Welcome to day three of Kid Week here at Manolo for the Brides. Enjoy your stay!
When you’re the one getting married, you do have a certain amount of power. For instance, if you want to dress up small boys like this:
(via Pegeen)
… or small girls like this:
(via Landy Wedding Dress)
… well, that is your right and you can make them do it. But it behooves us to keep in mind that Frances Hodgeson Burnett’s son never, ever forgave his mother for making him dress like her fictional hero, Little Lord Fauntleroy, and that was nearly a hundred and thirty years ago. Imagine the horror of being an eight year old boy today and having the school bully find a picture of you in satin knickers!
Do you really want to do that to a child?
And I imagine that while many a little girl would be pretty swept away when that gown first arrived, they would quickly and painfully learn why it is that strapless is for girls who are old enough to have developed secondary sexual characteristics. I’ll just leave it at that.
The key to using the power you have is to exercise it in such a way that you are considered a benevolent despot rather than the jack-booted offspring of a raging bull and a weasel.
Dressing small children in ways that keep them comfortable and don’t entirely empty their parents’ pocketbooks is one of those smart ways of exercising power. I’ll show you some ideas for that.
This dress from Pretty Flower Girl comes in sizes 2 – 14, and really fits the bill. The cut is built for a young child, the color is attractive and popular, and the sequins on the bodice add a touch of sparkle for a formal event. And at $41.99, it’s easy on the budget, which will make parents happy, too.
On the brighter side of Pegeen, there’s this lovely silk dress. It comes in sizes from 2T – 16 and starts at $145.00. Starts? That’s because there are a variety of alterations that can be to both the cut and decoration of the dress. A matching bolero or American Girl doll dress can also be added for a fee. Oh, and there are even extended sizes available. I can see my seven-year-old self twirling happily in this dress now.
But what about the boys?
Sometimes the best thing for a little boy is a good accessory rather than a whole suit. If that’s the case for your wedding and your ring bearer, why not head over to Etsy and get a custom version of this grey vest from Angelica Atelier? At $75.00 it’s a good deal for something a boy can get multiple uses from. Just pair it up with a nice shirt and a clean pair of pants or shorts, and he’ll look great on the day.
Another thing to consider for children of any gender is a quick look through the clothes they already own. It just might be that your ring bearer or flower girl could wear something that’s already in the closet. No fuss, no muss, no extra expense… your benevolent despotism will become legendary!
I made my flower girls’ dresses, long twirly things out of a washable, but still slightly shiny, cotton sateen. Two out of four have worn theirs endlessly as dress ups since then.
We’d only intended to have the page boys wear black slacks and white shirts, but a local menswear store had a (literal) fire sale, so we picked up some ex-hire suit jackets for them for only $20 each that only needed dry cleaning. The boys weren’t that keen on wearing them, until they got cold waiting for the wedding to start!