One Alabama resident’s efforts to cheer up his neighbor’s son has radiated across the Internet and we bet you’ll laugh when you see why.
43-year-old Chris Newsome of Jacksonville, Alabama took notice of a squatter on his property. The squatter was a toad who frequented Newsome’s front porch in early Spring 2017. The friendly creature reminded him of his neighbor’s son, who at the time happened to be in a state of mourning over the loss of his own pet frog. So to cheer him up, Newsome decided to get creative.
Source: Chris Newsome/Buzzfeed
With a degree in art and design, it wasn’t difficult for Newsome to cook up his delightful scheme. He decided to send a picture of the toad to his neighbor’s son, but first, he gave his new amphibian pal some pizazz by adorning him with a special top hat, sized perfectly for a toad. The simple accessory made all the difference “because all kids would laugh at a toad with a hat,” Newsome told Buzzfeed.
Newsome’s plan to cheer up his neighbor’s son was successful. “He asked me if Mr. Toad was still coming to visit me every night, so to make him feel better I sent him a photo to show that Mr. Toad was alive and well,” Newsome told Buzzfeed.
Newsome utilized what he had on hand — in this case, some foam paper. He also said that the hats take no more than ten minutes to make, which is why he prolonged his hat-making endeavors by designing a wide variety of stylized options. The idea to try new styles escalated after Newsome decided to dress up the initial top hat with a feather and a monocle for what he labels “a dapper pimp look.”
Among Mr. Toad’s other looks are a hard hat, a Fez, a purple baseball cap with a T (for toad), and even a cowboy hat complete with a toad-sized lasso.
After Newsome shared his pet project on Reddit, Mr. Toad and his hat collection took the Internet by storm. The response to Newsome’s DIY was overwhelmingly positive, sparking other people’s attempts at making tiny hats for their pets. Even people from across the pond in England were sharing pictures of their pets in tiny homemade hats.
One Reddit user commended Newsome’s virtuosity commenting, “You’re a nice person. And putting hats on toads is a perfectly reasonable thing to do.”
Source: Chris Newsome/Twitter
Autumn is here so Mr. Toad probably is not coming around for more fashion shows at the moment. Toads go into hibernation from October through March in order to sustain themselves because of a lack of food and freezing temperatures which they are not able to survive.
With his new fame, we hope Mr. Toad will return in the Spring!
Until then, here is a video of Mr. Toad trying on one of his hats:
When toad hat placement goes right! #victory #toad #nailedit pic.twitter.com/kFPa75xWAX
— Chris Newsome (@toadhatguy) April 5, 2017
