“I like the bow. I like dressing like Minnie Mouse because when we go down to breakfast at Minnie’s café she is excited that we are dressed the same.”

— Caitlyn (3½)

uring our daughter’s first trip to Disneyland, she fell in love with the Minnie Dress. She had seen another little girl wearing one and said, “Look, some kids get to dress up at Disneyland. I would like to dress up too.” And so is sown a small innocent seed. Her closet would never be the same.

e ordered the darling black, white and red frock from DelivEars (lovely people!) for Christmas. It arrived in plenty of time and was wrapped in tissue and placed lovingly in a big box for the big day. A pair of frilly, red and white polka-dotted socks with eyelet lace cuffs accompanied the dress. It really did look very sweet.

or dramatic affect, the dress was the last thing she opened. When she did her mouth fell open and she clutched it to her chest. “Oh THANK you!!” she exclaimed, practically breathless. “Let’s try it on”, I said.

unbuttoned the back and she carefully and daintily stepped into the skirt. We pulled up the bodice slipped on the sleeves and buttoned her in. She spun around to make the skirt flare out, as little girls are known to do. Clasping her hands to her chest Caitlyn announced “Now I can meet Minnie and we will be dressed the same!”

he magic of the Minnie dress really came out during it’s first wearing at Disneyland the following May. With plastic ears and coordinating Minnie socks, she was ready to have breakfast with her soul mate at what Caitlyn called “Minnie’s Café.” The PCH Grill is one of my favorite breakfast spots and is a must during any stay at the Paradise Pier Hotel. The little ones have become particularly fond of the little Mickey waffles, but eating was not a focus this morning. We were waiting for the star of the show and trying not to get crumbs on the pages of the open autograph book.

hen Minnie arrived at our table, she held her large white-gloved hands up to her mouth in mock surprise at the little Minnie in front of her. Caitlyn giggled, had her book signed, and stared in admiration at her idol. Before long, music announced the next part of the show and to everyone’s surprise, Minnie took Caitlyn by the hand and let her up to the stage. They sat together on the floor and watched Merlin’s tricks. Minnie held Caitlyn’s little hand in her large white-gloved hands and occasionally Minnie put her arm around her. The “mini Minnie” could not have been happier.

o dressing up became synonymous with “more fun” and who doesn’t want do have more fun? Heck, I would want to do it to if I was young again, but you just don’t see adults guests running around Disneyland in costumes. So when I was at the Disney Store after Halloween the following Fall and saw the yellow dress belonging to Jane from Tarzan at ½ off, how could I possibly shirk my indulgent parental responsibility? The dress came home, ‘just for fun. I did the same thing the year before, quite proud that I had landed a $7 Tinkerbell dress. The Jane dress in a size 7. Never mind that the kid was only 3. She would grow into it and have many years of enjoyment. (You know how we talk ourselves into these things!)

hings really started to roll when our family took its first trip to the Magic Kingdom with the ultimate real life forms of fairy godparents…Grandma and Grandpa.

want to buy Caitlyn a dress, my mother said. “She so loves to dress up!” So Grandma and Caitlyn went to the Princess Shop at the threshold of fantasyland and selected the perfect Sleeping Beauty gown. The selection of the gown was fairly involved. “Make sure everything is sewn well,” said my mother. After analyzing 3 of the same dress side by side, one was selected. To go with the gown, a pink and white “crystal” beaded crown was added. “And now,” said the doting Fairy Grandmother, “shoes!”

ow I have know my mother all my life and have always know about the vast shoe collection that would have earned her Gold Shoe status in the Imelda Marcos collectors club, had there been one. You would have thought I would have seen the shoe thing coming from a mile away.

hoes! I said. “When you took ME to Disneyland I didn’t get a Sleeping Beauty dress, much less a matching crown or SHOES!” This was just getting out of hand!

“Well, they didn’t HAVE dresses like this when you were a kid. And she has to have accessories! They finish the outfit” said my mother matter-of-factly.

ome Traditions are created because of a wonderful family moment and yet some Traditions are born this way, sneaking up on you without realizing it is happening until suddenly you look in the child’s closet and see five dresses with the Disneyland tag sewn inside. And the Tradition continues in the subtlest of ways, for as Caitlyn reviews with Grandma all the “must do” activities for our upcoming trip, she casually slips carefully placed comments into her conversation. “You know Grandma,” she says, “I have a Little Mermaid doll, but don’t have a little Mermaid dress.”

Fortunately Ariel doesn’t wear shoes!

I would love to hear your family's Disney traditions, please drop me a line,

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— Allison