Messy children

[Ela1972]

I am NOT a mother who can get her children dressed (4 and 9) and know that they will still clean in the 15 minutes it takes (I have it down to a fine art) to put my make up on and get myself dressed.

Should I pack extra clothes for them (especially the 9 year old DD!!) or say never mind at least they are having fun.

Unless we are going somewhere special at home I just don't bother anymore!! It took me 2 years to learn that it is not worth it.

I don't really want to do laundry on my holidays !!

Only 22 days to go and 3 shopping weekends for everything I have forgotten!!

Ela

 

[Perditamarie]

Consider putting your clothes/make up on first...that way the kids are not a mess before you get out of the door at least! I say forget carrying extra things/clothes to the park....just bring your Tide pen for any scary stains!! Happy planning!

 

[scottish mum]

My 11 year old DS gets ketchup everywher, younger 2 kids are so much cleaner. I wouldn't worry too much about them, they will be clean when you leave each morning . Just take some wipes with you to clean them up as you go. I'm sure they won't be the only kids wth ice cream or juice down their fronts

 

[badblackpug]

I can sooo sympathize! My kids are slobs. They spill food down them at every meal. At WDW I just wipe it off and go with the flow.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

I bring 2 if not 3 outfits a day for DD "just in case" I don't want holiday pics ruined with stains on her clothes!

 

[Broadway Duchess]

While I don't mind doing laundry (we just make that morning a swim morning and hang out at the pool until our load is finished), I totally get where you're coming from. I wouldn't worry too much, unless it is a "special" event. Careful as I try to be, I usually spill something on myself at some point anyway!

In the morning, I would try to get ready first to maximize the amount of time the kids stay clean. It will probably help, as they won't have the extra time to get into something dirty while they wait on you.

 

[dyna]

Yep Get yourself ready before the kids maybe have them eat breakfast in their PJ's while you get ready.

If getting dirty is still a problem take an old tshirt of dads for each one to wear over their clothes till the minute you walk out the door.

 

[Leajess99]

I am NOT a mother who can get her children dressed (4 and 9) and know that they will still clean in the 15 minutes it takes (I have it down to a fine art) to put my make up on and get myself dressed.

Should I pack extra clothes for them (especially the 9 year old DD!!) or say never mind at least they are having fun.

Unless we are going somewhere special at home I just don't bother anymore!! It took me 2 years to learn that it is not worth it.

I don't really want to do laundry on my holidays !!

Only 22 days to go and 3 shopping weekends for everything I have forgotten!!

Ela

My recommendation is that you can take an extra set of clothes in case they get really nasty or wet while in the parks but maybe put it in the lockers. My daughters are messy kids but I only packed in case of them getting really wet and only once had to even change my youngest DD's clothes due to her being soaked to the bone at DHS. I never had to have my oldest change as she surprise me and was not that messy this trip.

 

[pktbMouse]

I would not worry about it one bit..you will see tons of messy kids I assure you..I say let them enjoy themselves..if they are anything like my 6yr old he loves to roll about the ground!!! I gave up a few years ago too..!! If their clothes get too bad to get away with just rinse them out in your sink at night and hang them up in the bathroom..they will be dry by morning , no need to iron..other than that take some baby wipes..they are good for getting stains out of kids clothes. I assure you no one will be looking at what your kids are wearing. Disney is full of grubby looking little kids and mine will be one of them!!! have a great holiday.

 

[squirrel]

I always carry an extra set of clothes in a ziplock for my niece. That way if she gets wet she can have dry clothes.

Worked out really well in EPCOT, we were in the area where you can have yourself added in a photo with characters. My niece really wanted to get her photo done with Stitch, he just happened to be riding on a surfboard with Lilo. I just reached inside my backpack and grabbed the spare clothes and happened to have shorts and a swim type t-shirt. I was able to easily change her right there as she was wearing a dress.

 

[susykt4]

DD8 is the self-proclaimed Queen of Mess. (DS6 is a neat freak, go figure...)
Our WDW trip last month was our first without a stroller. There was NO WAY I was going to lug around extra outfits! We used those free stickers the CMs hand out to cover the ice cream drips and the ketchup splotches. Have fun and don't worry about it!

