Dress Up Clothes Storage Ideas: What Will Work Best For Your Needs?

Girly Dress Up TrunkYou’ve discovered that your daughter or son loves dress up, and you’ve accumulated a rather large and cumbersome collection of dress up items. Now the big question comes… how do I set up a decent dress up clothes storage solution  for all of the dress up clothes, accessories, and gear? 

What sorts of options are there?

And which one is best for your child’s dress up collection? For your house? For your sanity? 🙂 Let’s take a look!

 

What Is YOUR Dress Up Clothes Storage Style?

First thing to consider when trying to figure out your dress up clothes storage solution is what style of home organization you prefer.

  • Do you usually just want the playroom cleaned up as quickly as possible? Or are you more concerned with keeping the costumes wrinkle-free?
  • Do you mind if costume sets and accessories get all mixed up together? Or do you prefer each accessory to have a place of it’s own for easy locating during play?
  • Do you enjoy seeing the creative play items front and center in the room, or do you like to close a lid and have them out of sight when your children aren’t playing with them?

Hopefully you can see where I’m going with this. Just as there are different styles of home organization, so there are different ways to store the dress up gear.

Dress Up Trunks or Dress Up Boxes

 

Boys Dress Up Trunk
A sturdy trunk like this Rhino Trunk can look classy in your playroom, stores a LOT, and will be used long after dress up days are a thing of the past.

If you are the “chuck it all in and close the lid and voila! The room looks great!” kind of person, or the “if it gets wrinkled, that’s ok – it’s just dress up clothes” kind of person, you’re probably going to be very happy with a big ol’ dress up trunk or dress up clothes storage box.

What’s important to this “shove it in the box” person is that everything – all outfits, hats, shoes, dress up accessories… everything- can fit INSIDE that box with the lid ON. So yes, it’ll need to be a large box – or trunk.

(Ours, I’m a tad bit embarrassed to say, is currently a huge sturdy ol’ Rubbermaid, but I have plans for something much more fun in the nearish future. I’d love to buy or make a painted wooden one sort of like the Superhero themed trunk in this DIY Dress Up Storage Ideas post. A more decorative box would be nice… the Rubbermaid just doesn’t quite say “come and explore”, does it? 🙂 No wonder I keep it kind of out of site in the family room where the kids play.)

 

See Girls Dress Up Trunk Ideas or Boys Dress Up Trunk Ideas

Dress Up Wardrobes or Dress Up Carousels

Guidecraft Dress Up Storage
Click to see our full review of the Guidecraft See and Store Dress Up Center

Not everyone loves the “toss it in the trunk” style dress up clothes storage. In fact, many people want to display rather than put away their children’s dress up costumes – often so that their children can get to their favorite items quickly and spend lots of time playing happily with all of their gear.

A wardrobe is a great idea for a more organization-loving sort of person… and there are many styles. Wardrobes usually have room enough for some serious dress up clothes AND accessories. You can go plain, fancy, adjust for height, customize if you desire… you can get a spinning carousel (like the Guidecraft or Kidkraft top-selling ones reviewed here) and you’ve got space to hang dresses and capes, but also room to tuck in gloves, hats, shoes, etc. AND doors to close to conceal everything! Imagine how awesome it would be for a dress up loving child to have a special wardrobe with a full length mirror on the outside or inside of the door…? A little girl’s dream come true!

If you want to do something DIY with this, check out these incredible ideas!

But if you want a few ideas if you aren’t into DIY, but want a cool dress up wardrobe for your child, here are a few suggestions for dress up wardrobes (note the variety of styles):

 

(As an Amazon Associate I may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you. Full Disclosure.)

 

If you really don’t mind seeing dress up clothes every day but want them organized, OR you are blessed with a dedicated playroom, OR your child stores her (or his) gear in the bedroom… dress up wardrobes or carousels are definitely fun and useful. Just be sure to customize it by lowering the rack height to a height your child can reach, or YOU’LL be the one hanging up everything for SURE. 🙂

Check out these articles for some more ideas!speechbubble

What do YOU do for YOUR kids’ dress up clothes storage? Please comment below share with all of us your own great ideas! Thank you!

Marlaine

 

Flashback Fun! Who remembers Mr. Dressup?? 

mr-dressupMr. Dressup was a Canadian children’s television series that I watched a LOT as a pre-schooler, and maybe you did too. (It originally ran on CBC from 1967 to 1996.)   This lovely old gentleman loved to don amazing costumes and tell stories and sing songs with the help of some great puppets (Casey and Finnegan were the BEST)!  Now Mr. Dressup had a fantastic dress-up box that he called  The Tickle Trunk. Isn’t that awesome??  He had it stuffed full of awesome stuff (see photo), and you never quite knew what would be coming out of it when he opened it.

