Dressing up for Princess Meals

[Andrea73]

I have two girls ages 4 & 8. I was wondering if I need to get them special princess dresses for any meals.

Honestly, I would rather not spend the money and not deal with the hassle of kids dressed up in the parks. I have no plans to do BBB. but I guess I could order something non-itchy online.

BUT, this is our 1st trip and I want it to be special.

I don't want them to see the majority of other girls dressed up and feel bad. We are going CRT, Akershus and 1900 Park.

So. Dressing up. Yes or No?

 

[Andrea73]

I have to add that IF I do this, it will probably only be for CRT and/or 1900. I am not doing this for 3 freaking meals.

 

[summerlady]

I have to add that IF I do this, it will probably only be for CRT and/or 1900. I am not doing this for 3 freaking meals.

You can buy the dresses on ebay or someplace other than in the parks and save a ton of money. We're going to do 1900 Park Fare for breakfast and Lauren is going to wear the Alice dress that I got for her last Halloween but change into her regular clothing after breakfast before we hit the MK (or maybe keep it on until after we ride the teacups in hope of seeing Alice there). I bought the same one that they sell in the UK in Epcot on ebay, brand new with tags, for around $30, the one in Epcot was well over $60. I just hope she doesn't grow too much between now and November!

 

[MissLiz]

We have always let DD decide if she wants to dress up or not.

One year, she went to Akershus as Jasmine and it was a very comfy costume, so she stayed in it all day.

When we went to CRT, she had a pair of Cinderella capris that she wanted to wear, so we got a blue shirt to go with them and some Cinderella hair ties.

The past couple years, she hasn't wanted to dress up...you know, getting older and stuff.

We are doing Akershus again this year and I've just got the girls matching outfits to wear since we get the photo package with it.

I would say to not feel like you HAVE to dress them up. Not everyone is dressed up and you won't feel out of place at all!

If you do decide to dress them, you could always bring clothes for them to change into after the meal.

Once again, though, don't feel like you have to! There will be the little girls that have done BBB and are dressed to the hilt, but if your girls are like my DD, they will probably think that it looks kind of uncomfortable instead of neat.

 

[luvdumbo]

I would only do it for CRT or Askerus as you get to pose with cinderella at CRT and Belle at Askerus and they print the pictures for you to take home so It would be nice to have your princesses dressed up for those pictures.

We would rent a locker and have my daughter change clothes after the meals so she would be comfortable in the parks.

 

[Andrea73]

Thanks, my main problem is that they don't know about the trip. So I can't ask if they want to dress up and as which princess. My 8 year old seems to think the princesses are lame already, I assumes she will not want to. But being at WDW could change that.

The way to really cause drama would be to make assumptions and have something for my 4 year old and not my 8 year old.

I will look around for something for them.

 

[BayouMickey]

My girls INSISTS on dressing up. They always seem to get extra attention when they do. Here's a couple pics from CRT and 1900PF:

on the way to CRT:

In the waiting area of CRT:

1900 PF dinner:

 

[rhondag508]

Great pictures!

OP my daughters are also 8 and 4...My 8 year old has never loved the princesses. They are okay and she likes the movies, but not to BE one . She loves Tink, so since we are going for MNSSHP, she has a Tink costume to wear for that and for a meal too if she feels like it. She wants to wear a Cinderella T shirt though to CRT.

Little DD is a princess freak and will be dressing up for both Akershus and CRT, but we will change her afterward. We aren't doing BBB because they've done something similar here.

I wish you luck deciding.....That would be tough not being able to ask them.

 

[kimis]

I would pick one meal and let them dress up. They will feel so special and there are lots of other kids dressed up also. It looks great in the pictures. Enjoy!

 

[tink76]

I put DD is a Cinderella inspired outfit for CRT last year but not in a princess dress.
She was comfortable yet dressed special for the meal. This year we are doing BBB so I think I am going to try and find her a comfortable princess dress.

