Eleven sombreros.

June 16, 2006 9:42 AM

I have eleven sombreros.

Eleven cheap straw sombreros with the stiched name of a local Tex-Mex joint, more specifically. I previously hung a few of them on the wall, but after a candle accident I decided they might be a fire hazard, and besides, they no longer fit the decor. Besides throwing a sombrero party, what are some useful, interesting or bizarre things to do with said sombreros?

posted by luftmensch to Grab Bag (34 answers total)

1) Put them on the various public statues in your town.
2) Take pictures.
3) Put pictures on Flickr.
4) Get a MeFite to post an FPP about it.
posted by JekPorkins at 9:49 AM on June 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

Give them to the homeless. Put them on various statues around town. Put them in a river and let them float away. Attach some balloons to them.
posted by nitsuj at 9:50 AM on June 16, 2006

Turn them upside down and use them as planters.
String them on a mini light set and plug it in and presto, instant hacienda.
Turn them upside down and serve chips and dip in them.
Try once again to make urban sombreros chic.
posted by iconomy at 9:50 AM on June 16, 2006

Sombrero golf? Like frisbee golf, but with sombreros? Instead of frisbees?
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 9:50 AM on June 16, 2006

I am envisioning a giant katamari type ball of glued together sombreros rolling down the street, and it is awesome.
posted by ND¢ at 9:51 AM on June 16, 2006

Offer them to a school or a church's children's ministry. Someone somewhere will be happy to receive them.
posted by wallaby at 9:53 AM on June 16, 2006

Another vote for the statues!
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:01 AM on June 16, 2006

Put them on top of the wall around the White House.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:18 AM on June 16, 2006

Freecycle them or offer them to a local theatre group.
Or do the statue thing - that would be fun
posted by darsh at 10:19 AM on June 16, 2006

Third for statues and photos. Or, lacking statues, other conspicuous and incongruous public display. Since they're not enclosed or particularly ominus, hopefully you can avoid angering homeland security.
posted by Alterscape at 10:23 AM on June 16, 2006

ah, you're in/around St. Louis. Take them to the City Museum and add them to the existing art.
posted by nitsuj at 10:26 AM on June 16, 2006

Call the press secretaries of various local public figures, and ask if you can get a photo op with them. When you get to the photo op, get them to wear the sombrero in the picture. If they refuse and you can't coerce them into it, wear the sombrero yourself.

Post on Flickr. MeFi FPP.
posted by JekPorkins at 10:28 AM on June 16, 2006

Another vote for statues. In fact, get some cheap ponchos and throw those on the statues too. Now- Fiesta!
posted by marxfriedrice at 10:30 AM on June 16, 2006

Call the press secretaries of various local public figures, and ask if you can get a photo op with them. When you get to the photo op, get them to wear the sombrero in the picture. If they refuse and you can't coerce them into it, wear the sombrero yourself

This is a fantastic scientific way to determine just who is for or against the sombrero agenda. There needs to be charts and graphs, tho.
posted by Robot Johnny at 10:32 AM on June 16, 2006

good sombrero party game: pass the hat from one person's head to the next without using hands or arms. or the low contact but also pulse raising Hat Dance Marathon Challenge
posted by cubby at 10:46 AM on June 16, 2006

Attach variously shaped wings and foils to each and drop them off a tall building. Note descent rates. (You will need: sheet metal, tin snips, wire, a tall building.)

Toss them in the Mississippi and see how many make it to New Orleans. (You will need: time off from work to drive to N.O.)

Teach eleven kids the Mexican Hat Dance. (You will need: to learn the Mexican Hat Dance.)

Affix a tea light to each and set afloat in some body of water, keeping one to wear yourself. Explain to anyone nearby that each represents 250 deaths in Iraq. (You will need: tea lights, moxie.)

Or do the statue thing. I seventeenth that.
posted by Terminal Verbosity at 10:59 AM on June 16, 2006

buy eleven "festive vests" and proudly parade around town in said vests and sombreros. also maracas. also a mustache.
posted by naxosaxur at 11:02 AM on June 16, 2006

Dress entirely in Chasidic clothing except replace the fedoras with the sombreros.

Go to a local dry wall supplier.

Pray outside as if it's the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.
posted by Captaintripps at 11:04 AM on June 16, 2006

Mail them out to 11 different Mefi members. They take a picture with or wearing it and post it to Flickr. Rinse. Repeat.
posted by jackofsaxons at 11:06 AM on June 16, 2006

"Give them to the homeless."

I love this suggestion. Would do an excellent job of making people notice those they consider invisible.
posted by Kickstart70 at 11:30 AM on June 16, 2006

I'd rather let the homeless stay invisible.

