The girls and I have been “doing” their room. Doing is the all purpose term I’m bandying about in the place of decluttering or cleaning or some other scary word that could possibly be associated with chores. There is no small power in being vague, and doing makes it sound like it could be a dance or something. “Doing” your room. See? Could be fun, couldn’t it? If you were a teenager and your mother said “be sure and come home right after school, we’re going to start doing your room” then you might think, for one glorious and gracious moment that doing your room might not actually be cleaning your room and throwing away half of your stuff.
If you were a teenager and I was your mother, I might even get a couple of hours of labour out of you when you came home from school before you and your sister figured out that “doing” isn’t really that much fun and you should start making up reasons why you can’t help me, your mother. You might say that you can’t help because exams are coming up and you have to read Frankenstein and Brave New World so you can compare them, or you might say that you really, really have to practice guitar, an activity that you ordinarily have to be tied to a kitchen chair to perform. You might in fact, if you were my husband, even break your leg on a canoe trip to get out of it, once you figured out what “doing meant, and once your wife said something like “we’re going to be “doing” all the rooms!” and looked suspiciously at the box of old and musty “High Times” magazines in the basement. (Having seen the level of avoidance developing around here, I am beginning to wonder if Joe’s injury is a coincidence or if he suddenly thought it might be worth it to fling himself onto a dock with enough force to shatter bone. Anybody’s call really. I’m about to begin considering giving myself an injury to avoid cleaning another closet… so who am I to judge.)
In any case, we have been doing the rooms, and two of the girls share a room. I know, I know. It’s practically an offence under the Geneva convention, but they share a room anyway. (At our trial for the war crime of forcing prisoners to share a bedroom, their lawyer will also point out that we have one TV and one bathroom that doesn’t have a shower. Joe and I are prepared to flee the country.) Once I got them pinned down, the two of them have been incredible. Totally awesome. De-cluttering machines. They each easily filled a big, big bag to go to charity and things are looking way up in there. Floor space has been revealed. Closet space has been regained. Tremendously exciting times, although, there have been a few stumbling blocks. Sam can’t part with some of her soft toys and Meg flatly refused to negotiate the Barbies. Now, at 14 and 16, I did not think these were going to be what resonated for them, but this isn’t about getting rid of your stuff, it’s about freeing up space. I’m not asking them to get rid of anything they love, just to sort out what it is that they love enough to keep… and with this lack of pressure, with knowing that they won’t have anything taken from them, they’ve found it very easy to let go… as have I….
right up until we got to the bins under the bed.
Under their bed are two bins, entirely filled with the dress-up clothes representing the entire childhood of my three girls. If you’re Canadian and grew up watching Mr. Dressup, then you will know that this is our Tickle Trunk, even though it is two Ikea underbed storage bins and not a trunk. In the bins are wonderful things. A bridal veil, a peignoir. A vest crocheted out of wire, a santa hat. A dinosaur costume, a ball gown, a chef’s hat… you could be anything with what’s in there. There are boots and high heels and a devil costume and a pair of wings…
I sewed things, my mum rustled things up at garage sales, The girls got gifts just to fill the tickle trunk and they played with it all the time. Wee girls trouping all around my house exploring the world of possibility without leaving the house – but it wasn’t our house. It was a castle, and a swamp and then an airplane and they were pirates and princess and ladybirds and monsters. They were ladies and faithful servants and mothers and criminals. They ran bakeries, butterfly lemonade stands, did heart transplants and drove pretend jeeps in the desert. They were everything and anything and they played and played and sorted difficulties, ran empires and put on musicals in the living room. (I know this, because I bought a lot of tickets in order to attend.)
The stuff that was in those boxes was the basis of virtually all play in this house for years and years and years. The ladies were still hauling stuff out of those boxes until they were 12 or so. I don’t know if kids still play dress-up, or if these sorts of toys and games have been abandoned in favour of WII and Ipods. I also don’t know if there is any difference between kids who grow up with props like this feeding their imaginations and kids who don’t, but I do know that when the moment came to pull out those ratty boxes, nobody moved.
Nothing in there fits my now adult sized children, it won’t be used again here. It’s taking up space for no reason, and those two boxes should be the first victims when a family is “doing” a room. I know that those boxes of clothes and costumes have outlived their usefulness, were they ever useful, and I know that absolutely nobody is going to want to have a pirate lunch (Joe excepted, but this stuff won’t fit him) ever again. This box is full of useless old stuff… We are on a mission to get rid of useless old stuff. That room is so tiny and is shared by two kids and there’s nowhere to put anything…so can you tell me why not a single person in this family, not one of us… is willing to take a single item, not even a toddler size mouse costume, out of the tickle trunk?
I’m leaving it for today, mostly because I’m leaving. I’ve got a plane to Philadelphia today, and the Philadelphia book fair tomorrow. I‘m speaking at 12, inside on the main stage, and signing after. Should be tons of fun, and hey, if you don’t want to hear me? Barbara Walters is on the same stage at 5. (You need a free ticket to see her though.) If you’re near there, please come and say Hi.
(Ps. Chicago has been rebooked and we’re having a do-over. Details here, and on the tour page as soon as I can manage.)
I love the tickle trunk! Am I first?! Must be a long weekend…
Too frickin’ adorable. And I miss Mr. Dressup.
As one who has been “doing” rooms myself this week, I can totally relate. There are just some things that regardless of their usefulness can never be gotten rid of. Just think one day yo will be able to have Tickle Trunk: The Next Generation.
Don’t get rid of the Tickle Trunk. You’ll have grandchildren before you know it. (I just mean that time flies, not that you’re in for premature “surprises.”)
Lovely, lovely post.
You’re not keeping a box of useless junk that doesn’t fit. You’re keeping a box of happy times with your kids. Nobody is ever sad during a pirate lunch, or while flying like a butterfly!
BTW – my little one and her friends play dress up all the time.
We have one of these boxes too!, Mine have a lot of capes, pirate costumes, batman, princess. I try to remove some of these but my heart stops me everytime. Even wet and smelly I don’t think I could part with some of this stuff.
My kids now 20 and 18 will sometimes dress our poor dog in some of the smaller costumes.
To those of you out there, watch out those little ones in your house will soon be big, enjoy.
I wish I lived in Canada. I would drive over and pick up that entire trunk from you. My two daughters love to play dress up and we have an Imagination Box of our own with a ton of different dress up things! Old Halloween costumes, dresses from goodwill, old hats…everything goes in there.
That’s what grandkids are for. I have special toys stored carefully away in the garage for just that purpose–and my kids are eight and ten. The 40-year-old toys my mom have saved in her garage were my kids’ favorites when they were little, and so special for me when they made their reappearance.
The Tickle Trunk represents the creation of wonderful childhood memories. If you can find room to save it for the next generation then that would be the ideal solution.
My oldest son finally cleaned out his room (you can now literally see his floor where before you took your life in your hands just walking in) but most of his clothes are now in my laundry room for ME to make some kind of order out of. Add to this all the clothes of number 2 son that we brought home from college a week ago and I have a lot of sorting and washing to do.