Oh, I was also very anti-doing laundry, but not only is it not a big deal, it saves a lot of packing room. It wasn't too awful to do a load while the kids were swimming.

 

[DISNEYNV]

Yes, bring an extra set of clothes each day to the park. My DD loves the water rides and wet areas so I put her swim suit under her clothes as well. Do a load of laundry if you have to in the middle of your trip. I do it at night while DH takes kids to the pool. Let them get messy and have fun

 

[Mickeypooh99]

My youngest DS is really messy. We don't change his clothes for every spill. I would have to take several changes of clothes. Mostly I use baby wipes to clean his clothes. They work great! I really don't understand how he manages to get so messy, but I just don't worry about it. My pictures still turn out great. They capture his true personality. I don't dress him in white!!

 

[bartleby1]

We used those free stickers the CMs hand out to cover the ice cream drips and the ketchup splotches.

I LOVE THIS!

 

[Elmo888]

I'm so amused, and I'm glad that I'm not the only one! DD9 is much messier than DD4.

And I don't want to do laundry on vacation!

I would maybe bring an extra top and some tide to go in case the mess is too out of hand (I wouldn't want my DD to be uncomfortable), but, other than that, I would let it go and relax. In my opinion, it is more important for them to have fun that have perfect photo ops!

Have a great trip!

 

[irene_dsc]

Lol - I think the trick is you need to learn to zoom into heads when taking photos and not show the stains! I suppose that wouldn't work so well for character photos, but would work for other shots.

I have been known to tell my ds7 to take off a nice shirt while eating something messy, because he will drip on it every time (especially juice from strawberries or spaghetti sauce). That only works at home, however. (We were at WDW in January, so lots of pictures were with coats, anyhow...)

 

[Kickapoo Joie Juice]

I am NOT a mother who can get her children dressed (4 and 9) and know that they will still clean in the 15 minutes it takes (I have it down to a fine art) to put my make up on and get myself dressed.

Should I pack extra clothes for them (especially the 9 year old DD!!) or say never mind at least they are having fun.

Unless we are going somewhere special at home I just don't bother anymore!! It took me 2 years to learn that it is not worth it.

I don't really want to do laundry on my holidays !!

Only 22 days to go and 3 shopping weekends for everything I have forgotten!!

Ela

It depends on if it will bother you to see them messy at Disney. I've accepted that at some point during the day they WILL be wearing some kind of ice cream on the front of their shirts.

This includes my DH.

That being said, I usually pack more than I think I need because being in and out of the pool so much, I have a *really* hard time putting them back INTO clothes that are dirty.

I've gotten used to them wearing a shirt with a chocolate splooch on it all day (and photoshop it out later in pix), but I can't take one off and put it back on them...

 

[Ela1972]

DD8 is the self-proclaimed Queen of Mess. (DS6 is a neat freak, go figure...)
Our WDW trip last month was our first without a stroller. There was NO WAY I was going to lug around extra outfits! We used those free stickers the CMs hand out to cover the ice cream drips and the ketchup splotches. Have fun and don't worry about it!

Oh, I was also very anti-doing laundry, but not only is it not a big deal, it saves a lot of packing room. It wasn't too awful to do a load while the kids were swimming.

Love the sticker idea will look out for them

Thanks
Ela

 

[Ela1972]

Thanks to all of you for your ideas and for making me realise I am not the only one!!

I am not bothered about the dirt/water/ice cream but the tomato sauces just don't seem to come out??!!

So if anyone is there at end of March and sees 2 very dirty girls it'll probably be us!!
At least we'll be having lots of fun.

Hope you all have a good time on your next trip

Ela

 

[NotUrsula]

Bring along a flat cloth diaper and a little travel bottle of laundry detergent, and take them into the bathroom for a stain cleanup if necessary. (The diaper works for scrubbing out stains, or even tying around the neck for things like ice cream cones. No one will know it's a diaper; just a white cloth rectangle, but it won't shred when you scrub. If you catch the bad things quickly they should come out.) You can carry one extra large tshirt if you don't want them standing by the sink in their skivvies while you work on a stain.

Make sure that they are wearing water-immersible shoes at all times. You can just send them into a fountain after meals if they need a hose-down.