Fireworks Hat



Homemade hats for the 4th of July

You will need:

• Red, white and blue rolls of duct tape
• Flexible straws (about 35 per hat)
• Pipe cleaners (red, white and blue)
• Star garland, cut into 6 inch lengths (We found ours at the Dollar store)
• Tape measure

How to:

1. Measure the circumference of child's head. Cut a piece of blue duct tape to this length plus 2 inches. Lay tape sticky side up. Place straws on tape, placing so that flexible part of straw is at top edge of tape. Make sure to leave four inches of blank tape on each end.




Lining up the second piece of tape. (A bit too hard for youngsters to do on their own)


2. Cut a second piece of blue tape, the same length as the first, and place it sticky side down to form a "sandwich" for the straws. Try to make sure there are no exposed bits of tape. (It's tough on hair!)




Layer pieces for tri-color headband.


3. Cut a piece of red duct tape the same length as blue and fold it over the bottom edge of the blue piece. Repeat with white duct tape to create a tri-colored headband.
4. Fit headband to child's head and tape together to form a circle. (Be sure not to make it too tight! It should easily fit over child's head, but not be so loose that it falls in their eyes.)




Fancy pieces lure the boys back over.


5. Slide curled pipe cleaners and garland into the straws. Fan out straws if desired.
6. Wow your neighbors with your fancy new hat!

Thoughts:

OK, can I say how flippin' cool this hat looks? I wanted one for myself! Lining up the tape was an adult's job, which was good because neither Elliott or Jack had any desire to help us out. In fact, they both abandoned us to go play with toys after a couple of minutes.



And we've lost them.

The crazy garland and curly pipe cleaners lured them back and they both enjoyed putting the pieces into the straws.

The finished products were so cute! However, an exposed piece of tape pulled Jack's hair. That, and the fact that his was just a tad too tight made him leery of putting it back on. Elliott decided monkey see, monkey do and even though his fit fine, announced his was too tight as well. I was able to get him to wear it to a couple of 4th of July picnics later in the week.


Elliott's Evaluation:
I remember making them. But, Jack didn't like it. His hat was too tight. Mine was a little tight, too.