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One thing that all little girls love to do is to play dress up. As soon as they are old enough to walk, little girls begin stepping into their mommy's shoes and pulling giant bras over their chests. They like to put on long beads and too-big dresses; they giggle under hats, bonnets and scarves. While there are many boxes, bags, kits and packages of dress up clothing for little girls on the market today, they simply aren't the same as they used to be. The cute little packages of dresses and shoes mimicking Disney characters or storybook heroes might be fun and adorable, but what about the old attic trunks full of grandmother's old clothes and mom's old prom dress. What about the sun hats that used to be so popular and the bonnets worn by all women? Consider putting together a box or trunk of some of your old clothing for your daughters to use as a dress up trunk. You may be surprised at how much they enjoy it. Following are some ideas for filling your dress up trunk.

1. Old dresses. Do you have some nice dresses you still like but are way out of style? Give them to your kids. Even casual dresses and suits will be worn by little girls who want to dress up and play tea party, go-to-work, or some other such game.

2. Old formalwear. Do you have an old prom, homecoming, or other formal dress that cost a fortune but will never be in style again? Many of us that wore the return of the hoop dress in the early 1980s will thrill our daughters if we let them try our hoops. They'll feel like Cinderella at the ball.

3. Hats. Hats somehow complete any out fit when dress up play is involved. It doesn't matter if the out fit is formal or casual, a hat completes the look and every little girl looks adorable when wearing one. If you have any old ridiculous hats, add them to the dress up trunk; the more ridiculous, the better.

4. Relatives. If you are great at purging clothing you no longer want, ask the aunts and grandmothers if they have old cast-offs they'd like to contribute to the dress up trunk. Surely Grandma will come up with something out of her musty, old closet with clothes from long ago.

5. Thrift stores. You will be amazed at what you can find at a local thrift store. Either the Goodwill store, Salvation Army store, or any other thrift store has new items coming in all the time. In all those stores, my daughters have found old wedding dresses and other formal wear that was inexpensive enough for them to buy with their few dollars of allowance. You could fill an entire dress up trunk from a thrift store for under twenty dollars, easily.

So the next time you want to clean out your closet, if you have a daughter, consider presenting her with a dress up trunk. She'll thank you and you'll enjoy seeing her look so cute!