Do you have an attic, or any kind of underused barely-accessible storage space just large enough to squeeze in a Tickle Trunk? Every one of you will be so glad you made the room for it, in about ten years’ time.
Yes, kids still play dress up. And if it helps any, my mother won’t part with the dress-up trunk either. All of our dress-up items are carefully stored in a snaptop plastic box on the top shelf of the closet. Her reasoning? Just in case the grandkids want to play with them someday. See! You are fully justified in keeping them for the grandkids *someday*. 🙂
I wish we’d had a tickle trunk when my kids were little; their kids would now be playing with the contents.
Sounds to me like you all still “need” that tickle trunk on one level or another.
I vote for keeping it. As I don’t actually have a personal stake in it, I know what my vote is worth, mind you. But I still speak up for hanging onto it.
Couldn’t it be considered the kids’ “Stash?!”
Yes, my kids still play dress-up and often choose imaginary games over the Wii. We have indoor picnics all the time, but never pirate themed. My boys will be so excited to take advantage of your idea! Thanks for sharing such a great “trunk” with us.
Another tickle trunk owner, here. Ours fills three Rubbermaid tubs that use up precious basement closet space, but I’ve long given up the idea of getting rid of them. One of my girls recently excavated some props for an Egypt presentation (a Cleopatra beaded headdress and a wired snake, of course!), and the boxes stayed splayed over the family room for two weeks. Even though no one admitted to “playing” with them, I ::know:: the pieces moved about on their own. My favourite piece is a Pocahontas dress, made of zig zig lines painted on a burlap potato sack. It was fashioned sometime in the mid 40s by my (Grand)Ma, and my mother and her sisters wore it for Hallowe’en year after year.
Must be the season. I was cleaning out the baby books for the public library sale (we donate, big time) and my 20-year-old (!) son said, “Mom! You can’t get rid of “The Curious Little Kitten”! Back on the shelf between “The Monster at the End of This Book” and “Harold and the Purple Crayon” which I had kept.
My kids played dress up all the time. The pictures I have of them are some of my favorites.
Keep the Tickle Trunk !!! As long as the space under the bed doesn’t need to be used for anything else, what’s the harm?
That Tickle trunk sounds like fun. Keep it for your grandchildren! My sister and I recently gave our Barbies plus all the clothes we bought and made 43 years ago to my youngest brother’s little girl. She loves them. Maybe your girls want to keep them for their little girls one day.
I’d like to play devil’s advocate on the tickle trunk, in the name of non-enabling.
You have cute photos. You have happy memories. You do not currently have grandchildren, and hopefully will not for several years to come, especially when you consider that they need to grow into the pirate hats.
And if you pick up the trunk, lock-stock-and-barrel, tape it closed, and take it to Goodwill, some other family will be able to obtain cute photos and happy memories from it, and you will acquire a trunk-sized empty place in your house, and the eventual joy of putting together a new trunk for the eventual grandkids.
…that said, this would be something I would also resist giving away. So hard…
I don’t have a tickle trunk but it sounds wonderful and if it were me I would find a way to make room for it. Does Hank play with it when he is over?
We have a packed away trunk of old halloween costumes like that. I suspect our hang in the door puppet theatre will meet the same fate (though I’ve got 1 1/2 of them who still like to use it, and another just turned teen who doesn’t mind “humoring” her little brothers by putting on a show with them.
Tickle trunks should stay. After all, someday those kids might have kids…
It does seem wasteful to hold on to those things we don’t use, but how could you possibly send that magical box away?
I say leave the trunk. You’ll have grandkids eventually and they will love that stuff too.
There is no way in all that is holy that you should give up the Tickle Trunk. After all, one day your girls might have kids and along with good kids books, I can’t think of a lovelier thing to pass along to grandkids (eventually… when your girls are much older… sometime after the dating ban lifts around the age of 30… or 35…).
Don’t throw away, donate or otherwise get rid of the tickle trunk. It is happy times in a box. It’s a whole lot of great memories that need to stay. And it’s something that once gone can never be replaced.
Not a thing wasteful about that.
I’m with both sides here. Pick out the stuff likely to make it to grandchildren (and not crumble into dusty bits the second they pick it up) and hide it away. The rest should be given to children you know (or offered for free in a yard “sale”?). And pictures should be taken of this endeavor.
Then you should all come and help “do” our house. The swords and capes are still off limits though, since the 5 yo is still of the age and can also convince his much bigger bros to play with them with him. Someday we’ll have to figure out what to do with enough legos to make a full-size elephant family or a working spaceship with room for all of us. But not yet!
It’s the memories isn’t it? You just need to look at one of those things and you’re back there with the 8 year old butterfly setting the world to rights with a wave of a wooden spoon (it’s really a wand). This is what attics are made for, bung it up there until you/they have some other small people to play with. They get the space under the bed and the childhood-in-a-box too.
What a lovely post!
I don’t blame you for not wanting to part with the Tickle Trunk. What wonderful memories it must hold for all of you. I think it will be used again when your girls have children (no hurries, of course ;)).
I have been pretty ruthless in doing rooms and getting rid of stuff, but I wouldn’t be able to bring myself to get rid of that trunk. No way.
I am a natural declutterer, hate having stuff around that I am not using, but….I say push the Tickle Trunk back under the bed. Untouched. It’s what it represents that’s important – a time in the kids’ lives when fairies were real and possibilities unlimited and no one screamed “I hate you!” or rolled their eyes at you.
Sniff. I wish I had a Tickle Trunk.
I just got rid of my Barbies last August. I’m 46. And I love that no one wants to get rid of the tickle trunk! One thought – maybe you could take pictures of each item in it and keep those instead? It looks as though you’ve got pictures of your girls playing with the contents, so maybe that’s enough? Good luck!
As long as its in good shape – save it all for the grandkids- you’ll be the favorite set of grandparents that way
(at least thats my parent’s reasoning for having kept my play kitchen and fake food and all the boxes of barbie stuff I had (especially barbie stuff – I already had teh coolest collection because my dad would find me stuff at yard sales that no one else has anymore, but now that it would be the stuff I had new as well – it will truely be the awesome-ist barbie collection ever seen by the time I actually get married and have kids).(
Not all kids are on their ipods and Wii. My kids have a “dress up box” which provides hours and hours of play. Having 2 boys and a girl it has everything from my father’s old Drs coat and stethoscope, to a coonskin cap from the 1950s (Grandma’s), old Halloween costumes, and yes, we have wings too. What memories for you!
We have the same trunk. The girls are 17 & 11. The millitary moves us every few years. I should get rid of it. But it’s not going anywhere and there would be a revolution if I tried.
Don’t toss it! It’s not useless… it’s in waiting…because that’s what you can bring to them one day when they are settled into their own homes and possibly have their own kids … and just when they thought they had unpacked all THEIR boxes, you bring them “half” of the Tickle Trunk. They won’t toss it either, and it will take up space in their home, shrink a little (how long can a netting veil last?) and then grow, and be passed on again.
