Sunday, February 24, 2008

Hey mommies - dress up in public?

We went to the mall today to get some new footed pajamas for the girls. I had realized that my ultra-organized box of 2T clothes still had all the footed pajamas inside, as when I pulled out the size originally, it wasn't cold enough for them. This was the first time Allison was really introduced to them when she was available to make a choice about what she wears. Since she hasn't worn footed pajamas since last winter, she didn't even realize they existed.

And boy oh boy - she loves them. She refuses to wear anything without feet! (okay, she doesn't actually get that much of a choice, but she doesn't want to wear anything without feet).

The Children's Place has great pajamas in my opinion. Most footed pajamas are so danged warm and thick - intensifying the warmth of the footed part itself to where it's too warm. But these jammies are thin and so soft. We have a bunch of 24months, but they are just too small for miss Allison now, curling her toes under until they hurt.

We made a trip to the mall for the sole reason to pick up some of these jammies. Which, I have found the 3T size actually fit Ella too. They are a little too long for Allie, but not too loose as she'll stumble over them.

Long story longer, I let the girls pick out their own clothes, as I quite frequently do. Today's pick, however, was a little different then the normal outfits. They chose to wear those big puffy skirts I depicted in this picture paired with dress up 'princess' style dresses. The dress up dresses are of a nice material, so they aren't those cheesy halloween costume type things. Actual nice dresses, just dresses with big bell sleeves and big floaty skirts. With the petticoats underneath them, they make the dresses truly look like they are right out of cinderella's closet, looking like big hoop skirts. Allison paired her look with some black punk rock boots and Ella chose some sparkly pink slip-ons.

I had no problem with their choice and allowed it. Hubby asked me if I was actually going to allow them to wear these things in public and I said "sure, why not?". I honestly have no problems with it. From the looks of things, we ended up bringing a lot of smiles to the Sunday shoppers. Lots of pointing and laughter and many people, men and women both, would come up and talk to my princesses, complimenting on their beautiful dresses.

So I ask you - do you let your children wear crazy outfits in public? How far do you let it go? What type of places would these types of outfits not be okay? Would you let them wear mis-matched things?

10 comments:

nancy said...

I wanted to leave an answer to my own question.

It's already been determined I let my kids wear some dress up things, but I wouldn't let them wear ANYTHING they wanted. And I would have them dress appropriately for things that deemed nice clothes - like going out for dinner.

Oh - mismatched clothes are out. I would feel that people would thing that I dressed them like that! Yeah, I wish I didn't care what people think and in some ways, I don't. But in this way, yeah.

Io said...

Nancy, this totally made me smile - I think it's great your princesses got to wear their gowns out! It made me think of my own mother, who always (except special occasions, church, etc.)let me pick out my own clothes, even when they were weird. I wore some bizarre stuff as a kid. I had silver boots and leopard pants and petticoats under skirts just like your daughters. I would wear big wraps from the dress up box out in public and turbans to have tea parties.
I think being able to wear outlandish things as a child helped me learn how to not worry as much what other people thought as an adult and let me be more creative and free.
On the other hand, my mother sometimes buys me clothes *now* that I would have loved when I was 10, but not so much now. (I'm kind of over feather boas!)

Anonymous said...

I wish my mom felt like you when I was little. I definitely would have been the total princess at the mall. Now as to how my children will be allowed to dress...that's TBD. Hopefully I'll stick with the it's-not-horrible-so-it's-ok mentality. We'll see, though!

q said...

I still dress JoJo. She still wants to wear 3-4 shirts at a time so I have to nix that when we go out. She prefers dresses and so I let her wear whatever dress is appropriate for the weather and will often put stretch pants on underneath for warmth.

Lex will not allow us to dress him. He chooses his own clothes. He will occasionally want to wear something that is really outlandish and clashes, but I humor him and allow it to be worn...under his jacket. I figure people assume he dressed himself. Also with him being a boy it is not as *odd* for the clothes to not be matchy matchy.

Oh and JoJo is very picky about colors. She will not freak out if DH tries to put say a purple shirt on her with green pants. She knows they do not match.

Kaci said...

I haven't left it up to Matthew yet, but that's mainly because he hasn't fought me about what I've selected. If he did, I *think* I would let him wear whatever he wanted, to pretty much anywhere we go, except church. If we were going to dinner somewhere that I could wear blue jeans then I would let him wear whatever he wanted...if I felt like I needed to be more dressed than denim, I would not let him dress himself.

Kaci said...

Just adding another comment, when I read your post title I thought it was going to be about how *we* dress when we go out in public! Maybe it's all the talk about shoes :)

Meredith said...

Well I have two boys so it really isnt an issue. I usually let Tyler pick his shirt. If we are going out then I try to make sure the pants match the shirt, if not then I really don't care. But honestly Tyler could care less if he picks out his shirts or not. If/when they get into the stage of caring I like to think I will let them wear whatever they want. I am the type of mom that goes to the mall in sweatpants and ratty t-shirts. Clothing just isnt a big deal to me anyway.

Anonymous said...

Hey, Nancy. It's Katherine from WebMD IFTSG...I decided to check out your blog, and I love it. This post in particular made me smile, because I'm going through this same thing with my 2 1/2 year old son right now. He insists on dressing as either Spiderman or Batman wherever we go (see pics on MY blog), and I have stopped trying to fight him on it. In fact, to make things easier, I went out and bought several identical sets of Spiderman and Batman pj's, so he's never without a clean pair. Of course, I'm a SAHM and we live in a very warm climate, so we rarely go anywhere that it matters if he's dressed like a barefoot superhero. But even when we do, I don't usually make a big deal about it. I mean, really, who does it hurt?

KatieM said...

I thought of this post yesterday when I went to the store and saw a little girl (maybe 3 or 4) dressed up in rainbow striped tights, a pink tutu skirt, with brown boots and a jean jacket. It was so adorable!

Anonymous said...

I've always let TBB wear whatever he wants. That might be pyjamas with a magicians cape and tiara to the shops but thats fine by me :)