This year for Halloween...Erica and Wes are going to a masquerade!

"Masquerade! Different faces on parade, masquerade!"  Last month, we went to see The Phantom of the Opera at the Civic Center. I think it was my favorite musical I've been to thus far. One of my favorite scenes was the masquerade song. And so I thought, "I want to go to a masquerade!!" Since I probably won't be invited to any here anytime soon, I decided that Wes and I would just have to pretend.  Here is my mask.

Nothing too fancy. Just a white mask from the local craft store and some glitter, feathers, and other fun embellishments.

What I'd like to showcase is my hat.

I got all of my supplies from the Dollar Tree. A plastic party hat (like the fake bowler hats you wear for New Years or 4th of July), some floral arrangements, a piece of poster board, and paint...only $4, guys!! Here is how you turn a cheap plastic hat into a mat hatter's, masquerade worthy top hat:

Materials needed: all mentioned above, AND a paper sack, scissors, tape & glue, ribbon, any embellishments.
1. Cut apart the plastic hat; the two pieces should be the brim and actual hat part.
2. Roll a piece of poster board into the circumference and height of hat you want. Tape the poster board roll into the brim of the hat. Tape the other hat part to the top of the poster board. Now your plastic hat should look like a stovepipe hat.
3. Cut pieces of poster board into small sections and tape them to the brim of the hat. This will expand the brim. Trim as needed.
4. Now your hat should look like a mess of tape and poster board. Rip part the paper sack and glue it over the poster board.
5. Now your hat should look like its made of paper sack. That will be your canvas to paint. I just painted mine one color but if you're more artistic, work your magic!
6. I used the ribbon to hide how I glued the floral pieces to the hat. I glued a piece, tied ribbon around and then glued more floral, etc.

I'm off to the ball...