I have a costume closet (it’s a hobby) and off the top of my head, there is a very bright striped clown costume that should fit a 2 year old, a chicken costume that should start fitting around 8 up until middle school, and several capes for different ages, all waiting for their turn to be passed on. There is also a stack of books in there – including The Monster at the End of This Book (complete with crayon scribbles!)
Lovely post! Thanks for sharing!
Riffing on Jackie @ 10:32’s idea–what about Hank–could you “loan” the trunk to Hank for a few years and by the time he’s too old to use the trunk, by then one or more of the girls may have moved out and there will be room for the tickle trunk to move back in (taking priority over more stash to fill the space). This is kind of what we did with all the kids clothes when my sisters and I were having babies. Just a thought.
Seems we all have a similar conundrum–mine is not a tickle trunk but a plethora of Playmobile which my daughter constructed into entire villages filled with a general store, school room, post office, hotel and of course a house or two. My husband and I used to sit in another room listening to her “plays/stories” which she would spin for hours on end, always amazed at the richness of the imagination. She is now writing and getting published and we truly believe the source of this creativity was all the time spent “pretending”. So all the stuffies may go but I think somehow we will hang onto the Playmobile (just don’t tell my husband where I’ve stashed it!)
Cheers, Barbie O.
Sniff, sniff. You’ve made me all weepy, since we’re having a birthday party for DD#3 (out of 4) today. She’s turning 11, and becoming a young woman. I’m losing my little girls, except in my memories. We’ve been doing rooms as well this month… sweet thoughts.
As someone that just moved in with a man with three girls ages 6, 6 and 8, I have to say – there is dressup still and it’s going strong. 😉
That’s Joe, an inspiration to husbands everywhere…
Probably for the same reason that I have kept every dance costume that my daughter wore fro the age of 5 to 18 🙂
I, too, am “doing” my house and have been every weekend for a few months now (it’s only a town house, but I have a lot of stuff and a fiance getting ready to move in who also has a lot of stuff). At 27 years old, I had just as hard a time getting rid of my stuffed animals as your daughter. In fact, it’s not quite right to use the past tense in that sentence, because a lot of the stuffed animals were not gotten rid of.
Dont’t even think of giving those dress up clothes away!!!!!!!! I kept all of my daughter’s(including years of dance/twirling/cheerleading , Halloween outfits) and now ,to my great joy, my granddaughter(her daughter) is loving them! They are getting used by a new generation of little girls playing dressup. I can’t help but smile when she comes out dressed like a fairy, an elephant or a dancing queen. Yes, the boxes took up lots of room but I am so glad I resisted giving them away. Someday you will have the honor of being a Grandmother(much more fun than motherhood which was pretty great) and tears will come to your eyes when that little girl,looking like your own daughter at the same age, comes running into the living room and says “want to watch me dance?”. And you will.
One reason to keep that stuff? Grandchildren. My mom kept Halloween costumes from when we were kids and now my nieces and nephews wear them. Too cute!
My family has a box like that filled with pieces of old Halloween costumes. We used to have an actual dress-up box but I believe much of the contents of that were donated to cousins for more hours of fun.
I’ve been “doing” my own room and have found my own collection of things that hold far too many memories for me to get rid of (I am holding onto those Barbies. While I haven’t touched them in several years I still can’t consider giving them away, they’ll most likely stay with me until I have children of my own…which, at the age of 22, is not any time soon. In the rubbermaid container they remain.)I’m of the belief that you get rid of things when you’re ready to let go of them. There’s no point in getting rid of something you aren’t ready to give up. It’ll nag at you.
Grandchildren was the first thing I thought of, too. Maybe most dress up trunks wouldn’t be worth it, but it sounds like you have really unusual stuff that couldn’t be found again in there. I’m big on tossing out the clutter and pretty heartless about it. But with this – at most I’d go through and toss out the stuff that could easily be collected again, is too torn up to be used, etc. Some of that sounds irreplaceable, though, and I’d keep that. (Maybe if you got it to one trunk it could live in the basement?)
Leave the tickle trunk. Do not part with it at all costs. That thing is a heirloom, it is buried treasure, it is imagination in a box. Something they want to hold on foundly to. somethign that perhaps they want to pass on to their kids when they are older. Something that as a parent you did right. This is a trophy. A moment of triumph. Leave it and gloat and be proud.
To be perfectly honest, I love the idea so much that I have my own. I used to play this Medieval recreational game called Amtgard (google it, it’s kind of cool), when I was in my late teens. I learned how to sew then and did a lot of costuming. I don’t play any longer, but think I can part with all of my costumes? No chance. When I am strapped for money I think about selling some of my costumes, but it appears that I am never strapped enough to part with those creations.
I am a girl of fairy tales and imagination. Thinking about your girls tickle trunks makes me want to go and play pirates. Anyone interested?
Speaking as one whose toys and books were given away to strangers without my knowledge, I say keep the tickle trunk. I was devastated when I found out what happened. I felt (still feel! though it happened about 35 years ago) as if my childhood had been thrown away.
I’m sure the emotional impact is different if the children participate in the decision-making. Still, you don’t want to throw away your imagination, and that’s really what the tickle trunk, or my toys and books, represent.
I treasure the few items that accidentally escaped the purge. As a result of this trauma, I have no doubt gone overboard in preserving my children’s toys and books. The moment of truth has arrived, however, since I’m selling my house and moving across the country. I’m taking all their stuff with me, and they can sort it out. 🙂
Hank! Pass on the tickle trunk to a new generation of creative play and memory building!
I have no children, but I have lots of friends who do. I have a tickle trunk of sorts (nothing the like of yours) for them for when they come over. It’s down in the rec room on the floor in the corner and they go straight to it. With you having three daughters, one, if not all, is likely to have at least one child.
Daughters always spend lots of time with Mom and their own children; all three generations together. I say, put the trunk in the attic and wait. One day, the magic of the Tickle Trunk–and Mr. Dressup kids all know that magic so well–one day, that magic will return.
Grandchildren! You have to save something for the grandchildren! My mom kept our favorites — not all of them, just enough to entertain the next generation. Wooden blocks, tiny rocking chairs, and dress-up clothes. Now every time the kids are at her house, I get the pleasure of seeing them concoct new identities using my old halloween costumes. It’s a beautiful thing!
I haven’t read any of the comments, because i wanted to say my piece first, even if redundant. I have chills (in 85 degree fahrenheit -sorry, stupid american) from reading about the tickle trunk. We are HUGE proponents of pretend play, especially dress-up, in my family. My partner and I have no kids, not even a bun-in-the-oven and yet, my mom has a full trunk of dress-up clothes for us…. i mean our kids… already. It’s absolutely indispensible, I think! We carry that out now in our absolute adoration of Hallowe’en, cuz when else (other than at tea parties and pirate lunches with smaller people) do adults get to dress up, unless they do it for a living? Your someday grandkids will greatly appreciate your tickle trunk – all the more because their moms/aunties played with the same things. It’s anything but useless!
