In Which I Wear a Costume for the First Time in Twenty Years

The monumental wearing of a Halloween costume by your humble blogger is still a few days off, but items for said costume are being gathered and scrutinized.

The plan is to be Mary Poppins. Robert is going to be Bert. I sprang the news on him just about an hour ago, after spending a few days rustling up the newsboy cap, vest, shirt and makings of a chimney sweeper. He was excited. I think he is still wearing the vest around the house.

I think it's safe to say that for a Mary Poppins costume, the hat is the most important part of the whole ensemble. Without the hat, you're just a dowdy lady with a big purse and umbrella. So the hat has been a little source of stress.

As you can see from the picture above, I've gathered three hats thus far.

Hat #1, on the left, is on loan from Andrea. It's a real hat that she really wears and which she has in multiple colors. (I saw three in addition to this one.) It is cute, but in a "I would actually wear that," way. I am just not getting the MP vibe from it. And besides, I don't want to hot glue stuff onto it, since it's still in her current hat rotation.

Hat #2, in the middle, was purchased today at a Halloween store for $9.99. I believe I saw a sign that said, "no returns." Which is just my luck because as it turns out, I don't think this is the hat for me either. I was going to spray paint it black and try and rough it up a little. Online advice I've read suggested getting it wet to reshape it.

Hat #3, on the right, obliterated any desire I had for straw hat re-shapery. I found it at Goodwill tonight for $2.99. It's crumpled and there is a bit of wire in the rim that will allow for additional mashing up. I just have to remove the netting, satin ribbon, and gold lame band and hot glue my dollar store daisies and red berry things and I think I will be good to go.

Next on the costume assembly agenda: beating myself up for buying a $10, non-returnable hat and general stressing out over how much moola I'm sinking into this costume.

Costume guilt. Great. (This is why I've avoided costumes for 20 years)