Ingredients:

• 8 cups freshly popped, lightly salted popcorn
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Place popcorn in a large, shallow non-stick roasting pan.
2. In a heavy saucepan, mix sugar, butter, and corn syrup.
3. Stir over medium heat until boiling; continue boiling for 5 minutes without stirring.
4. Remove from heat, then add vanilla and baking soda.
5. Immediately pour over popcorn and stir to coat.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, stirring several times (the stirring is key because the caramel will keep settling on the bottom and you need to scoop it up and stir it back into the popcorn).
7. Cool, break apart and store in a tightly sealed container.

For the mason jars:

• Dried branches
• Galvanized bucket with rocks to stabilize
• Brown cardstock
• White chalk marker
• Optional: Chalk markers in fall colors for outlining the leaves
• Hole punch
• Natural ribbon
• Scissors

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Cut black cup in half.
2. To create the brim of the hat, cut a circle out of black construction paper (about 1/2" larger than the bottom of the cup).
3. With the white construction paper, cut a white band to fit around the base of the cup (about 1/2" thick), then glue the band around the base of the cup.
4. With your gray construction paper, cut a 1/2" square and glue atop the band (to resemble a buckle).
5. Cut yellow, rust and khaki construction paper in the shape of feathers — these will be your nametags.
6. Use your chalk marker to write guests' names on feathers.
7. Tie feathers together and then around the rim of the jar with twine.