Awwwww…at 5, 3, and 0.75 we are deep in the territory of dress-up and imagination. The thought of these crazy little ones getting too big for it makes me a little sad and reminds me to pay special attention and enjoy it while I can.
SAVE THE TRUNK! I feel like it is becoming a cause!
My son has a dress up bin (I like the name tickle trunk much better!), and he loves it. It is filled with all kinds of random things, his costumes, my costumes (saved by my mom), some hats he got from his Great-Grandma and heaven’s only knows what else (as long as there is no actual food in there I think we are good!).
I love that his box is built upon mine which was built upon my mother’s. We loose those connection so fast in our world. But he can go to his room, get out the bin and wear his Great-Grandfather’s (now gone) hat, which his mommy wore when she was little and take it where ever he wants to go . . . that is worth saving.
My sons are 31 and 25. They played with their huge set of building blocks until they were in their early teens. I still have them. Some things don’t need “doing” they just need “keeping”. Wash and clean the items in the Tickle Trunk and pack them away neatly. You’ll be glad you kept them one of these days.
Sue
One word: grandchildren.
ABSOLUTELY KEEP THEM! Just like everyone said, keep them for future grandchildren (or present nieces and nephews). You can totally be the favorite aunt: you’ve got the cool swift and ball-winder, and then pirate lunches and princess picnics on top?!? KEEP THEM with no regrets!
OK, you got me but good with this one. Sniffle. Never heard of Mr. Dressup, but my cousins and I certainly did spend most of our childhood dressing up, playing pretend, living out stories we’d read or heard or made up – and yes, staging countless grand dramatic productions in the living room. I firmly believe that growing up without that element has got to stunt the imagination.
As for your Tickle Trunk? Don’t get rid of it, and don’t give it away. Lend it. There must be cousins, nieces and nephews, good friends with tiny children who are just beginning to enter into this phase. It may be a little late for Hank, who by now probably has his own set of props and fantasies. Make yours a “starter set” for someone else’s children, with the stipulation that eventually it must come back to you and your kids for your own next generation (my mother did this as I outgrew the marvelous dresses she made for me – they clothed legions of little girls before coming home to roost). Let it circulate through your extended family. It will evolve over the years – some items will wear out and get lost or damaged, but others will take their places, so it will become a living tradition and see constant use, creating memories wherever it goes. And make sure they send you pictures.
Dammit, now I’m getting all teary again.
Your tickle trunk reminded me of how I amused my very ill brother when he was little. We would create costumes from dry cleaning bags (they were paper in those days) and props from cardboard boxes and papertowel cores, and played Robin Hood,and Davey Crockett, and Roy Rogers. He survived what could have been a terminal illness, and is now a director of Bones, Chuck, and Pushing Daisies. He has promised to credit me if and when he wins an Emmy!! So you don’t know what
you’re fostering when you feed a child’s imagination. Keep the tickle trunk. Even if you
have to rent one of those storage places. Your grandkiddies will someday love it all over again.
Marlyce in Windsor, Ontario
I have so many memories (and some really amusing pictures) of my siblings and I playing with our own dress-up trunk — ours was stored in an actual steamer trunk that my mom owned. That trunk and its contents are long gone — no doubt passed down to younger cousins or neighbors while we were “doing” rooms, but my kids now have their own chest of drawers filled with dress-up clothes. They spend hours playing pirate, fairy, princess, construction worker, police officer and bride — sometimes all at the same time! Keep the Tickle Trunk — it’s worth the space that it occupies!
Of course you can’t get rid of the trunk… far more precious than soft toys and barbies!
You must save these for the grandchildren!!
Is there room in the basement? Maybe next to(or in place of) some High Fidelity magazines…
You had me crying as soon as you said they could keep the things they love. What a sweet mom.
The rest just sent me over the edge. Keep the trunk. The Blog has spoken.
KEEP THE TRUNK!!! My kids are 25, 23, 21 & 18, and some of our best memories are rolled up in the dinosaur suit, superman and batman costumes, the princess dresses, all of it. It won’t be long before your girls are gone – our nest emptied 3 weeks ago. The physical reminders of those precious years are more of a blessing than you realize.
Thank you for sharing both your memories and your photos. They are delightful!!!
But what I really wanna know is, did you ever get Joe’s “second office” off the dining table?
Save the tickle trunk. You’ve got girls, hence there my one day be grandchildren that are really “yours” if you know what I mean. There may be more pirate lunches for Joe ahead.
Saw you in San Mateo weeeeeeeks ago at Makers. As I walked away it occured to me that if I ever get accosted for knitting – or crosswording, or sudokuing, or any of several other brain-stretching activities I sometimes partake in publically, I’ll just have to gently suggest that the accoster probably has hobbies that I would find mysterious, too. Things like learning to speak Klingon, or tying flies. Or dressing as seomthing they’re not, even!
It HAS to be kept. I’m a sucker for keeping things for sentimentality’s sake, which I’ve vowed to abandon during this pregnancy. (So far, so good.) However, that trunk will regain its usefulness if and when your girls start having babies, and you know that there is absolutely no way you’re going to find the kind of stuff to replace that in our current video-game-obsessed climate. Pretending is out, and if you can keep it alive for the next generation, even if just for your small part of that generation, then it is your responsibility to do so. SO THERE. Case closed. 🙂
Does this ever bring back memories!
For an entire year, my boy and the neighbour kids had adventures based on the Swallows and Amazons book series by Arthur Ransome and after that it was Tintin who ruled (they loved rollling cigars out of brown craft paper).
The only way I can even remotely imagine getting rid of the dress up stuff (and many of the baby/toddler clothes), is if I can commission someone to make a quilt for me that would incorporate most of these gems (and in recognizable segments). I have started to think about it (and my boy is 22), but for now, every time I think I’m ready for a sort-out it all ends up going back in the box! Including the chain mail vest I knitted when he was a knight for Halloween at age 4 – it was so heavy he buckled under the weight. I can’t really see that going anywhere in a quilt…
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
I think I would have a good bit of trouble getting rid of that much laughter and fun too.
I bet though that when you have grandbabies (hopefully years from now) they will love the Tickle Trunk just as much as your babies.
Although, if you are really set on decluttering, give them a quick but thorough cleaning and see if maybe the local children’s hospital wants them. Maybe the good times embedded into the fabric of each item can carry some good karma to kids who need it most.
They are not useless. they are currently in a state of not being used. HOWEVER, some day your girls will have daughters (and perhaps sons) and being able to give them the same clothes their mothers played in will well be worth finding the place to keep them. Memories are too precious to throw out. Heck, there is still a Neru shirt in my basement, in the “dress up clothes” that I wore in High School. My girls are 31 and 29. One asked the other day if I had gotten rid of that shirt when I cleaned the basement. Answer: No.
Steph…put all that stuff in one box and keep it! I’ve had the wonderful experience of seeing my granddaughter play the same games as my daughter did with the same silly costumes. It’s unbelievably wonderful
It’s OK to keep a few things…some things you should keep, like the tickle trunk. That’s history, not junk. It can’t be replaced.
