What does your DD use for dress-up play?

[SuzyLee]

A friend of mine has 5 and 7 y.o. DD's and dress-up clothes are on the girls' wish lists.

I want to sew them each something but I am not exactly sure what would be the best choice for dress-up play. When I was growing up we mostly used my mom's old bridesmaid dresses, LOL!

Any suggestions? I am going to give them each a playsilk too.

[ollyoxenfree]

White lab coat? That's what dd used to dress up in, and play mad scientist. She also went through a librarian phase, where she wore a lanyard with "libraryan" written on it, and sat at the computer cataloguing all our books, put pockets and cards in the back of her favourites (we found some for sale in a bookstore), and made us sign books out before we read aloud at bedtime, lol. She even had a date stamp she used, and made me pay overdue fines if I forgot to bring them back on time!

Sorry, not quite helpful to you, but your post did bring back some lovely memories.

How about a simple, just-above-ankle-length A-line tunic/dress in a silky cotton? With a pretty scarf for a belt, a feather boas or necklaces, etc., it can be a princess or fairy dress, a red-carpet actress outfit, a ballroom dancer - lot's of possibilities.

What a nice gift!

[mamazee]

We have collected an odd assortment. Some are old halloween costumes. Also, I sometimes get the costumes and related things after Halloween when they're 50% off. And there are playsilks and scarves. Some old grownup clothes we found. Long opera-length gloves - those get lots of use. Hats. Any kind of hat.

[sunnmama]

Aprons, hats/bonnets, capes, purses, simple sheath dresses of stretchy fabric that girls of various sizes can wear, scarves, sashes, wigs.

Playsilks are the most versatile items in the box!

[Beppie]

My girls use scarves (play silks that we got at second-hand stores), we have lots of them, and hats and shoes. They seem to love the possibilities that those simple things offer!

[ollyoxenfree]

Had another thought. If you like to sew something a little more complicated, how about a pair of overalls or coveralls? They work for playing engineer, car mechanic, farmer, construction worker...lots of possibilities. Add a few hats to complete the picture - train engineer cap, straw hat for a farmer, hard hat for construction worker...

I like gender neutral play, even with dress-up...

[mamazee]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

Had another thought. If you like to sew something a little more complicated, how about a pair of overalls or coveralls? They work for playing engineer, car mechanic, farmer, construction worker...lots of possibilities. Add a few hats to complete the picture - train engineer cap, straw hat for a farmer, hard hat for construction worker...

I like gender neutral play, even with dress-up...

If a boy only had the clothes to dress up as an engineer, a car mechanic, a farmer, or a construction worker, would you still consider it gender neutral?

We have gender neutral stuff, just plain boyish stuff, and girlish stuff.

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by mamazee

If a boy only had the clothes to dress up as an engineer, a car mechanic, a farmer, or a construction worker, would you still consider it gender neutral?

We have gender neutral stuff, just plain boyish stuff, and girlish stuff.

I'm not sure I understand. If you are wondering, I've had little boys dressing up with fairy wings, and wearing floppy dress hats and necklaces and carrying purses. I think it's kinda cute.

Perhaps "gender neutral" is probably not the right term. Cross-gender maybe? I suppose I think of overalls as gender neutral because I know female farmers and construction workers and car mechanics. So I don't think of overalls as "boyish" stuff. My point was that little girls may like other choices than just traditionally feminine dress-up. I tried to come up with a good suggestion. I hope it was helpful to the OP.

Depending on taste (and beliefs), another choice is to go for the slightly creepy or magical - ghoul masks, ghost costumes, magician's capes etc.

Lots of choices - lots of fun.

[LaLaLaLa]

My DD (5 years old) is going through a ballet phase, so she's all about the leotards and tutus. I've seen super-easy tutu instructions, involving a thick elastic and strips of tulle. DD would LOVE something like that in a sparkly or rainbow tulle.