 

[robandkelly13]

BBB is a stop DD makes on everytrip. We usually go before CRT and sometimes I recreate my little "princess" for our Akersure Huse, but she's never dressed up for Park Fare. Honestly, it's a personal preference. The majority of girls are not dressed up, but our DD loves it so much. BBB is an awesome experience as well. Have Fun!

 

[beautyqueen]

My girls will both dress up, they are 3 and 4y/o but they do love all things princess. We were going to do BBB but now I think I may just do their hair in buns and buy their dresses before we go. Not just to save money but also to save time. Our local Disney store has a few sets of dresses left, you get two dresses for $50 so a good deal. There were only bigger sizes left at ours so we didn't get any Good luck deciding.

 

[IWannaBeAPrincess]

I think that they will feel out of place if they don't dress up. I find that most are dressed up. That doesn't necessarily mean a costume, though. You could get a custom outfit, or a tshirt with the princesses or a tiara to wear with a church dress?

Norway and CRT are picture packages with the princesses, so I would definitely dress up in some manner for those.

 

[alexaveryq]

I don't think your kids will feel a bit out of place by not dressing up. Each princess does a really good job of talking to each child (at CRT and Akershus they come around to the tables during the meal in addition to having the posed picture with just one princess) and making her feel special, regardless of whether she is dressed up or not.

When my older daughter was 8, I thought she was over the princesses, too, but when we were at Akershus, she was completely enamored (she looked at Jasmine, giggled, and said, "You're pretty!" It was totally out of character for her, but hey, it was Disney!). You might be surprised.

If you don't want to deal with the hassle or the expense, my daughters both wore pillowcase dresses we got on ebay. We got a red and white polka-dot with black trim that they wore to Chef Mickey's, and a princess fabric one for Akershus. I bought a size they could wear as a top (they wore a white tank underneath) and wear shorts or capris under. They were about $15 each, and they wore them for the whole day at each park very comfortably. The princesses at Akershus all made a big deal about how "she" was on my daughters' shirt.

 

[CrabbyPatty]

We did Akershus last August with two girls (6 and 8) and did not dress up. Of course, August is hotter than all get-out, but there were maybe 25% of the girls with dresses. The girls wore matching Disney princess tee-shirts though (WalMart - cheap).

AND the girls didn't mention once that they wanted to be dressed up (even after seeing a table of four girls close by us with princess dresses).

 

[Tara922c]

I didn't vote because I would ask my girls if they want to. Wait until they get to the park and see the other girls walking around in princess dresses. My dd3 saw three girls in princess dresses at Disney on Ice this past weekend, and hasn't stopped talking about the dresses since. I am going to take her to dtd our first night to pick one out. My Dh thinks it's silly for us to buy the dress, but, I figure dd will only be young once, and she might not be in to the dresses next time we go.

 

[Andrea73]

Okay, now it's time to lie. I am going to tell them that there is a "Princess in the Park" event when school lets out and ask if they want to go and do they want to dress up.

 

[kshattuck]

My two DDs love the princesses, but we only dressed them in their garb for the meal and then changed clothes. We also only did this for one meal. I don't think your girls would feel out of place in "regular" clothes; there's a little bit of everything at those meals.

Have fun!


PS -- tink76 -- your DD's Cinderella-esque outfit is darling!

 

[policycobb]

We ate at Akershus last September and my 4 yr old complained the whole time about how freezing it was in the restaurant.

 

[2littleprincesses]

My dds were 6 and 8 when we went last year. We brought dresses we already had and they changed out of them after the meal (Akershaus). It was August and was hot. Some were in dresses and some were not. They also did BBB and then CM, where no one else was in dresses, but they got a lot of attention. I don't know if we will bring the dresses this year. Odd is kind of out of that. This year, I am buying/making them pirate shirts and they will do the pirates league.

Good luck with your decision. They will have fun whatever you decide--it is disney!