Let's play dress-up!

I apologize for my delay in updating – had some random health and home stuff come up recently!

Most parents of three-year-olds have experienced the dress-up phase.  It’s fun to see their little minds working, and to see them taking on a role – you get to see how someone with very little exposure to the world sees princesses, firemen, pirates.  Also, it takes up about an hour so that Mommy can also grab a cup of coffee, which is a nice change when you rarely get to even pee by yourself.

We’ve tried to fight just getting our daughter “girl” items for dress-up – not because we don’t think those are appropriate, but why force her into a little box that may not fit?  Pink is by far her favorite color, but she also likes using pretend tools, so we want to give her the tools to explore all of her interests.

It all started with a cowboy hat when she was about 2.  She hadn’t really shown any interest in dressing up before then, so my husband and I picked up a foam cowboy hat and some glitter paint at Hobby Lobby one night when we were on a “date” (because don’t all parents end up either grocery shopping or getting stuff for their children on dates?).  The hat was about $5:  LINK.  We brought it home and let her help decorate it – and it’s been a staple of her wardrobe ever since.  Here she is getting into the holiday spirit sometime this past summer:

The hat has held up remarkably well for only $5 of foam.  I can’t say that I’d recommend using glitter paint on it, as about 1/3 has scraped off, but it was a good buy.  I don’t remember there being any other color choices, so this may be pretty limiting if your child does not care for pink.

The next set that Pickle got was a Jake & The Neverland Pirates set that had a spyglass, headband, and treasure map.  (LINK)  It runs about $20. 

The spyglass is sort of annoying as hell, because a whistle blows constantly, and then Captain Hook calls someone a scurvy dog or something, I don’t know.  But I don’t think the batteries ever die.  Regardless of that, it’s a huge hit.  And Pickle has slept in that headband, done pottery painting in it, and so on. 

She loves it, and it’s pretty constantly in use.  We had some visitors recently for a big Thanksgiving party, and she was somewhat loathe to share her Jake set with the other kids, since it’s so special to her.

She was pretty cool sharing her superhero cape and mask.  I can’t find the exact kind we have, but here is a pretty close facsimile:  LINK

As you can see, even fancy ladies holding tea parties can be superheros.  She usually runs around jumping off of stuff when wearing this, so it’s not my personal favorite as I’m pretty sure it’s going to lead to a concussion.  But it was incredibly cheap and has had a lot of use.  It’s sort of satiny – my one complaint would be that the eye mask doesn’t have the greatest eye-hole things, they’re not really big enough to accommodate toddlers and preschoolers running around in this at Mach 5. 

We also love princesses in our house.  Especially princesses who wear pink.  So, when Pickle received this dress as a gift, she was over the moon:  LINK

As you can see, she accessorizes very heavily with this dress, including monster foot slippers.  (She called those her “glass slippers.”)  Anyway – it’s way easier to get on and off than some princess dresses that I’ve seen at Target or the like.  It slips on, and there’s just Velcro on the back to hold it on.  It runs about $20 – so, if you’re not certain that your child will get into the whole frilly dress thing, you may want to start with something a little cheaper (and less Pepto-pink).  But, it pairs incredibly nicely with the little play princess shoes you can get.

Because of that, our wonderful photographer took some great pictures of Pickle for her 3-year photos, I just wish I could find this tutu online:

The last items I want to review can’t really be purchased online, unless you maybe want to email my mother-in-law and see if she still has patterns from 25+ years ago.  She sent us an entire big box of old Halloween costumes from my husband and his four siblings just before Halloween, and that is the best thing ever.  Pickle has been Mickey Mouse, Little Bo Peep, and a boxer:

There are so many great patterns out there for costumes, and it means so much to have something handmade with love.  Pickle’s favorite all-time costume is one my mother-in-law made for her last Christmas when she was obsessed with fairy tales, she hand-made her a Little Red Riding Hood cape:

Anyway – that’s just a small handful of the dress-up items up in here.  We also have clip-on earrings, tiaras, bunny ears, kitty ear barrettes, purses, fedoras, and a never-ending supply of toy jewelry both that we have made and that we’ve purchased.