Now THAT is an Easter hat!

Just before Easter, the Prep to Grade 2 students at Eli's school are involved in an Easter Hat Parade. I'm not sure why, it doesn't have anything to do with Easter per se, but I've learnt not to ask those sorts of questions and just get on with creating! Last year Easter Hat Parade was a disappointment for Eli - he wasn't happy with my creative output at all - even though it was colourful and had foam eggs dangling from the brim - so this year I got thinking early. The plan was to go for big and garish, something that would really wow the crowd.

So on the weekend before the parade, and after a mammoth shopping trip to Crazy Clarks for supplies, Eli and I set to the task of creating a bright and bold Easter hat. We had my cricket sombrero as a base and then went to town with a big roll of cardboard, pipe cleaners, feathers and a peacock feather for a little extra drama. And then, to complete the ensemble, I glued 20 small yellow chicks to the brim. I wasn't sure if they'd stay put, but the PVA seemed to do the trick.

So off we went to school on the morning of the Easter Hat Parade. Eli had to wear his school hat underneath our creation - both for comfort and logistical reasons - but he was very impressed with the fact that the creation effectively doubled his height! No sooner had we set foot in the school grounds then a group of older kids, possibly from Grade 5, noticed Eli's hat. Eli was thrilled, because they peeled off a few 'Holy Moly's!' to express how amazed they were with his hat. And that really just started the ball rolling - all morning, prior to the parade, Eli got lots of 'wow's' and 'oohhhs' and 'aaahhhs'. It actually started to embarrass him a little bit, but he was glad that the hat was such a hit (and that no other kids could match his for size or brightness!). The downside of having such a great hat was the attention that it attracted. Eli and I had to fight off (figuratively, not literally) quite a lot of kids that wanted to touch his hat - I was starting to worry about the strength of PVA glue versus the strength of prying fingers!
 

And then, it was off to the parade, where we truly saw Eli's hat standout amongst the crowd. I got a lot of great feedback from the Mum's and Dad's too - maybe my talents are wasted in science? Eli's grade put on a little performance and despite the attention Eli managed to keep his hat intact all morning - quite a feat I'd say. All in all he was very happy this time around and we've already started talking about how we can add to this year's effort to go out with a really big bang next year - so stay tuned!