Dress Up Accessories

Open-ended beats complete

A complete costume is one character. A box of accessories is every character a child can imagine, which is why the dress-up box outlasts every individual costume that ever went into it.

Children who assemble their own looks are doing something quite different from wearing a costume — they are making decisions, telling a story and revising it as they go. That is the play worth investing in.

What to stock a box with

A few capes, a handful of hats, some jewellery, a couple of wands or props, and something with a bit of sparkle covers an enormous range. Add scarves, sunglasses and old adult clothes and the possibilities widen again.

Aim for pieces that suggest rather than specify. A plain cape becomes a superhero, a king, a vampire or a wizard depending on the day, where a printed character cape stays one thing.

Durability

Dress-up accessories get worn hard, indoors and out, daily. Fastenings fail before fabric does, so hook-and-loop and elastic outlast fiddly clasps and ties in a box used by young children.

Storage that gets used

A box children can open themselves, at a height they can reach, is the difference between a dress-up collection that gets used every day and one that comes out when an adult remembers it exists.

Hanging capes and hats where they are visible works even better — children play with what they can see.