Billy Goats Gruff - A Boy and A Mask

My firstborn was in his very first school play today! He's following in my proud footsteps - my first role was in our second grade play, "Robin Hood." My line? "Look! An arrow! With a note on it!" Said while pointing dramatically at the aforementioned arrow. I remember that line, and my lines from our seventh grade Christmas production ("Pickwell Personnel Placement" etc.), and yet I can't remember why I walked upstairs a minute ago. Sigh ...

Evan was Billy Goat Gruff #2, and he had two lines in the show. He spoke with flair and used his arms to great effect. We thought he did a great job. I look forward to cheering him on in many more years of class productions!

My biggest challenge involved the costuming. He brought home a note from the teacher saying that we needed to provide a brown shirt, khaki pants, and a goat mask. You know, it's kind of hard to find a good (cheap) goat mask on short notice.  So I embarked on a quest to make my own.

Here's how I did it: First, I bought three zebra foam masks from the Target dollar spot. They also had elephants, but I thought a zebra was more adaptable. Less nose.

Then I bought a big pack of foam and a piece of posterboard. Traced the zebra mask onto the posterboard and considered the most crucial parts of the goat facial identity. Horns, ears and a long nose.  I cut off the zebra's ears, removed the grey nose, then added some pieces with foam, and tried to cover up stripes with marker.

I couldn't have done it without my assistant's encouragement and support.

You'll see that I decided that the marker areas didn't really work. I covered them up with foam, and voila! A billy goat. I ended up making three of these masks, and they used them all.

Evan graciously let Corrie pose for a photo op with his mask. It's nice to see his smile! I thought the masks turned out well, but I like the look of my boy better.