Kids Dress Up Hats – Why The Dress Up Box Needs Them
Hats are an awesome part of dress up play! Kids from the youngest age to nearing (and into) adulthood love to pop one on their heads and get to work playing!
Thankfully, there are many kids dress up hats out there to choose from… and they are all fantastic additions to any dress up box. (See also the “10 Fantastic Dress Up Hats For Kids” post.)
Why do kids love dress up hats? There are a few reasons.
Little kids simply love the action of putting things on and taking them off. And repeating that about a hundred times. It’s a typical toddler behavior, isn’t it? And hats are one fun, colorful, zany thing they can put on and take off… By Themselves. Which is Important, right? 🙂
Kids also love dress up hats because it’s something that makes them really FEEL like they have become someone or something else. The dress up hat may even cover their eyes a bit, cause them to feel slightly off-balance, or be snapped onto their chins with an elastic. However it gets on their heads, it’s something they themselves KNOW is there… and they think it looks AWESOME. Which it does, of course.
Kids also love dress up hats because they make for a very quick costume change. No zippers or buttons, no getting their arms or legs down the wrong holes… in short, no need for someone to help you with it. Just grab, flip on, and suddenly, little Joey is now “Fireman Joe”. Kari has become the Leader of the Marching Band. Ben is joining the Construction Crew, and Erin, well, she’s Santa Claus today! 🙂
Where can you find kids dress up hats?
There are many places you can find hats to add to your dress up box. It depends on if your budget and your child’s interests!
The first place to look would be your own closet, and that of your mom and dad, grandparents, or older friends, if they are willing to contribute! You’d be surprised at what you can find!
Depending on if you’re interested in second hand or not, you can then pop by your local thrift store and browse away. For a few bucks you might be able to pick up some pretty cool hats!
At the thrift store, be sure to nose through the men’s section (where you’ll find more of the “career” type hats), the kids section (of course – think “firefighter” and “duchess”), and the sports section! The women’s section may have some fun glamour and sun hats, so depending on if this is your child’s thing, don’t forget to dig around there too!
(Your local dollar store can be successful place to look too – but remember, you get what you pay for. If you buy a hat for a buck, chances are you’ll get about a buck’s worth of play time out of it.)
And then there’s Target, Walmart, or Amazon and the like! Mix it up and have some fun building your box of dress up hats! And then, watch your kids have a BLAST with them!
Before you click away, would you mind helping me out by letting me know which dress up hat is a popular one in YOUR kid’s play? I’d appreciate it so much… I’ve written a post on about the “Top 10 Dress Up Hats” post in the future!
Cheers,
Marlaine
Such a great run-down of dress-up hats! Kids can have so much fun switching these around, or even layering multiples for extra laughs! We get a lot of mileage out of these!! But your photo has a caption that says “every boy needs a firefighter’s hat”, and I’d just add that girls love them too! 🙂
Ha ha, yes, good one. My 3 year old daughter is VERY often sighted wearing her little brother’s fire chief hat. Accessorizing with her princess gown and her ladybug rainboots. 🙂 I’ll have to adjust the caption! Thanks for dropping in! 🙂
Hey Marlaine,
Nice article on hats. This actually brings up nice memories for me… I played dress up a LOT when I was a kid and I even had a Victorian tea hat which my mom got for me. Thanks for this refreshing post!
I know what you mean about it bringing up memories, Tasleem!! Working on this website certainly revives memories for me too. A Victorian tea hat would have been a LOT of fun for a little girl! Do you mind if I include the idea in a future post?
My kids love hats, they sometimes try to make their own with some materials that they find around the house. I like that idea because then they feel some type of ownership of the hat and they are also really proud. We all know how important it is to help our children recognize when they should be proud of themselves!
Great post!
Making your own dress up hats is a great idea! My 3 year old just LOVES crafts and creating fun things – I’m sure she’d love to do that with me soon! Thanks for the suggestion!