Easter Hat Help

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I know how it feels. That email comes in and reads "You are invited to your child's Easter Hat Parade at school". Oh how nice. This sounds so cute and exciting. What a special occasion. Um, hang on..... what does that fine print say? Let me double-check that. "Please note: HATS ARE TO BE MADE AT HOME". Arghhhhhhhhhhh! Nooooooooo! Help me. This isn't my forte! I don't have time for this. I'm not sure what to make. Arghhhhhhh!

Do not fear. Help is on its way.

In these tough financial times, spending a fortune on a hat that will be worn for approximately ten minutes and then picked at and played with until it falls apart, is perhaps not your best allocation of parental funding. Similarly, time is of the essence and spending all day or week creating a masterpiece only to see it worn for ten minutes is also not efficient. Believe me, there are better ways. What we need are low-cost, fun, unique, relatively easy Easter Hat ideas that will turn your mummy fear into mummy peace.

The key to a great Easter Hat is producing something that is colourful and fun. Repurposing existing household items adds to the fun while producing something that stands out without breaking the budget provides the stamp of success. Above all, if your child is happy with the finished product, you will be too.

HAT IDEA 1.
Grab a packet of water balloons. You can buy a packet of these for around $3 and they contain 100 of the slippery, slimy little numbers. Use an existing broadbrim hat and put the kids to work blowing up around thirty of them. A balloon pump can also come in handy for this task if you have one. You can go muti-coloured or stick to a colour scheme if you wish. Tie bunches of the balloons together with cotton and then use a large sewing needle to sew the bunches all over the hat. Add some cotton wool balls in the gaps to represent bunny tails if you have some. These will easily grab onto the latex in the gaps so no need to fuss over adhering them with anything. Before you know it you will have created a large, colourful, very unique piece of Hat Parade Art that is lightweight and easy to wear (a chin strap may come in handy and is easy to sew on with a piece of ribbon if need be).


HAT IDEA 2.
Aluminium foil is a household staple and relatively cheap. Grab an old broadbrim hat and place it aside. To paint the foil you'll need craft paint in your desired colours, brushes or cotton swabs, and dish soap to add to the paint. The kids can even use their fingers if you don't have brushes or cotton swabs. Hopefully, most, if not all, of these items will be in your craft cupboard. Have a ball with the kids painting sections of foil, front and back. You will find it dries quickly and will resemble the foil that our beloved Easter Eggs come packaged in. Next, grab some PVA glue and scrunch your painted and dry foil up into balls of different sizes. Do not scrunch them too small as it will weigh down the hat. Keep things light and airy. Using glue, adhere the painted balls to the hat and to each other. The result is a colourful and lightweight Easter foil display that will definitely stand out in a crowd. See how high you can go with the balls before things get too top-heavy!

HAT IDEA 3.
Artificial flowers rise and fall in popularity. Nanna probably has a heap that she no longer wants on display. If not, Kmart sell bunches of them at low prices. Grab a posy of pink or white or yellow flowers, gaudy and big is fine. Use wire cutters to remove long stems and separate them. Grab a used sports cap or broadbrim hat and place the flowers all over the hat using PVA glue. If you wish to reuse the hat, you can stitch the flowers on and cut them off at a later time. Grab some cotton balls, fluff them up and place them between the flowers to represent the bunny tails hiding in the flowers. If you want, you can also hide a couple of actual cheap Easter Eggs in amongst the flowers. Just try and get your child to leave eating them until AFTER the parade. This hat is beautiful when done with a little care and is really so easy to create. You can add some ribbons if you have some lying around.


May your Easter Hat making be a low-to-no-cost affair, that engages and thrills your children, and leaves you feeling like the SuperMummy that you are. There really is no need for extravagance in these times of skyrocketing inflation and the three hat ideas above will still deliver the WOW factor that will have you brimming with pride. After all, Easter should be filled with love and family and memories. It should not cause mums to question their sanity! Enjoy!


#Easter
#kids
#craft
#family
#budget

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