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Sunday, January 10, 2010

Dress Up Closet

Recently our next door neighbor brought me 12--yes, 12--Disney princess dresses that her granddaughter had outgrown. We already had a pretty substantial dress up clothes collection, but this put us over the top and I had to find a new solution to our dress up clothes storage situation.
Enter the Dress Up Closet. Helena has two large double closets in her bedroom, so I decided to condense her clothing into one and store their dress up clothes in the other one. The first thing I did was go to D.I.
Duh.
I bought the funkiest mirror I could find, spraypainted the frame Ballet Slipper Pink and hung it at preschooler eye level on the wall. I took the doors off the closet and hung long, flowy sheer curtains ($8 at Wal-Mart) from a tension rod in the doorway. The curtains and their red-satin-ribbon-cream-rose aren't quite my taste, but I wanted the curtains to reflect the contents of the closet, which is mostly princess dresses.
So enjoy the tour of our Dress Up Closet!

Dress up clothes are one of the best playthings you can provide for children. There is nothing that invites imaginative play more than a few versatile pieces of dress up clothes. I got lucky with about $200 worth of hand me down dresses, but you don't have to spend a lot of money to build up a collection of good dress up clothes. I have found a lot of great items in the dollar bins at Target and (of course) D.I. An outgrown Hooter Hider makes a great cape. Our old green silk tree skirt became a long gypsy skirt or poncho. Children's thrift stores, like Kid to Kid or Once Upon A Child, have goldmines in their shoe department (ballet slippers and cowboy boots). Finally, don't forget that no outfit is complete without accessories--I have a whole drawer dedicated to our accessories, which include a wooden sword and a foam shield, several purses, a canteen, a cape or two, and a gold "treasure box" full of necklaces.
So get out there, scour those dollar bins and thrift stores, and see what treasures you can uncover for your childrens' dress up collection!

6 comments:

Choosy mom said...

Cute cute. Makes me want a girl or two. Oh well, boys can dress up too. It’s just not the same.

Amy said...

I just have to ask...what is a Hooter Hider? I have never heard that term before.

Amy said...

nevermind, all I had to do was google it!! The only thing I could think of was a bra, but I couldn't see how that could make a good cape! I guess it has been too long since I was a nursing mother!!

The Colvins said...

Cute ideas!

Candice said...

Oh my goodness, that is so cute! I love your videos!!!!!

Jen @ tatertotsandjello.com said...

How wonderful! My girls love to dress up!

What a cute blog you have. I love the name!!!

XXOOX
Jen