My point of bringing up Mr. Dressup is that his Tickle Trunk was fun just LOOKING at it. Your dress up trunk can be too! Even if it’s just paint on cardboard or wood with some stickers!

 

12 thoughts on “Dress Up Clothes Storage Ideas: What Will Work Best For Your Needs?”

  1. Caroline August 30, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    Hi Marlaine,

    I have a little boy who almost 2 years old and so we’re only just starting out on our dressing up adventures very recently! My creativity isn’t the best, so I’m pretty certain I’ll start out as a throw it in the box kind of person! He is about to move into his big boy bedroom though which has huge lovely built-ins, so I’m thinking maybe some portion should just be a dedicated dress-up wardrobe???

    Caroline

    • Marlaine August 30, 2016 at 11:33 pm

      Hi Caroline, big thanks for dropping in! Dressing up for little boys, I’ve found, is slightly different than for little girls – at least, it is with my own little guy compared to my little girl. Boys tend to really love their accessories: hats and tool-belts, swords and stethoscopes etc. Lots of “things” as opposed to lots of big “hang them up” costumes. You know those material style fold-out boxes (maybe 18×18″ or so) that you can find in all sorts of designs at Ikea or Target? If those would fit on the shelves, you could make a dedicated dress-up-gear spot, perhaps. All the best with the move to the big-boy bedroom! It’s a big change! 🙂

  2. Norma S. November 30, 2016 at 1:33 am

    I don’t know if it’s because of the kid’s theme, but your site is just fun to shop in. My youngest is 21 and really doesn’t care to ‘dress up’ his room/storage area, but I do have numerous nieces and nephews who’d love these things. I like the Rhino trunk only because it can go in anyone’s room or closet!

    • Marlaine November 30, 2016 at 3:16 am

      Thanks Norma. I must say it’s a LOT of fun working on this site! The topic itself just seems colorful and interesting and creative… and I have two kids of my own who are big inspirations! Glad you enjoyed stopping by, and thanks for commenting!

      I like the Rhino trunk too – also because of that exact reason you mentioned… that it’s versatile and can be used for way more than dress up. Unfortunately dress up fun doesn’t stick around forever. 🙂

  3. Eloah December 2, 2016 at 3:04 pm

    Where were all these cool storage solutions when my kids played dress up? I used to have one of those makeshift closets with the metal poles that I would hang all of my girls dress up clothes on. My youngest still dresses up sometimes but now she only really has 2 or 3 costumes that still fits her so I just the dresses and all the accessories in a storage bin. The Guidecraft See and Store Dress Up Center is absolutely adorable! If I had to do it all over I would definitely get that.

    • Marlaine December 2, 2016 at 9:19 pm

      I love the Guidecraft See and Store Dress Up Center as well – it’s so much fun! You’d have to have the right room for it, I think… not sure I’d want it in my living room, but in a larger girl’s bedroom, wouldn’t it be the cutest thing ever??
      Thanks for dropping in, Eloah!

  4. Jed December 2, 2016 at 9:17 pm

    My brothers daughter is very particular about her dresses and she would love to pick up one the storage units you have mentioned. Her birthday is nearing and I will get her on your site to help her decide which she would prefer. Thank you for the great storage ideas for kids.

    • Marlaine December 2, 2016 at 9:25 pm

      That’s great, Jed! Glad you found this site helpful! Dress up is so much fun for kids, and yes, if they are really into dressing up, it’s worth it to have a great dress up storage unit!
      Have a great day!

  5. Daniella December 4, 2016 at 9:23 am

    Hi Marlaine,

    What a great and useful article, I really liked the reading!
    My daughter’s room is always a big mess, even though she has a wardrobe for all her clothes,it doesn’t help.
    I personally love the trunk, I think it is great to store all the small stuff she has in her room.
    I have bookmarked your website so I can show her these storage ideas. I am sure she will love it!
    Thank you very much for this excellent post

    • Marlaine December 5, 2016 at 6:10 pm

      Glad it was helpful, Daniella! 🙂

  6. rob April 19, 2017 at 6:16 am

    H, what a wonderful article, I love everything on this site, im like a kid in a candy store. My niece who has just turned six and loves dress ups, shes also a little ballerina. Im going to buy her the Ace baby furniture, its just perfect for her room and I think she would love it. I also like the big chest for myself, just to sit at the end of my bed for all my quilts and blankets. Thanks again Joanne

    • Marlaine April 19, 2017 at 6:18 pm

      Hi Joanne,

      So glad you’ve enjoyed poking around! I have loved working on this site, so I appreciate getting confirmation that others have fun visiting… thanks for letting me know!

      I wish I could fit the big chest in my own room too… they are so handy!

      Cheers, and have a great day!

Leave a Reply

Name *
Email *
Website