Should I dress up my daughter like a disney Character?

[djm99]

My baby girl (3 years old) really thinks she's a princess. For her 3rd Birthday she had a costume party and of course she was a princess. She even has several outfits with Princess written across it. To top it off her name means beautiful Princess. So i was wondering should i dress her up or would that just be more trouble?

 

[Shells9]

When we visted the park in early May, there were a few little ones dressed up at the character breakfast we went to. They were bright eyed and bushy tailed and looked really cute.

As we were leaving MK, some of the little girls who were dressed up looked VERY hot by the end of the day.

So I would say this: If you/she wants to dress up -- go for it! But definately bring some more comfy clothes incase she tires of the dress later on in the day.

Have fun!

 

[*Robin*]

I'm with Shells! It can look adorable, but if 1, she is active, things will just get ruined, and 2 if she is active, she'll be hating it after a few hours.

Now if she's the type that just sits in the stroller and watches the world go by, you may get away with it. Although, this is DW...not many kids just sit!

Robin

 

[dahess]

I think it really depends on when you are going. I would not want to wear a long dress in 95 degree heat. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[jlp651]

My mom always told me when buying gifts for children...think about what it would be like to be dressed in LACE all day long...even though it is cute...in your case...think about what it would be like to be dressed in lace and tule all HOT day long...may make for a cranky kid...

and as much as I hate saying this...my mother -for what ever reason....has yet to be "wrong" when it comes to advice...NO MATTER HOW MUCH I TRY TO PROVE HER OTHERWISE! *LAUGH*

 

[mum4jenn]

Yes!!!! Let her wear it for as long as she can. I agree that you should take a change of clothes though so if she gets too hot she can change . Several years ago I splurged on the Minnie Mouse dress and was sure it was a waste of money...NOT!! My dd wore that dress so much(and at the parks) that if I would have let her she would have worn it everyday!! In fact if it still fir she would still wear it.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

yep - we have priority seating for the 8 am at cinerellas castle and my young one will be dressed to the hilt - we will however have a backpack on hand with a change of clothes

 

[timbud1]

Oh, yes! Let her wear her favorite princess dress! We ate with Cinderella in the castle a few weeks ago, and my DD's (7 and 9) loved seeing the "little kids" in their dresses. In fact, I'd say they were pretty darn jealous! Take some extra clothes (or wear a tank and shorts underneath, as I noticed several girls doing) and let her have her fun! After all, she IS a princess, right??

 

[frannn]

When the infant costumes went on sale at DS and DS.com, I went crazy. I even bought the accessories. The good thing about the costumes for the smaller kids is that they are body suits with a little tulle over it for the skirt. It may get a bit scratchy and uncomfortable for her, but I will be sure to have other clothes in her diaper bag. As soon as I see her face getting red, or her head getting dampened, I know to change her. We have that system going on at home also, and it works well. I am surprised that DD, now 8 months, doesn't pull off the various crowns, dresses, and sunglasses I torture her with to "try them on for WDW". I think she knows how cute she is! If it is in your budget, by all means dress up your little princess so she can be herself (and attract lots of attention). DH thinks I'm nuts, but that's why I love the DIS!

 

[BevS97]

my dd wore her Snow White dress to breakfast in the castle, and really enjoyed the extra attention she got - in particular from Snow White herself. However, when we left breakfast she was quite happy to put her shorts and t-shirt back on.

this year we have a couple of sun-dresses with characters on, a plain cotton one with Tinkerbell on, and a red spotty one with Minnie on - they aren't 'proper' costumes but they are still fun and she will be more comfortable wearing them all day.

She also wants to wear her Pocahontas dress to meet Poncahontas (her absolute favorite character), so I think she will start in her costume and then once we have found Pocahontas I will encourage her to change - fortunatly the Pocahontas dress is pretty comfy to wear compared to some of the others.

Bev

 

[jmminarik]

Back in december our niece wore her Cindy gown to both the Princess Breakfast in Norway as well as to meet Cindy at MTTF. The CM princesses seemed to pay extra special attention to the girls in costume, especially the 'princess' whose gown the child wore...we have a wonderful (wonderful enough to print 30-40 times to fill requests) picture of Cindy and our niece curtseying to one another....even the evil queens at the character area across from Pooh's ride went above and beyond.

