Toga Time

The big kids' school celebrated spirit week this past week. In years past, the themes have been pretty normal: crazy hair day, hat day, sooner/cowboys gear, etc. This year however - they school took spirit week way outside the box. They went with Salad Dressing Spirit Week. When the school spirit note came home I thought to myself, REALLY... school spirit SALAD week? But when I started planning - I got excited!

• Monday was Thousand Island and they asked the kids to dress in Hawaiian gear.
• Tuesday was Ranch day. Kids were asked to wear cowboy clothes.
• Wednesday was Blue Cheese so the kids got to wear something blue.
• Thursday was my favorite. Caesar... they wanted the kids in togas. 
• Friday was House dressing. Students were supposed to don a school logo shirt.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday were all pretty easy to do. Although the Ranch day was a little tough as my kids are pretty much "city kids." That acknowledgment makes me sad! Thursday was a little challenging.

Because I had approximately 45 seconds of spare time on Monday and Tuesday, I decided I was going to figure out the toga gear from what we had at home. If I could pull it off, fine. If I couldn't, I wasn't going to break my neck.

Wednesday, after small group wrapped up and we got the kids in bed, I asked my dear friend Miss Google how to make a toga. I found several appropriate togas for kids and luckily, I had what I needed for the togas and the accessories. SCORE!

2 white twin sheets
Safety pins
Twine
A green bush/shrub that badly needs to be trimmed
Hot glue
Headband

I laid out the white sheet, then folded it in half long ways, then folded one side half way up and safety
pinned to keep the fold secure.

Once this was done, I started working on the headpieces. For Maggie's I got an old cheap plastic headband, my hot glue gun and some green leafy stuff from a bush in our front flowerbed.

I happily hot glued the greenery to the headband... while Hubs watched.

For Spencer's headpiece I tied some greenery in a circle. Then I rummaged up an old spool of twine and cut enough to tie around each of the kids' waists. I also grabbed some shoes from last summer that probably hurt their feet the next day... but they worked. This is the the final product, ready for the next morning.

I was so proud of myself and couldn't wait to show the kids in the morning. They each told me multiple times the night before that they for sure wanted to wear a toga. Well, low and behold when they woke up the first thing they BOTH said was - "I don't want to wear a toga... (whine, whine, whine)". Too bad for them that I had already made the togas based on their previous wishes. So I made them wear the togas. Mean ole Momma.

To get them on the kids (while dealing with tears of protest), I wrapped the sheet around their wastes one and a half times, securing with safety pins. Then I looped the extra portion of the sheet over one shoulder and secured with more safety pins. Then I tied the twine around their wastes and had them put on their headgear.

Maggie was M.A.D. when she saw herself in the mirror.

Spencer was M.A.D. too, and then I told him to smile for a picture. That went over well.

Luckily before they left the house their 'spirits' had lifted and they were excited to see what everyone else was wearing. I had them pose for one more picture before we left. They little one jumped in too.

Matthew said when he was dropping them off at school, they were desperately looking out the windows for other dressed up kids. When I picked them up they both told me they LOVED their costumes and were so glad they got to wear them. SCORE again. I'm glad I didn't cave in that morning... I was on the verge!