quite a few memes using the SpongeBob “imagination” scene. This is where SpongeBob talks about using your imagination, and he makes a rainbow appear between his hands.
Well, you can get this design as a shirt that you can wear. I love that it’s ready to go, but I also like that this idea lends itself very well to you making your shirt.
You can use the same steps as the sponge painting idea. But use some different colored fabric pens to draw the different colors of the rainbow.
A Striped Sweater
When’s the best time to wear a striped sweater? All the time, of course! But if it’s hot out, you can get a striped shirt instead to stay cool.
Look for a green shirt to match the shirt from the show. Then, you can get some dark green fabric paint to create the vertical stripes on your shirt.
If you leave it there, you have a nice subtle design, but SpongeBob fans may still recognize it. You can take it a step further and add the famous quote about the best time to wear a striped sweater.
The Houses
I couldn’t find any house shirts that are ready-made, but they may still exist. If not, you can make your own shirt that features the homes of your favorite SpongeBob characters.
You could do a rock, East Island statue, and pineapple in a line. Or you could do just one of those, and the nice this is that one home doesn’t have to be so obvious; people may just think you like pineapples.
I would recommend creating the design on your computer and doing the screen printing or iron-on method. That way, you can make the houses more detailed than by using fabric paint.
The FUN Acronym
SpongeBob has some good songs, one of which is about what FUN stands for. I’ve seen some shirts that include weird definitions of certain words, so you can follow that concept here.
Include the lyrics to show others what fun means to you. I like that you can go with SpongeBob’s version, and share how it’s about friends and being anywhere together.
Or if you want, you can use Plankton’s lyrics of fires, uranium bombs, and no survivors. I might even combine them with one set of lyrics on the front and the other on the back.
Now, you will probably have to create the design yourself. But you have multiple options to consider, from screen printing to hand-writing everything with a fabric marker.
How to Choose a SpongeBob Shirt Idea
You’ll find so many great SpongeBob shirt ideas out there. If you don’t like any existing ideas, I love that you can make your own shirt, or you can take the concepts from existing sweatshirts.
However, it still helps to get an idea of which shirt design you want to get. Then, you can shop for your shirt or find the materials to bring your idea to life.
Here are a few things to consider as you narrow your choices of SpongeBob shirt designs.
Your Favorite Character
Consider if you have a favorite character from SpongeBob SquarePants and who that is. That can make it easy to find a shirt idea since you can look for one that highlights the creature you love.
Of course, you’ll have more options if you like SpongeBob or another main character. However, you can look for shirts that represent the background characters, from Plankton to a random fish, like the “My Leg” guy.
I’d recommend looking for a shirt with the right background color though. As I mentioned, yellow’s not my color, but also I have dogs, one of whom is black and sheds a lot, so I’d avoid a white shirt.
Subtle or Obvious
Another thing to think about is if you want to get a SpongeBob shirt that’s more obvious or not. Most of the best shirt ideas are at least someone obvious, but you can find subtle designs.
For example, the striped sweater idea is about as vague as you can get. Unless someone’s a big SpongeBob fan, they may not connect that you took the design from an episode.
Consider where you may want to wear your new SpongeBob shirt. Then, you can decide if you need a more subtle design or if you can choose something that stands out.
Store-Bought or Homemade
Of course, you should decide if you just want to buy a shirt that’s ready to go. I found more shirts like these than I would have expected to be on the market.
But that can still restrict your search for the best shirt idea. If you’re willing to use fabric paint, an iron, or a screen printing machine, you can choose from tons of ideas.
Plus, making your shirt means no one will have the exact same one. That’s nice if you tend to hang out with other SpongeBob fans because you can avoid wearing the same shirt as someone else.
FAQs about the Best SpongeBob Shirt Ideas
Answer: You should do whatever you need to so that you can get the shirt idea you like the most. In some cases, that means shopping online or in stores.
However, it may require going to the craft store to buy some supplies. Then, you can turn a blank shirt into one that lets you show off your love of SpongeBob.
Answer: You should get as many SpongeBob shirts as you want or as you think you’ll wear. If you tend to have to wear fancy clothes, such as for work, you may only want a couple of themed tops.
However, if you change your clothes after work or can wear casual clothes, get more shirts. Then, you can rotate through them and wear the shirt you want each day.
Answer: SpongeBob shirts can be expensive, but others are very cheap. Think about the brand and store where you purchase the shirt.
You should also factor in the cost of the supplies if you want to make a shirt. Consider what you already have and what you’ll need to get to make your idea come to life.
Final Note on the Best SpongeBob Shirt Ideas
When searching for the best SpongeBob shirt ideas, you have a lot to consider. My favorite idea is probably a Squidward shirt with his clarinet or one of his famous sarcastic quotes.
However, you should think about your favorite character and what you want to put on the shirt. Then, you can find a shirt to buy or get the supplies to make one yourself.
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