After the 'meets', my s-i-l just had our niece change...the gown is big enough for her to have worn 'street' clothes underneath.

Hope this helps,
Joe

 

[TJ Munk]

As someone who worked in the entertainment department, I can say that we LOVED seeing the kids dressed up. There was no bigger compliment than to see a little one dressed up as your character.

I agree with everyone else though, bring a change of clothes if it gets hot. Also, since with some of them (skirts that are just netting) different skin gets exposed and a kid gets exposed while sitting ina stroller, bring lots of kid friendly sunblock.

TJ Munk

 

[Daxx]

My 2 cents, for what it's worth ... I say dress her up if *she* wants to be dressed up! If she's not into it, then don't.

If she chooses not to dress up, take the costume b/c she might have a change of heart. If she does want to dress up, take a change of clothing in case she's uncomfortable.

I only perused the posts briefly, so I'm sure it's been suggested ... only adding my spare change to the pile!

 

[Favorite Auntie]

Definitely dress her up! I took my 2 year old niece to WDW a few years ago (she is 4 now) and she saw all the little girls in Minnie dresses and wanted one so bad. Of course I had to buy her one. She insisted on putting it on right in the store! She strolled down Main Street USA like she was a million bucks. She wore it to the AK too and since she loves Minnie, we got in her meet and greet line first, then we got in line for a photo op with Mickey. Well Mickey thought she was the cutest because he grabbed her hand and brought her right over and cut Minnie's line! I have a picture of Mickey and her standing holding hands with their backs to the camera....priceless! My nephews also got picked to join in the parade when they had their Peter Pan Costumes on, so it is great for the boys too!!

 

[TandyR]

With my DD who is now nearly 7 years old we put her princess dress in our backpack and put it on for the breakfast right over her clothes and then take it off later. That is how she plays with them at home and that is how she likes doing it when we are at WDW. The first time we went to the princess breakfast she didn't want to wear a real princess dress she wanted to wear her princess nightgown because it had three princess on it and then she added pins to it so there would be more princesses on it. It was so cute. I would say go with what your DD wants to do ...she will have a ball.

 

[mm6mm6]

Our DD5 wore her Minnie Mouse dress to the Hollywood & Vine Minnie Character Breakfast.

She wore it all day (it's more of a real dress I think than the Princess versions) and was very comfortable (about 85 degrees).

Minnie loved it! Lots of attention for wearing the dress and DD5 ate it all up.

If you let your DD dress up for the breakfast, just thing of how awesome the pictures are going to be!!!!

Matching outfits make your memories just that much better!

Go for it!

 

[Jen D]

Have her wear it on a day you schedule a princess breakfast. A lot of kids do it and it is great. In fact, a few parents who didn't dress their kids up looked kind of resentful because their little girls were complaining! LOL! I knew about it because I read about it here.

But yes, bring a change of clothes for the park. My daughter wore her dress for a couple Fantasyland rides, and then I successfully talked her down into shorts and sneakers.

 

[cook4you]

My dd wore a Snow White costume and she had several different situations where she was treated like Royalty. It was a wonderful experience for her. And also take a set of extra clothes in case she gets to hot.

 

[DEH3rd]

First of all, If she wants to, & you're ok with it, go for it. Now, in terms of personal preference, I vote no. I have 3 girls (7,5,2). We have never put them in costumes. The are itchy, cumbersome, & inconvienient to store, etc... What we do, though, is dress them in dresses. (Yes, I am old fashioned). They aren't frilly things, but very nice summer dresses or sun dresses, and put pretty matching ribbons in their hair. We usually have to go to boutiques to find dresses for all 3 to match (which they still like doing, so as long as they're ok with it, i'm gonna do it.) People always treat them so well. I truly believe it is because they are well mannered, and yes, well dressed. You do not see alot of little girls dressed up in the parks. But, they girls do not feel over-dressed. The dresses are very comfortable, and cooler than wearing shorts anyway.

 

[undertheradar]

I won't be popular on this, but here goes: If you feel that your child needs extra attention, go for it. If you feel that everyone deserves the same attention, leave the costume home. I've always enjoyed the attention that my daughters get just by being themselves. Do clothes really make it worth more attention? I would hope not. That would mean that the Lords and Ladies are measured by appearance instead of substance. Just my opinion, for which I'm sure I will be flamed.