A stack of old magazines? That’s another thing….(sorry Joe).
I agree with them. Keep the trunks. I’m a young woman, grown, at the point where my generation in my family is starting to have kids, and man, oh man, I wish I had all my dress up clothes. Of all of the things that we’ve kept, the dress up clothes were not one of them, and I wish they had been. (Although, I suppose that this means that I get to remake and refind a whole new trunk, but I’m still sentimental to mine.)
We have two big bins of “dress-up stuff” in our living room. The items within are used constantly. While the mess sometimes makes me crazy (I am forever picking up puffs of tulle off the floor), I so love seeing my girls in their crazy outfits. I will be sad when these days are gone.
If you do give up the tickle trunk to charity, just focus on all the new little kids whose imagination will be fueled by it’s contents. That might replace a least a little of the sadness with happier thoughts.
It’s NOT useless stuff – it’s just not useful right now. Hang on to it. Hank can use it (maybe even have it on semi-permanent loan). And there will be other uses. That stuff is pure gold.
don’t get rid of it. There will always be someone small in your life who will gasp with delight when you open those boxes. My daughter is 14 and there are still times when she, her girlfriends, and (!) even the BOYS that come over will suddenly start rooting through our dress-up stash, and they PLAY. There’s nothing like seeing an 8th grade boy whose voice has changed and has a 5:00 shadow come mincing out of your bathroom wearing–a red dress and straw granny hat and white gloves. You’ll find a place to put the boxes and will always be glad you did. Some things are more fun than an I-pod and cell phone.
Oh Stephanie….keep it! You never know when it will come in handy. 3 out of my 4 grown children are now medieval fantasy live action roleplayers. What used to be long princess and witch costumes which were made large enough to fit over snowsuits (Halloween in Canada – what else can you say) are now wonderful tunics for fighting warrior women.
Reminds me of my little sister, who had a tendency to wear her halloween costumes year round.
J M O’Keefe is right do not toss those wonderful things! That is what attics are for! (if you have one otherwise, under the bed works) I have 3 boxes of things in my attic, beautiful baby clothes I couldn’t part with, costumes, and toys (including the Fisher-Price castle)for “the grandchildren”, should they ever arrive. I have moved them 3 times.
Still Optimistic!
You know how fast the years fly by when you have kids? Before you know it, you’ll have grandkids. Keep the dress-up stuff, definitely. (My daughter has been solemnly saving a boxful of her favorite clothes for her children since she was maybe five. She likes to get a head start on things.)
Mr. Dressup! Casey and Finnegan!
The Tickle Trunk!
Oh, my eyes are starting to mist up.
Butternut Square…..
OR… you could put together a photo album of them throughout the years wearing all the things in the trunk, and then pass it on if you really need the space. I am reluctant to save things for the grandchildren (mine are 14 & 16 as well) because 1)the elastic gets destroyed in the heat, and 2) the grandkids will want costumes in other shapes. I’m still making the girls costumes – halloween, renaissance day at school, etc. so new costumes.
i still like to dress up even at my age
perhaps a childerns theater could use
costumes the little ones could put
on a play about finding a box full
of memories under the bed and the
adventures that would follow
My kids called ours, “The Pretend Trunk”, and it really was an old trunk. Like yours, fully of odds and ends and bits and pieces. One Halloween, when my son was 4, he decided to get his costume out of the trunk. We weren’t allowed to help him, or peek. He came out wearing: red patent leather cowboy boots (his big sister’s), a superman cape, a gorilla head, carrying his plastic pumpkin to collect candy. And NOTHING else. Not one stitch of clothing between the boots and the cape. He’s 29 now, still single, and I’m holding onto the snapshot until he finds a fiance. I plan on using it to test whether the one he picks is really “the one”; if she thinks it’s adorable and he’s not embarassed to have her see it, then she’s a keeper.
BTW, our trunk got dumped in the Atlantic on the move from Germany back to the States, so all I have all the pictures. Which isn’t nearly as nice as knowing the costumes are in a box under the bed.
We also had dress-up boxes (saved), have only one tv (with no actual tv – just for dvds), and only one bathroom, and yes, my girls share a room, too. And we live in the States! Most people think we’re aliens . . .
My girls played dress up until they were about 12 or 13. Every once and a while I would find them giggling in the attic trying on a cape that was way too small for them. Veronica, the oldest by a minute, had a really hard time putting her “stuffies” away, going so far as to face all the ones she couldn’t sleep with in a clear plastic container facing out so that they could at least “see” the outside world. That one is going to have issues in a few years.
This is only tangentially related but… you remind me how fantastically inventive my parents were at creating costumes for us. Of course, we never told them until the night before that “but tomorrow is dress-up day”, and the creations they came up with using whatever was in the house were amazing. Maybe that’s why we never had a tickle box – old costumes were constantly being recycled (or returned to their composite parts for normal use). They were pretty good at school projects too – Dad and I made an awesome sarcophagus 🙂
Dressup is still alive and well in this house, and it’s little boys dressing up too 🙂 I think you’re all completely justified in wanting to hold onto those tangible memories of happy times.
If the thought of losing something hurts more than the thought of “keeping the clutter”, then “keeping the clutter” becomes “safeguarding and preserving the heirlooms”. Follow your heart every time, if at all possible.
*ahem*. Speaking of toddlers in mouse costumes…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kayakwoman/1845083923/
(courtesy of my mother’s photo collection).
It’s funny how taboo shared space has become in this part of the world. In Senegal (and most of West Africa), three siblings would probably share a single room. Some of them would share beds. My entire host family shared a single toilet/shower the size of a small broom closet, and still managed to avoid most time conflicts after approximately 7AM. It is possible! I suppose it helped that the sink was outside and the mirrors in the bedrooms…
Because it’s not useless old stuff. Read through this post again, pretending it’s written by someone else, and you’ll see that in the tickle trunk is the stuff that dreams are made of. Literally!
William Morris said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’, and I think the tickle trunks of full of beauty: your hard work, your mum’s efforts, the girls’ games, thoughts and dreams, your patience; tangible memories. Surely those are the last things one should throw away.
I am not Canadian, so “Tickle Trunk” means nothing to me. But playing dress up is universal.
Dude, keep the stuff. It won’t be all that long until you have grandchildren who will LOVE all those fabulous costumes — they will BEG to go visit Grandma Harlot and Grandpa Joe. Trust me on this one.
Steph – either keep the clothes and store them, or give them to me for a while to use … I’ll give them back when our kids are too old, which will be right around the time your kids have babies! Perfect plan!!
don’t give up the tickle trunk! leave it exactly as it is. isn’t it better to have these memories than those of your children sitting in front of a tv pushing buttons or closed off from the world with their i-pod ear buds permanentley implanted in their heads? i mean maybe they have these things too but no one would freeze in horror at the thought of throwing out the old atari or the nintendo or the huge old portable cd player…
I vote in favour of keeping the Tickle Trunk. If I didn’t live in an apartment, I’d offer to store it for you.
Basement? Attic?