Sell the hats one ebay (you know someone will buy them). Take the money and buy some beer.
posted by tadellin at 11:39 AM on June 16, 2006

ElevenSombreros.com
posted by blue_beetle at 11:52 AM on June 16, 2006

Why not just keep them as backups so that when your curent sombrero wears out, there's another one right there waiting for you.

That's what I do.

PS - Be sure to compost the used one.
posted by jimmythefish at 12:11 PM on June 16, 2006

Introducing: The sombrero drinking game.

2 teams, 3-5 players each.
The teams form in two lines, facing each other. each player gets 1 (one) sombrero. The object is to throw the sobrero and have it land on the head on a player on the opposite team.

On a successful 'score', the team being scored upon must take 1 (one) shot of tequila. If the hate misses the target, the thrower must take a drink.

Note that players are not allowed to move out of the way of the sombrero being thrown. Increase the throwing distance to make the game harder.

Rounds of throwing the hats alternates between the two teams, and goes down the line, and back to the beginning.

Last team standing wins.
posted by triolus at 12:20 PM on June 16, 2006

You can also make a bikini top out of two of the sombreros, for a well-endowed friend.

I hope I'm not the only person who was expecting this to be a question about the basics of the Spanish language... Yo tengo once sombreros. Este es el sombrero de mi tia. Los sombreros de su padre son muy grandes, estimado senor. Ponga las naranjas en el sombero.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 12:51 PM on June 16, 2006

oh my goodness this question actually made me cry.

from laughter, not for any strange emotional issues attached to the wearing of sombreros.

I say set them in acrylic and make an art installation / coffee table out of them.
posted by Julnyes at 1:25 PM on June 16, 2006

Go to the DMV Saturday morning and hand them out to the people in line. Bring a boombox and lead them in a dance-a-thon. If possible take the advertising off before you do it.
posted by nomad at 2:43 PM on June 16, 2006

On your next birthday, go to Chevy's to dinner. Wear your eleven sombreros stacked up on your head. As it is your birthday, demand your free birthday ice cream and sombrero. Put the twelvth sombrero on top of the stack. Enjoy the song they sing to you for your birthday. Walk out with a satisfied smile, for you have received the fulfillment that one can only have with a dozen sombreros on one's head.

If at dinner, anyone should happen to ask why you have so many sombreros, just tell them that you really like Chevy's. And then recite the Fresh Mex pledge from memory.

Cumpleaños feliz.
posted by neda at 2:49 PM on June 16, 2006

Response by poster: neda - that is indeed the source of the sombreros. (Didn't want to drop names initially, for a fear of a pepsi-blue-in-the-green.) And, indeed, the collection is because I've gone there for my birthday for most of my life. Perhaps I could get some free stuff out of this...

...and then do the crazy stuff afterwards.
posted by luftmensch at 3:31 PM on June 16, 2006

Mail them out to 11 different Mefi members. Then take a picture with or wearing it and post it to Flickr. Rinse. Repeat.
I love jackofsaxon's idea. Mail them out to Mefi members who take pictures and post to Flickr, who then subsequently mail them out to more Mefi members, etc. I would crack up if I saw photos of thousands of people all wearing sombreros for no reason other than luftmensch happened to have them.
posted by gt2 at 5:40 PM on June 16, 2006

The restaurant thing sounds best, and although I assume you have common sense and decency, since two different people gave this goddamn unbelievable advice, it must actually be said: if interactions with the homeless have anything to do with this, it should be because you slipped them some money on your way there or some food on your way back. They are not props for the madcap adventures of the middle class.
posted by melissa may at 9:21 PM on June 16, 2006 [1 favorite]

I whatever-th the statue idea. Get 10 other friends and perhaps try a statue-with-a-sombrero-photo scavenger hunt, and post the results on Flickr or some such. Once the gallery is popular, you could then auction off them on eBay as "limited edition, genuine" gallery sombreros ;-P
posted by vanoakenfold at 9:59 PM on June 16, 2006

Or perhaps MeFi members, who received such mailings as jackofsaxon most excellently suggested, could likewise take photos of sombrero-beset statues in their respective locales to add to the collection.
posted by vanoakenfold at 10:03 PM on June 16, 2006

jackofsaxon's idea sounds way cool - would be fun to see how far the sombreros get around the globe... I'd be up for joining in :)

An alternative would be to donate them to the Improv Everywhere crew - would be quite entertaining if they could get 11 (or more!) people all dressed up identically to go independently to the same restaurant and do weird things like they normally do...
posted by Chunder at 2:45 AM on June 17, 2006