Dress-up area on a budget

The kids have recently gotten into dress-up, and in a big way. Maybe they would have done so earlier except that all the dress-up clothes were stuck in a plastic bin in the closet. They had to ask for help if they ever wanted to play with them. My first move to encourage this kind of imaginative play was to make a space out in the room for the bin- the big, green, ugly plastic bin. Yes, this was frustrating for me. I started dreaming about beautiful dress-up areas and all that could be done if I had a budget of more than ten dollars. Which I didn't. So here is what I came up with.

I spent about $9 at Target for some red hangers,  moved the musical instruments out of the basket for playsilks., and emptied my old rollerskate box for crowns, masks, hats, wands, etc. My next move will be to figure out how to hang a mirror (that I found in our basement) on the wall so that the kids can enjoy what they have come up with.

I would love to see what other people have done to make dress-up accessible... send me your photos!!

Comments

[rowan]

You are the best mom ever! This looks like so much fun! I might come over to play dress up too, do you think Esme would let me borrow that super fancy colorful stripey number she has on in that photo? I love it! you are doing such a great job at being the world's best mom!!

[Dawn Lange]

Rowan, you have no idea how nice it is for me to get a sweet compliment like that. Thank you so much! Isn't that stripey thing awesome?! It's not Esme's unfortunately, otherwise I am sure she would let you borrow it! Come on over anyway.... I am sure you can find something fun to wear!

[mom]

Fun fun fun!!!!!

[Joyce @Dinosaurs And Octopuses]

I especially love the box you store the accessories in! Your dress up corner is really cute! It does make a huge difference when they can access their dress up clothes all by themselves. I'm pinning this to my dress up board! Thanks for sharing.

We moved recently, and I just finished my son's new dress up corner. If you'd like to take a look at it, I've blogged about it as part of a miniseries on dress up play. http://www.dinosaursandoctopuses.com/2012/01/dress-up-play-creating-space.html

Ours was very inexpensive as well. We had an accordion rack that we paid something like three dollars for at Ross, and we bought the mirror when they went on clearance after back to school.

[Joyce @Dinosaurs And Octopuses]

Oh, it appears as though I can't pin it. :/ I really like your space though!