Maybe parting would be a little easier if the girls gave the tickle trunk to Hank?
It would be a crime to throw away the tickle trunk. In many years, they will be the coolest toys your grandkids have ever seen.
If you can find any kind of nook or cranny where you can stash the tickle trunk, by all means, keep it!!! It sounds like those memories are just as precious to the girls as they are to you. And it’s definitely far too soon to say that no one will play with it again: my mother had carefully stored away many of our old toys (some of them older than I am) and pulls some out whenever she has company over that includes kids. In addition, my 2 1/2 year old niece plays with them when she’s at grandma’s house. You just can’t find anything like some of those old toys anymore (not unless you’re willing to pay through the nose…), and some of the old 70’s Fisher Price toys are actually more interesting than the new versions. My niece has a blast with them, and it brings back great memories for us. Everybody wins.
Today’s post: a perfect example of why I cannot forego your blog no matter what. Not just knitting (which I love), but you capture so much of the essence of what is good and clear and true about being a mom. Thanks ….
My own daughters are 12 and 15 and we’ve been through a few ‘tickle trunk’ discoveries of our own … the dress up clothes we could bear to part with are now with our 4-year old neighbor. And it’s wonderful to see our own girls ooooh and aaaah over how cute she is and reminisce about when they were that little!
Well you sure can’t get rid of Barbies! I’m 56…I still have mine and most of their clothes. Although Barbie lost her breakfast roll and Ken lost his little baseball……but right after we sold my Mother’s house I stopped looking for them.
because you have three girls, who will someday have beautiful babies of their own and when three generations of your family opens this magical trunk you will be brought back in time.
In my storage shed are a Pilgrim costume that hasn’t fit me since I was 5, and a mouse costume that hasn’t fit my youngest daughter since she was 3. And fairy wraps, and who knows what else… Along with real ice skating outfits that are already so far out of fashion. But there they are, waiting for another generation. And in the house, a few old toys and wooden puzzles that every visiting child pulls out to play with.
I was just thinking about Mr. Dressup yesterday when I ran across a comment about him on a Ravelry forum. My daughter also had costumes from her years in dance and, even though she is married and expecting a baby in the fall, her “tickle trunk” still lives under our stairs (until she stops promising to clean out her “junk” and haul everything away).
My mom kept all the toys and the books and stuff. Now, when my sister visits with her family, my nephew climbs the stairs to the attic and finds treasures over treasures.
Just sayin’.
I remember my dress-up days so fondly that I, as a young woman approaching her child-bearing years, am already saving suitcases full of costumes for children yet-unborn!
Oh the memories! Thanks so much for reminding me of my boxes of Barbies and my Tickle Trunk (yes, Canadian kid growing up in the 80s and 90s). I’m 26 years old and still have all my Barbies and dress up stuff. My parents and I moved 12 times throughout my childhood and those things always followed us. May have gotten rid of many books (except Robert Munch and Bernstein Bears!) and all other toys, but I still have my dress up and Barbies. My parents are counting the days until I take that all off their hands, but don’t know if I’ll ever have the heart to get rid of them!
Stephanie, if you don’t have the space, mail it to me and I’ll keep it tucked away for you till your grandchildren start arriving and need it. Meantime, I’ll be shamelessly copying some of what you’ve got in there. I don’t have a vest crocheted in wire, but I do have one my grandmother lovingly made me in the scratchiest acrylic that my kids thought felt like it might have been–I’ve kept it. I love this post, and wish I’d had a better “tickle trunk” type box back when my own were little.
Can you just see a kid in that Monarch butterfly outfit being King of the Hill and then fluttering down the slope?
Many years ago I was “doing” my daughter’s room and placing things in a bag for a neighbor’s garage sale. I added a much loved red, white and blue dress we called her “flag dress”. I’m talking red and white striped skirt, blue yoke complete with 3 white stars! (Can you tell we’re in the U.S.???) A few days later I found the dress in her room again. She had gone to the garage sale and bought it back. We still have it and she’s “30-Something”. Keep your “Tickle Trunk”. You’ll be glad you did.
Is it something Hank would enjoy? I only have girls, so I don’t have a good idea of how much dressing up little boys like to do, but that might be a good compromise (and when he’s done with it you’ll surely have a little more room in the nest).
I was so excited a few years ago to find an old wardrobe trunk on Craigslist–whenever I help my kids clean their room I get to put the dress up clothes away in the trunk. I can’t wait until they go to college and I get to have it in my room 🙂
I can totally relate to the tickle box. I thought my children were all done with that sort of thing also and basically ditched everything. Much to my surprise and delight it was just a few years and I became a gramma and now I wish I had those treasures back for my grandbabies to use. Don’t throw them away!
What wonderful memories! You MUST keep the Tickle Trunk and its contents and use them for the Next Generation! The stuffed animals and Barbies, though … I give my boys a number of stuffed animals they can keep (it’s been 20 and then I’ll let them negotiate up a few). Makes them decide which ones they REALLY want and which can go to bless some other child who doesn’t have much. (Give them to Goodwill or to a battered women’s shelter where kids come in in the middle of the night with nothing to call their own.) We all love these many things, but some not so much as others.
Interesting that Target’s “brand name” for their kids’ home furnishings line is in fact “Do Your Room”! They must have done the marketing research…
Do you have an attic? Is there space in it? I don’t know what I’ll do when my boys age 8 and 11 are finished with pirate clothes, swords, capes, harry Potter cloaks, super hero clothes….They currently have their knitting in their kntting bags under their beds. Don’t know why, they knit at night. Maybe I am not supervising their knitting then.
Don’t you dare get rid of that Tickle Trunk! Find some spot in the attic or the basement or (dare I say it?!?) make the stash squish over a little, but don’t part with the Tickle Trunk. Some day there’s going to be a party and at this party a very hormonal and very pregnant woman will be over the moon (and sobbing hysterically) when her mother presents her with the Tickle Trunk to use and love and keep safe until one of her sisters need it. 🙂
And for the record, kids still dress up. Our “Tickle Trunk” is capes and pirate hats and doctor’s masks, but they still dress up. 😀
What about Hank? I say keep the costumes, show Hank where you keep them when he comes to visit, and make sure they’re around for the grandkids.
My son wore his father’s Superman cape. That cape is OLD. It’s faded, worn,and has those neckties that they don’t make anymore (with good reason). But it’s magical, and I sincerely hope that a third generation will continue to love that cape.
I recently decluttered the whole house, but some thing I didn’t touch. I think that maybe it’s alright to keep magic around.
KEEP IT!!!!!! It’s not a box of junk; it’s a box of memories. What could be cuter than the little pirate or the wee mouse? Before you know it there will be grands to engage in imaginative play (mine like to strew the loose cushions from the back of our sofa on the floor & pretend that they are safe islands in a sea of lava – even the 18 month old participates – at home mine love to drag out the Halloween costumes & play with them – esp the dinosaurs).
I sincerly hope I have the ability as a mother to raise a kid who has a “tickle trunk” instead of a WII.
