Child's Dress Up Wardrobe

Granddaughter Ellie's most favorite thing to do is dress up as and pretend to be one of her favorite princesses.  She is at that age (3) where, like many other little girls, princesses and long fancy gowns with all the accessories send her into a bit of a swoon.

Every day in the car on the way home from day care, she begins preparing for her daily transformation. The shoes and socks come off.  She walks into her house and immediately strips down to her underwear.   Then she goes straight to her drawer full of dress ups and transforms into one of any number of characters.

One day she will be Snow White, while another evening she may be Elsa from "Frozen," and another night she may be Cinderella wearing a sheriff's vest and carrying a pirate's sword.  (Sometimes she builds a hybrid.)

Most child psychologists would say pretending in this way is healthy.  No matter what the experts would say, Ellie simply loves to dress up.

The problem is, her drawer of dress ups got too full.  And, since Ellie just recently had a birthday at which numerous gifts to her were of the dress ups variety, that drawer just got too full.

Ellie's parents, my daughter Lindsay and SIL Todd, came up with an awesome solution.  In lieu of filling her toy box with more toys, they decided to build her her own little dress up wardrobe.  Because it was such a simple but meaningful gift, I decided to show it here.  I'm more than sure lots of little kids would be happy to play with a wardrobe like this one.

They started with a simple book shelf unit and removed the shelves.

Next, a simple shower tension bar was inserted for hanging the outfits.  The size of the unit and the height of the bar placement were chosen so that Ellie can easily select a hanger and remove it from the bar.

Finally, hats can be placed on the top of the unit, and several baskets placed in the bottom of the bookshelf are convenient for holding accessories and dress up shoes.

Yes, Ellie is only just three, and she does need a little help rehanging her outfits at the end of the day, but at least her special wardrobe has a place for them all.

If you're looking for dress ups for your little boys or girls, may I recommend those by a toy company called Melissa and Doug.  I'm not being paid anything for endorsing this company, but I've had good experience with their toys for my children and grandchildren over the years.

Ellie will be receiving a Melissa and Doug bride dress up set and a backyard explorer set from this grandma the next time I see her.  (Good thing she can't read this blog yet!)  Chef, doctor, fireman, astronaut, veterinarian - the future options are many.

Now that I take another look, that role play wardrobe is getting pretty full already.  Hopefully two more outfits can fit in there.

"Alpaca lunch, if you bring the tablecloth..."