How to Accessorize a Witch Hat (for a Particularly Fashionable Girl)

I got pretty lucky this year in that I didn't have to spend very much money to come up with Halloween costumes that made the kids quite happy. Mia wore a cute black and orange witch dress that my mom had found at a garage sale. She paired that with sparkly black tights (which she already owned), a long-sleeve black shirt (new, but very practical, so worth a few dollars investment), black shoes (which she already owned), and a black flower belt (also new, but again, she has already worn it several times, so totally worth a few dollars), which helped with fit since the dress was a teensy bit large. She also accessorized with a charming little broom that we had found at a garage sale for 75 cents.

The only thing I had to recently purchase specifically for costume wear was a witch hat. (I had actually gotten one at that same garage sale where we found the broom -- 50 cents. However, when we got it out and examined it, we found that it was a) falling apart and b) much too big. The redeeming quality is that it had some black sequined trim on the brim, which having been sloppily hot glued, was easy to remove.) I bought a new hat for her at Dollar Tree. It was orange with a spider web lace all over it and it fit her well. The only problem was that she felt it was a bit on the plain side.

{BEFORE}

I decided that it would be easy enough to trim it out and make it more acceptable to my little fashionista. We already had the black sequined trim, which laid nicely along the brim, making it simple to adhere with hot glue. Unfortunately, it only went around half of the hat, and left the rest looking very unfinished. I ended up buying a roll of black tulle at Walmart for about $3. (Ironically, this trim item was the single most expensive thing I purchased for either of the kids' Halloween costumes this year!) I bunched it up and applied it along the rest of the brim using my hot glue gun.

Then, we went through our craft stash and selected other items to accessorize the hat: three black feathers, a small scrap of orange tulle, a black and orange star-shaped button, and some ribbon that said "Trick or Treat" with candy corn on it. To complete the hat, I layered on some embellishments starting with the black tulle, making two lengths that hang down, and affixed them with hot glue. On top of the tulle, I placed the decorative ribbon, again with two lengths. Next, I fanned out the three black feathers and adhered them. I followed that with a little "flower" that I made by pinching the orange tulle into a round shape. After it was glued down, I added the button for the center, and voila -- an adorable witch hat for my sweet little witch!

{AFTER}

While I wasn't originally planning to spend anything more than the cost of the hat, I think this impromptu project made a big impact. With a bit of my time and some hot glue, I was able to transform that witch hat from drab to fab for just a few dollars. This project cost me about $4.50 -- $1 for the hat, $3 for the black tulle, and 50 cents for that sequined trim that I got from the discarded hat. It was completely worth it to see my little girl's big smile when she tried on her newly accessorized hat!

{My sweet little witch}