Do my children watch TV? Absolutely. Do they play on their tablets? Yep. Do they spend more time in front of the screen than I am comfortable with so that I can work. Sometimes. But I have been much more conscious about the time they spend there this summer. I don’t want the TV to be a babysitter. I want it to be an enhancement to their lives, not the reason they get up in the morning.
But we all know that summer days can be long, hot and our energy is zapped with the constant needs of kids wanting us to entertain them. But instead of turning on the TV, how about turning on their imagination?
Dress up is one of the easiest ways I have found to refocus my kids from “MOOOM, I am sooo bored!” to “Mom,let’s pretend we are….” So we have a box, my parents got it for us and my sister painted the children’s names on it, that contains dress up costumes from princesses to ballerinas. And I never feel like it is full enough!
One of my favorite places to shop is online for costumes and dress up clothing for my children. CostumeExpress!
Costume Express has everything from Princess to “play adult” to favorite characters and more! And my kids and I can scroll through the site forEVER before we make a decision. And since you can now order from Costume Express and get free shipping and 15% off coupon with email sign up, I took to the computer a week or so ago to get my kids some new ones.
I wanted to think outside the box. Like cow girls and such. But my Disney loving ladies had different ideas. They wanted to have a Princess Tea Party and I could not resist their little pleading eyes! And though next time I will probably choose something fun like the Cupcake Fairy – seriously, how CUTE? – or LaLaLoopsy, I was excited to see how I could incorporate my children’s imaginations into the ones that were coming.
When the Toddler Belle, little Ariel and the Purple Princess costumes came in, I already knew what I wanted to do! And, of course – no shock to my loyal readers – it would include some sort of heartfelt thank you to my always helping neighbors!
See my entire shop and fun for the neighbors in my Google + Story below:
The other day the kids started in with the “I’m sooooo bored!” chatter. So I pulled out the costumes and told them that we were going to have our Princess Tea Party and then do Princess Crafts and then take Thank You roses to our neighbors who have been here every step of the way!
They were SO excited! So much more excited than I thought. They tossed aside the DVD cases that they had amassed to start bargaining with and hopped into their costumes, assuming the personality of said princesses.
I served them leftover birthday cake from my daughter’s 4th birthday, added some water and watched as they lavishly acted out the important role of princess. We chatted about the love of dressing up and how excited they were to make something special for the neighbors.
After cake, the girls took to making cards for Ms. April, Mrs. Barbara and Ms. Taylor -all who are important parts of their lives. We wrapped the notes up in roses, meant to express the beauty each is to us, and delivered them, high heels clicking, to each lady. In fact, one neighbor was so touched, she took a photo of her own!
It is easy to sit a bored child in front of a television and pray they stay there. And I see nothing wrong with it. But it is almost easier to encourage their imagination to flourish. Costumes from Costume Express can help give you ideas to help them along as well!
Which costumes would you order to help your kids unplug and be creative?
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Awww, Lori! I LOVE this! Some of the things that are so important to me are: making people feel good, spreading good cheer, and paying it forward. I love getting out into my community and doing kind things for other people, especially when they least expect it. This is a fantastic way to teach your children to be good neighbors, while allowing them to expand their imaginations. I’m extremely impressed!
They are so pretty in their costumes!! What a great and fun idea!
Thank you so much!! They so love dress up!