Thursday 5 March 2015

The Dress-up Box

Today was World Book Day, for those of you who missed it. Although if you live anywhere near a primary/elementary school, you'd have to be pretty well blinkered to not see the hoards of Harrys, and Hermiones, and Oompa-Loompas, and Horrid Henrys, and Ghostbusters, and so on...

I'm glad it's all about reading, and encouraging the kids to delve more into what's out there. I'm a big fan of books. I like them. I hope you like them. You should get some more. I need more, too.

But let's be honest, here. It's really about the dressing up.

A few years ago, the eldest wanted to be Pippi Longstocking. So I took apart a dress I'd worn as a bridesmaid, popped some patches on, and got out some of my old knee socks. Presto! But I will say that the crowning achievement there was the brown pipe cleaners in the plaits, to encourage the iconic sticky-outy hair look.

Last year she was Captain Hook. I'd be cheating you if I didn't mention that the CH costume was lovingly made by my godmother, who is a phenomenal seamstress, especially when it comes to kids' costumes. (I'm sorry to say I just can't find a picture of this one right now. When I do, I'll edit it in!)

This year, it's all about Harry Potter. And I'm proud that she wanted to be Hermione. Hermione is a pretty great character, and a super great role model for kids in general (brainy saves the day, generally speaking...), but also for girls. Hermione never comes across as manipulative, or as a girls-like-pink cliche. Sure, she's a complete swot and can be utterly annoying as a KIA, but she's all right. The greatest part about it is that she's also never caught wearing some god-awful outfit where her skirt is up to minge base, her navel is showing, and her teen-aged ta-tas are on display. NEVER. She's a nerdy girl, but a cool, intelligent, and ballsy tough chick to boot. 

So I got my Costume Designer head on, and found a black graduation robe and a Gryffindor badge online, bought from M&S a white school blouse (2 for 8 quid, mind), a grey cardie, and the crowning glory (hooray for eBay) was a time-turner necklace (I refer you to Prisoner of Azkaban). Then we appropriated dad's white and red diagonally striped tie, and I coloured in the white stripes with a goldenrod coloured marking pen.

[Aside: how cute do little kids look in ties? Cute, right? Awww.]

So with all the kit, plus her Harry Potter branded magic wand she got from her grandma at Xmas, we went to town. I took in the arms on the graduation robe. I did the tie colouring thing. I ironed on the Gryffindor badge. We found a grey school skirt, clean grey tights, and she put on the white blouse. Dad helped with the tie. And directly after her ablutions last night we plaited her hair into four plaits for her to sleep in. 

 











The result? My Very Own Hermione.
Alohamora!

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