Dress up/costume question

We made my daughter a dress up station for her birthday a few weeks ago. She was wearing Merida today so I said maybe when we go meet Merida, we can bring her dress since she is her favorite. That was a terrible can of worms to open. Now she wants to bring every dress to match each princess we meet. Oops. I stalked eBay for 2 months and was able to get authentic Disney Store dresses for every princess in the court (minus Pocahontas...she wasn't available). We would need an entire suitcase just for her dresses!
 
When my DD (10) was 2, she wore her Cinderella dress early in the trip to a character meal and the minute she saw how people treated her, she did not want to wear anything else the rest of the trip. We got her to wear a Minnie dress one day, but other than that it was only the Cinderella dress. I'm pretty sure that dress could walk by itself by the end of the trip-but no convincing her it was dirty. She also wore princess dresses most days on her 3, 4 and 5 year old trips. At age 6, she mostly just wore regular summer dresses, and only wore a princess dress on BBB/princess meal day. At age 7, she went to BBB and wore a princess dress that day only-- she was the oldest girl in the BBB at the time, and felt like she was a little too old for it because of that. That was the last time she wore a Princess dress on a regular (not MNSSHP) day in the parks.

I loved watching her run around in the parks in those Princess dresses when she was a pre-schooler. The girls definitely get extra attention when they are in the Princess dresses and she loved it. She is normally a kid that is sensitive to seams and itchy fabric, but she would wear the princess dresses all day with no complaints in the parks. I would definitely bring a change of clothes just in case. Also, definitely sensible shoes, not princess shoes. We had a rule on that and I did not budge. I did compromise, in that I would let her buy the Princess shoes at BBB to go with the outfit, and then she could change in them for the Princess meals, and a few times over the Princess years, she changed into them for photos with the Princess at a meet and greet, but that was it. I don't think I ever carried the shoes to the park with us on a non BBB day when she started from the resort dressed as a Princess, but it is possible that I might have done that a time or two.
 
Yes, we don't wear the Disney Princess dresses, but I bring a brand that I love (a little pricier than Disney, but much more comfortable and soft - not scratchy at all). I always have some clothes in a gallon Ziploc bag in my backpack to change her, but I want her to be little as long as possible. I'm not over-the-top girly, but my daughter is a girly girl to the max, so I indulge her where I can.
 
Dd was 5 the first time we went. She wore a princess dress every day.
We put regular clothes underneath, and she wore tennis shoes. I was looking at those pics today. So sweet.
We are going again in March. She is 7. She has told me she is too old for princesses, but she has "agreed" to wear them.
I suspect she may shed the dresses during park time, unlike two years ago when she wore them all day. I will definitely have shorts and t-shirts on underneath the dresses.
 
We've done princess dresses (with Crocs - quite chic) and sometimes they would wear them all day, sometimes not.

Something I was considering for our next trip were apron dresses that I saw on Etsy and could easily be worn over every day clothes.
 
Oh yes. When my daughter was younger, this was one her her favorite parts about going to Disney. To make it even more special, I would make it seem that the princesses themselves had gifted them the dresses. The year we did BBB, I bought an Aurora dress (her favorite that year) at the Disney Store, had it all wrapped up, and had a friend call and pretend to be Aurora on the phone. When they hung up there was a knock at the door (a willing neighbor), and there was the giant box with the costume in it for her. Another year I asked the front desk if they could lay out a costume (that I had also purchased ahead of time, Mulan this time) on the bed while we were away at the parks. When we returned to the room that night, she was so incredibly excited to see the costume, with a letter from Mulan (I had prepared it ahead of time). Lots of fun ways to do this.

She's 8 now and not into princess anymore, but those are still some of her favorite Disney memories. And yep, she wore them around the park all day (with a t-shirt and leggings underneath to keep the itchiness away, and because it was pretty cold out).
 
If you don't know about Disney Bounding, google it and it may change how you and your family dress in the parks. In my regular life I dress in a particular way, but when we go to Disney we often switch to our "Disney clothes". My daughter did wear a princess dress one day during our trip many years ago, but she has always been more into animals, so she tended to veer toward Disney animal type clothes, costumes, accessories more. It seems like almost everyone at Disney is wearing some kind of Disney stuff, hats, etc. (from princesses dresses, to Disney bounding to a simple mickey t-shirt). You almost feel underdressed if you aren't.
 


My daughter did wear a princess dress one afternoon as we had reservations at BBB, we purchased her costume from Toysrus $20. The costume was kinda itchy though so make sure they are wearing an undershirt or t-shirt underneath.
 
We "Disney Bounded" this year, and my mom can sew so I bought some fabric and she made these outfits for my daughter and I. I was inspired by similar dresses I saw on Etsy.

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I spent a little more to get the soft stretchy material for my daughter's dress so it really feels like a casual, comfortable dress that was perfect for the parks. I was really happy with how our outfits turned out! My outfit was literally a $2 tank top from Target that I sewed some fabric and ribbon on, and a $5 pair of light pink shorts!
 
We "Disney Bounded" this year, and my mom can sew so I bought some fabric and she made these outfits for my daughter and I. I was inspired by similar dresses I saw on Etsy.

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I spent a little more to get the soft stretchy material for my daughter's dress so it really feels like a casual, comfortable dress that was perfect for the parks. I was really happy with how our outfits turned out! My outfit was literally a $2 tank top from Target that I sewed some fabric and ribbon on, and a $5 pair of light pink shorts!

I LOVE this!! Kind of thinking we will do kind of similar, probably DD in something comfy but costumeish (I've found playground princesses line at Adorable Essentials, but definitely open to PMs with other sellers!) and then I was planning to kind of at least color coordinate or character coordinate the rest of us with her :)
 
I also suggest looking at a company called Adorable Essentials. They have a playground princess line that is super cute. They are a play on the princesses but are still shorts/pants and a cutue shirt. Far less itchy and you can layer for cold weather or buy pants for long. I think the princess dresses are adorable, but these outfits are more practical.

Those are great! It's going to be too hot in June for the princess dresses (at least for my daughter, who is really sensitive to heat). Those playground princess shirts would be perfect.
 

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