Both my DD and DS (3.5 years old) have gotten a lot of mileage out of the generic princess dresses we have, too. There's a pink one and a yellow one they like. We have a long magician's robe, too, that they both like to wear from time to time. Ooh, and magic wands. You could make really cool ones from skinny dowels, glitter, a styrofoam ball, and other accessories. We've done that as a craft project from time to time. And crowns are great, too. I've seen some awesome felt ones; we've made them ourselves out of sheets of foam, decorative brads, and sticker, and they've been fun.

We also have superhero capes, with their initial on the back. We bought them on etsy; there are a bunch there you could browse for ideas. For awhile my kids were all about the superhero play, but now that's tapered off.

Fancy shoes are also a big hit, although if you are going to sew something, that would be much more difficult.

Whatever you give, I'm sure the kids will appreciate it; my kids would love forever anyone who gave them more dress-up clothes!

[rere]

Things I have sewn for my daughter:

tool belt
grass skirt
cape
felt crown
fleece vest
tutu
cat tail
cat hat
chef hat

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by rere

Things I have sewn for my daughter:

tool belt
grass skirt
cape
felt crown
fleece vest
tutu
cat tail
cat hat
chef hat

Brilliant! You just reminded me that I wanted a couple of chef's hats for my teens, who have been slipping up lately in the cooking dinner department. I thought they would be fun stocking stuffers this year, as well as a gentle nudge back into the kitchen. Thanks!

[rere]

Originally Posted by ollyoxenfree

Brilliant! You just reminded me that I wanted a couple of chef's hats for my teens, who have been slipping up lately in the cooking dinner department. I thought they would be fun stocking stuffers this year, as well as a gentle nudge back into the kitchen. Thanks!

[SeekingJoy]

DS (almost 4) and DD play with tutus, masks, hats, and scarves. One of the favorites is a felt cape with velcro assessories (trim, sparkles, felt shapes) with a matching felt crown. It gets used for everything from a super hero cape to a king's robe.

As they get older, I will probably sew up simple white and black or brown flowing tunics. Large enough to be worn by a wide range of sizes. Versitle enough in style to be anything: nurse, doctor, angel, pilgrim, dancer, etc.

[Bluegoat]

We have an assortment that is just things I thought would be fun. THe princess/fairy stuff is always big. We have some cowboy stuff, and a safari outfit - my pith helmet with a shirt my dh picked up in Africa. Accessories are popular, hats, purses with wallets and compacts, and so on. We have a black suit vest that gets used for a lot of different things. A pirate hat, and a generic kind of "anima"l hood with ears. They usually make a tail to go with it.

[AbbieB]

Our dress up box includes:

fairy wings
home made fairy skirt
pirate hat
pirate sword
bandannas
sarongs
feather boas
beaded necklaces
crowns
purses and bags
sunglasses
head bands
chef's hat and apron

We've had lots of other hats and costumes come and go.

The dollar store is a gold mine this time of year. That's were we scored the pirate and fairy stuff.

The bandannas and sarongs get the most mileage.

[Cascadian]

We also have a (HUGE) assortment of random stuff...

- bought costumes
- play jewelry
- old clothes my mom had lying around from the 60s/70s (lots of frills, lace, sheer stuff)
- tons of scarves, neckties, bandanas
- a million random hats, fairy wings, tutus, tiaras

Coolest thing....a gf bought a ton of old 80s jewelry for my girls from a yard sale once...clunky bracelets and necklaces...a HUGE hit!

Go to your local Value Village and snag old bridesmaid dresses or gowns or blazers...

[BethSLP]

making tutus are SUPER easy and fun.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ambrosialove/522118984/

just one of many sites.

an important tip- buy Tulle on a Spool at Hobby Lobby. They have a zillion colors and its already strip width so you don't have to cut the tulle into strips which is a major pain in the butt.

XOXO
B

[LaughingHyena]

I tend to go for accessories rather than full outfits.

We have a selection of hats, ears on headbands, capes, wings etc. For DD the fabric seems to be one of the more important factors, I think she likes the silky flowing type stuff which is very different from her everyday clothes.

We have a couple of animal costumes, based on tabards of different colours with tails (the tails seem to be very important) some of them have matching hoods with ears.