Those photos are precious. (Heehee. Did they know you were putting them up for the world to see?)
Your girls stopped dressing up at 12? My oldest is about to turn 22, and there is no end in sight, once we discovered Renaissance faires and LARPing. My girls and I just kept making bigger and better dress-up outfits, and we make them for the boys too (we have 4 girls and 3 boys) and the dress-up days have never ended around here. But even if they did, I can’t imagine parting with any of it. I do plan on having grandchildren some day, after all!
Our ‘Tickle Trunk’ is currently spread all throughout the house–it used to just be Chicken’s, but she kept her stuff, and kept it and then she had a little sister and brother. Now its theirs and instead of making them play nicely with it, like I used to do with Chicken, I let them wear their costumes everywhere. This morning, Ladybug wore her pretty princess skirt over her shorts to gymnastics today–because she felt like a pretty princess, that’s why. Because Chicken grew out of them too quickly, and now I know I’ll miss them when I don’t see them anymore. And when they’ve grown, and all those costumes are back in the box, the Pirate costume and the Spiderman costume and the countless Rennaissance dresses and the big Pooh bear costume, it’s going to sit in my house as a coffee table or a yarn-supporter…and those costumes are going to sit inside it until the end of time.
Oh my goodness, my tickle trunk (the actual steamer trunk that I played with in front of the tv with Mr. Dressup, and even with the Gentle Giant) is sitting in the middle of my living room. It even has the original clothes and such in it. But I don’t often think of Mr. Dressup, thank you for reminding me!
Old dress up stuff = fond memories of the past. Take a picture and drop it off at the Goodwill.
Empty Ikea boxes = room for yarn stash = future possibilities.
You can do it, Harlot!
As a Californian (nice to see you at Maker Faire!) and one who grew up in the 50s, Mr. Dressup isn’t part of my experience, but dress-up has always been my favorite game. So much so, that as a grown-up I spent 30 years making a living playing dress-up as a middle eastern dancer.
When my son was 3 and I was a cash-strapped welfare mom, I went to the local used-goods stores and picked out hats and costumes and accessories and everything that appeared to have a bit of imagination potential that I could fine, used poster paint on a cardboard box to make it look like a trunk, and gave it to him for his birthday. He and his friends would spread the contents over whatever play space they had, and would become magicians, sea captains, firemen, cowboys, superheros; their imaginations were endlessly entertaining and it completely captivated them until about the age they started with skateboards and MTV, then in its infacy.
So I’m voting for the practical compromise on this one – sort through it all, keep everything that will not fall apart or rot away in the next 10 years, make it all clean and seal it up with some silica gel (keeps it from mildew) for when your girls come back with your beautiful grandbabies someday. And you better have a photo album with all those great photos, too!
Both the costumes and the pix are part of your family’s heritage, part of what made each of your incredible girls the person she is and will become. Who could part with that?
Somethings really are worth keeping. I know some say that a photo of your child wearing a special outfit is better than keeping said outfit hidden in a box in a damp basement, but sometimes, you just need something tangible. Maybe you could thin it down a bit. I find, after the initial flood of memories, if I set something aside for a bit and don’t think about it, I can weed through it later much easierly.
Anybody want some nearly 20 year old Queen’s (Kingston) sweatshirts? 🙂
Not being Canadian, I don’t have a tickle trunk (although the shelf in my closet comes pretty close), but I immediately thought of the “In the Garrett” poem from “Little Women”:
No toys in this first chest remain,
For all are carried away,
In their old age, to join again
In another small Meg’s play.
Someday, they’ll find somebody to be useful for again, and in the meantime they’re a treasure box of memories.
I just got out of a workshop today called “What do you do with the mad that you feel…”
One of the biggest ways kids learn to cope with feelings is to participate in pretend play. It is where they learn how to deal with each other, to communicate,and to learn to control themselves.
So either you can keep these wonderful boxes for the future(grandkids) or you could donate them to a preschool.
Viki
If it helps at all, my granddaughters are using things their mom and I myself before her, having received some of the stuff from my grandmother, used to play dress-up (as we say here). We used the cedar chest (my old dower chest) for storage and, just think, this is exactly what those vacuum storage bags are great for. Suck them flat with the vacuum cleaner, take up extremely little space and don’t traumatize anyone with having to sort them into the trash or giveaway bin.
Keep the Tickle Trunk, I regret letting my parents convince me to toss my dress up clothes. There were some classic pieces in there. I work in daycare and I can tell you that dress up is the most fav part of any playtime.
I had one of those foil wigs when I was younger, it was one of my favorite things, come to think of it i don’t remember getting rid of it. I believe costumes are very important for the younglings (and elders too) perhaps they can remain in the Land of Underbed Storage.
Those tickle trunks are serving a VITAL purpose. They are keeping your kids from stuffing all their crap under the bed when they don’t feel like cleaning their room.
Or was it just mine that did that?
Keep the tickle trunk!
My family moved a lot when I was growing up, so we didn’t get to keep much outgrown stuff, but my sisers and I loved the few things we had that had belonged to our mother when she was a girl. Still makes me smile to remember them, and that was a long time ago.
Keep them! Your grandchildren will use them.
We raided my Nana’s basement and spare room clothing for years on end putting plays and musicals (mostly tragedies – what’s up with that? of course they turned out comically so there was a balance)
There is no chance that any of your children’s adventures did not enhance their inner lives, character development and intellect – there is a movement towards meaningful play and what it really looks like is not aided by computers, phonetics or tutors – it is exploration!
Your tickle trunks helped give your children exactly what they needed to grow. And ‘old’ things are best when explored by another generation.
Send the tickle trunk over to Hank’s house!
i have a boy and i made sure he had things to play dress up like hats and silk scarves and such. that tickle trunk is more like a treasure chest!
plus you never know when you might need a glitter wig for a disguise!
wish i could see you in philly! i was there a month ago and cursed that i was a month too early to see you and jennifer weiner.
In Yorkshire they call it “bottoming” a room. And I’ll be up there at the war crimes trial with you. We raised three kids with one bathroom, no shower, the boys sharing a bedroom, no dishwaher,no microwave and one TV until my Dad passed away and I got his which lasted a year and then we were back to one TV. Their friends would often express dismay at our primitive living conditions but I notice it didn’t stop them from always hanging out at our house.
I just love it!! My boys have a cabinet full of things like this -well, being boys, there are no butterfly wings and such but it’s the same idea. My oldest boy at 16 has outgrown such things but my 13 year old has become an expert at making whatever he needs to add to his “costume” with some duct tape and cardboard. (he wants to be a professional reenactor when he grows up – not sure how the pay is in that!)
Keep the trunk! You will have grandchildren, and comparing them in the costumes with your children in photographs will make you very happy. But don’t listen to me; I have a large garage full of stuff for grandkids. And a loft. And there’s stuff in the children’s bedrooms too. (Children?! They are in their 30s and breeding. They left home, emigrated to the States even, and never did the ‘decluttering’. Around here we have to walk sideways, edging around ‘stuff’.
