Dress Up Bin for BOYS!

While this post is titled dress up bin for boys, this can be done for girls as well. As a mother of two little boys I feel like “dress up” has a defined gender role and has been pushed into the girls’ only category. But little boys love to play pretend too and I think it is perfectly acceptable for little boys to run around in costume using their imaginations.

My sister-in-law, Wendy, must agree as well because she created the most fun and entertaining gift for my boys. She created a dress up bin. She created costumes for the boys that appeal to everything boys love. There is a fireman, a police officer, a banker, a dinosaur, a clown, a super-hero, a doctor, and a pirate. She is so crafty – I am always impressed with the things she thinks up and how creative she can be.

I say creative because these costumes are not store bought costumes from a Halloween store. Some of the costumes are hand sewn and others are pieced together from dollar store finds and thrift shop discoveries. The boys play with every single one of the costumes and frequently ask mom and dad to dress up too!

The bin itself is just a simple see through storage bin and inside is all of the costumes. I am a little obsessive and felt the need to organize the costumes into bags in order to keep all of the pieces together and easily accessible for play. When we are done with one costume it goes back in its bag before the next comes out. Sometimes this rule is followed and my house stays somewhat sane, other times all of the costumes are out and the boys are running rampant throughout the house in multi-costume dress up mayhem.

So here are the costumes:

Fireman:

Fireman hat

Fireman coat {hand sewn out of sweatshirt and yellow fleece}

Police Officer:

Black hat

Black oversized button down shirt

Badges

Sunglasses

Banker:

Glasses

Sweater vest

Pretend money

Dinosaur:

Tail {hand sewn our of fleece}

Dinosaur head hat

Dinosaur feet {made out of shoe boxes and construction paper – ours did not last long, but they were cute before they were destroyed}

Clown:

Clown wig {we have three thanks to the Madagascar movie}

Oversized tie

Silly glasses

Clown nose {red foam ball with a slit in it. My boys have their fathers little nose and the clown nose never stays on – so it has been taken out to avoid frustration}

Super-Hero:

Cape {hand sewn}

Identity masking eyewear {hand made out of felt}

Doctor:

Glasses

White oversized button down shirt

Doctor kit

Pirate:

Pirate hat

Handkerchief

Eye patch

Hook

I have found that when the kids get bored or start to get a little too rambunctious, opening up the boys dress up bin is a great creative outlet for them and is always good for a laugh. I know many people have the costumes all hanging up in pretty organizers, but I know my boys and I know that I would never get them to hang up the clothing … It would be a hot mess for MOM to constantly pick up. The boys do a really good job with their dress up bin and when it is not in use it is put away with all of the costumes nicely organized inside. {Thanks Wendy for one of the boys favorite gifts ever!}

Do your kids play dress up? If so, what is their favorite thing to dress up as?

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