Well your daughter, also known as your little princess, wants to be Tiana from The Princess and The Frog for Halloween. You find the dress, the shoes, and the little stuffed frog whether from Target, Wal-mart, The Disney Store, or a combination of many stores. You look at every available crown and what do you discover for Tiana? All they sell is plastic crowns with Tiana’s picture (with her wearing a leaf crown no less) and light green beads or you have the option of a cardboard party hat/crown that does look like the leaf crown but looks tacky with the soft aluminum headband and brown cardboard for the backside. Your little princess is telling you it looks nothing like Tiana’s crown and laughs at the cardboard idea. “Tiana has a leaf crown with real leaves!” You try to reason and explain that is all they have twenty stores and 100 websites later…still she pouts. Lucky for my little princess, I have an artistic creative side full of determination. It did take me a few hours at Jo-Ann’s Fabrics & Crafts store, but I finally figured out what to buy to make a Tiana crown that would be acceptable in a little want-to-be princess’s eyes.
You can see all the supplies needed in picture #1 in case you don’t know what I’m talking about in the following list which contains what you will need and the cost of each item to me in my area:
White Silk Poinsettia cluster (Try to find one that has at least three large leaves and if you find ones with a touch of sparkle, which is just a bonus, as all princess love sparkles!) $2.99 (Also in the flower section,) stem with pearl-like beads (I do not know what they are called except for what it says on my receipt which says pearl bead spray.) $2.99 A plastic crown that has a good base to glue the petals on to and won’t show on the sides when you use the smaller petals. Think of Sleeping Beauty’s original crown style. $2.49 (1/2 off from Halloween sale) Hot glue gun (I already had one but prices vary from around $3 and up depending on what you want and how often you would use it. Some glue guns have high and low settings and then they have $3 ones that only have high or low. I used a high setting one.) 5/8 inch light green double face satin ribbon (The one I bought has a location ID 1522 and is by Casa Collection ~ special occasion ribbon.) $2.99
All in all, the approximate cost of this project will be around $15 if you don’t have any of these items. Most people already have the glue gun and some might just so happen to have a crown and/or white Poinsettias from prior Christmas decorations. Either way $15-$20 is a price you’d expect to pay for a Tiana crown like this one and well worth your princess’s delight. Also the materials can make up to two crowns if you purchase an extra plastic crown in case you have two princesses wanting to be Tiana or know of someone else’s daughter who is. With no further ado, the instructions are as follows:
Cut off 5 petals (3 large and 2 smaller ones) at the base. Do not leave a stem. Hot glue the petals on making sure the middle one and the end ones are overlapping the remaining two. Hot glue the end of the ribbon to the end of the headband and start wrapping it around, adding a drop of hot glue every other wrap until you have reached the petals. Then hot glue the ribbon across the bottom of the petals until you reach the other end of the petals. Proceed to wrap the remainder of the headband as you did the first half and then cut the ribbon and hot glue the end in place. Count out seven strands from the pearl bead spray and cut them off the cluster. Cut off the smallest leaf from your Poinsettia cluster. Use hot glue to bind the 7 strands together at their base using the small Poinsettia petal to hold them in place and wrap it around the base. (Refer to picture #2) Depending on the heat setting you are using be careful with this step. If high is your only setting, let it cool for a few seconds before wrapping the petal around the stands and hold in place. You may decide to shorten the strands and may do so by cutting them to your desired length. My princess liked them just the way they were.
Now you should have a more official Tiana leaf crown like the one in picture #3 that will make your little princess all smiles. Happy Trick or Treating Tiana style!