Little girls want to be princesses. It is something that is born to them. They love to dress up, and the fancier the better. Starting as young as three or even two years old, if you give them a fancy hat or boa, they will parade around in it, feeling glamorous. But if you want to give them the best clothing accessories, buy them rhinestone tiaras and rhinestone chokers.
The easiest way to dress a girl as a princess is to buy her a Disney costume. Disney has a whole stable of princesses, from Snow White to Jasmine. The best advantage of these costumes is that they are sized for children, while common dress-up clothes are sized for adults. Of course, the other side of the coin is that the child can leave the costume behind before he stops dressing up. In my opinion, another downside is that Disney costumes are commercialized and trap kids in the rat race of buying stuff because vendors tell us we can’t live without the products. I’m more in favor of “found” costumes for many reasons. The main reason is that more creativity and imagination is required when wearing the shiny mommy party jacket than when the store-bought costume has a picture of the character on the front.
Unfortunately, amassing a collection of dress-up clothes was a lot easier when grandmas were kids than it is today. In the 1950s, today’s great-grandmothers wore fluffy, ruffled can-can petticoats under their gowns to highlight full skirts. Fifties girls could throw on one of these, throw on a statement necklace, add a large handbag and be Glamor Princess or Agatha Mucha Moulah. Moms in those days wore dresses much more often than moms today. Back then, they always wore dresses to church and to the office and even sometimes to go shopping. Moms today wear a dress or skirt much less often. And what kid wants an old pair of jeans to dress up in?
My kids’ favorite costume item is an old faux Persian lamb cape that great-grandmother wore in the 1930s. This faux Persian lamb is a black, shaggy, loopy fabric with a slight sheen. Over the many years and generations of children who have played with it, it has been everything from a cape to a skirt to a hat. And it’s still almost as beautiful as the day it was first worn over a fancy dress at a party more than 70 years ago.
The best costumes today are probably fancy jackets that have outlived their usefulness as party wear. As jackets, they most likely won’t be so long that girls wearing them will trip over them. You probably also have an outdated necklace to contribute to the costume. Then spend a few bucks on a fancy tiara and an inexpensive evening bag (or donate your own), and her children can be the most beautiful princesses ever.
