Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Costume Express. As always, I only share products that I love and I think you will love! All opinions expressed are my own.
If you come over to our house on any given day, you will most likely see my children dressed up in costumes. Hardly a day goes by when they have not dumped out the costume bin and put on multiple costumes. They LOVE to wear costumes! As a mom, I simply love watching them use their imagination to play, explore, and create memories with each other. I remember dressing up with my siblings all the time as kids and I am thrilled that dressing up brings the same joy to my children.
Since there are 3 boys in our family, we have a lot of superhero, ninja, villain, and animal costumes. I’m not opposed to princess costumes, but my boys are really not into that. One of the favorite places to get costumes is at Costume Express. They have an amazing selection of costumes for babies, kids, and adults for great prices! We recently tried out the Leo Ninja Turtle and Hulk costumes.
I was impressed at the high quality of these costumes. They didn’t feel cheap or flimsy, but they felt like they will last for a very long time! They are also soft and easy to put on the kids. When we got ours in the mail, the kids quickly opened the box and slipped into their costumes. They immediately got right into character!
And right away, they started playing and imagining. I love watching them play!
The details on the costume are great. The mask on this Leo costume really transforms the look on my child.
The shell on the back is detachable and soft.
I love how I don’t have to teach them on HOW to play when they are in costumes. They just change into characters and play on their own.
So why is dress-up so important? Here are 9 reasons why I encourage everyday dress up at our house.
- Builds Imagination – dressing up allows them to imagine and use dramatic play to reenact characters and roles
- Creativity – Transforming into a character helps a child foster creativity. They may even need to use creativity to make props or costumes
- Social Skills – When dressing up with siblings or friends, children learn how to play with one another
- Empathy – Pretending to be another character helps the child feel empathy for the character’s role (for example, if playing the role of a mom rocking a baby, she learns how a mother takes care of an infant)
- Gross Motor Skills – Jumping, running, skipping uses the large muscle groups in a child’s body.
- Fine Motor Skills – Grasping, pinching, and balancing uses the small muscle groups in a child’s body
- Vocabulary – Children use new words heard from stories or movies with they reenact scenes during dramatic play
- Decision Making – Kids learn how to decisions while playing (for example, for a construction worker, they decide which tools are needed to do the job)
- Fun – Dressing up is an overall FUN activity for kids
If you are looking for the best costumes for kids and adults, you need to check out Costume Express. They have quality costumes for affordable prices (especially with the many coupon codes they offer!). Today, I’m excited to share that Costume Express is giving away a gift card to their store!
One lucky winner will receive a $100 gift card to shop Costume Express. You can enter using the Rafflecopter below. We’re excited to host this giveaway with 8 other awesome blogs! Be sure to visit their sites to see the fun ways their children dress up. By visiting all of the blogs, you’ll have a chance to see over 25 of the costumes currently available from Costume Express.
My kids love costumes too. I couldn’t resist entering the contest!
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