I admit, the Tickle Trunk (SUCH a great name) is something I’d have a really hard time letting go of….
We have the pink pig for our tickle trunk — I got it 10 years ago for free with my ClubZ points. It’s supposed to be a toybox. And it is filled with old clothes that don’t fit me anymore, old Hallowe’en costumes, fairy wings, wizard capes, and so on. Every time I de-junk our livingroom (we have no basement, no attic and no family room, as we live in a winterized cottage) I look at the pink pig and think it might be time for it to go into the shed out back. But I can’t do it! My youngest is 9 and still gets into it with her friends occasionally. Even my 13 year old delved into it’s piggy depths with her friends at her sleep-over / birthday party. The pink pig will be with us for years yet, smack in the middle of the livingroom! DON’T GET RID OF THE TICKLE TRUNK!!!
I’d be happy to let the tickle box live at my house until you have grandbabies that’ll play with it. No? Oh well. Have a safe and fun trip to Philly. 🙂
Just the mention of Mr. Dressup gives me all kinds of nostalgia, so I can only imagine. Back into Memory Lane goes the trunk! Good decision 🙂
I can totally relate to not getting rid of costumes. I’m originally from New Orleans and we’re really big on costumes. Mardi Gras, ya know? Plus we do Halloween quite well. Get rid of costumes? Never! They’re a great source of pride (you DO make them, not BUY them, right??), bring back wonderful memories, and you never know when someone big or small will need a costume on short notice, so they will get used again at some point. Don’t dare let those memories go!
We had a dress up box, too. It was a source of endless hours of imaginative fun and games when my girls were growing up. I didn’t want to part with it and intended to save if forever but fate stepped in in the form of a flooded basement and ruined the trunk. The trunk got put aside and by the time I remembered it, the clothes,wigs,jewelry,shoes,etc inside were ruined. I mourned the loss of those memories. You’ll find a place for the dress up stuff. We always find a place for the things that matter.
Dress up is a popular activity here, too. My youngest (2), can manage to convince even my oh, so mature 10 year old to don a crown, or a set of wings, or whatever, for serious play.
If you don’t want to save the tickle truck for future use, I’m sure there are a ton of younglings around you that would love it. It might even be fun for the girls to choose who gets what. Or you can just keep it, just because. To me, that’s the point of “doing” rooms, getting rid of stuff you no longer need or love, not getting rid of anything impractical. Where’s the fun in that?
What a sweet entry. I haven’t heard of Mr Dressup, so I looked him by your link. If he were still with us, he would love to read this post. We grew up with The Magic Toyshop, with Eddie Flumdum, Mr. Trollie and (I think) Marilee. We loved it! We also loved Romper Room, and always hoped we would be seen through her magic mirror! Once in a while I watch those clean house shows on TV and they always try to make the homeowners get rid of the things that are most important to them. I say, No! Keep it! It is worth tripping over a box of memories, especially one that can be used again…imagine watching the grandkids play with those clothes! I say keep the boxes. Sometimes hearts and memories are more important than space.
As a 1st grade teacher and former preschool teacher, I THANK you form the bottom of my heart for having those fabulous props for creative play and for having 1 television. Such play does make a difference in children and how they problem-solve and interact with others. I wish more parents did the same.
In our equivalent of a Tickle Trunk is a sea-green unitard to which, once a long time and dozens of pounds ago, I applied glue, glitter and sequins in the shape of scales, whereupon I went happily off to a costume party in the guise of a mermaid.
Touch it and you die.
Oh no! Don’t get rid of the Tickle Trunk! You might lend it to my grandkidlets until you need it back, though. They live down near High Park in T.O. and have great imaginations! Seriously, it will make wonderful grandkidlet play time. Do keep it. :O) My grandmother had a trunk (a REAL trunk!) with the costumes from the operettas she had performed. Amazing fodder for fun!
At age 16, I was running around with a towel tied around my neck, my friend and I pretending we had capes and I don’t remember what else. (I’m only going to be 22 next month.)
You’ve just totally inspired me that whenever I should get around to having a kid, there will be the ongoing quest to fill a Tickle Trunk by the time they’re three or so.
I still have my Barbies. And I’m 40.
I grew up watching Windsor CBC her in Michigan. I LOVED Mr. Dressup & um…..as a person who has worked at the MI Renfest for years & dressed a close to uncountable number of folks attending Science Fiction conventions….I have a Tickle Trunk.
I just had to chime in. Keep the tickle trunk. You’ll regret it if you get rid of it. When your grandchildren arrive that stuff will get a second life. I still have all the Legos my 2 kids played with, just waiting.
I absolutely and completely understand why no one is willing to get rid of anything in it. These items are the repository of their imaginations and huge hunks of their childhood. I have two boys, now almost 20 and 17, and there are still several boxes in the attic and two drawers of this sort of stuff. (Well, being boys they do still haul out the capes and swords and bear paws and such – to use with their teenage boy friends!)
In addition, I can remember how bereft I felt when I learned that my mother had donated our old dress up trunk (which actually was a trunk) when they moved out of the old house. I had assumed that she would understand that I wanted those bits for my someday-children, since much of what was in there I had inherited from her and her siblings (including the old Boy Scout hat from the 1920’s, that was like a mountie hat, and the gypsy skirt from the same era…) At least the stuff went to the community theater group, but I do wish she had let me at least pick some of my favorite bits. (Mind, this was twenty-plus years and I still feel sad about it.)
So, that decision is not to be made lightly nor quickly – there is an enormous amount of family spirit in it. You will always have the memories, and you do have some photos, but it is not the same as when you can hold up one of these items and just … feel it all again.
GRAND-FREAKING-CHILDREN!!!!
I have two of them. You MUST KEEP the damn Tickle Trunk!!! If you think you don’t have room, send it here and I shall save it in my assinine over-sized two car garage (that you could house a freaking family in) until your first grandchild appears on your doorstep, wet behind the naturally-birthed-breast-fed-grandma-was-my-doula ears.
I have a granddaughter and a grandson. (Yeah, I so look old enough, right??) I know whereof I speak. The Hershey’s Kiss, Fairy Princess (god save me), Captain Picard, Native American, clown, vampire-leopard (don’t ask), Peace Cow (ok, don’t ask there either) – every last stitch is carefully stored in my hope chest. Hope.
Hope that one day there’s a new generation to dandle on my old-lady knee and sigh and coo over and make myself a fool about, while knitting stuff it’s young and stupid parents will throw in the bloody dryer while it prances around my house in the 28 year old fairy outfit that it’s mom wore, making me cry and remember.
Find a way to save it. Watching my nieces play with toys that I loved as a child has been a wonderful experience. Trust me, someday you’ll be happy you kept the Tickle Trunk!
We had dress up clothes when we were little and because my parents moved house a lot (all over the world) we had to travel light and I never knew what happened to the costumes.
Now that I am a parent, baby and kids clothes from my (huge) extended family are passed on regularly and we, in turn, pass our outgrown things onto my cousins and close-friends children. Amongst the bags of jeans and jumpers (some of which I knit for nephews and second cousins ten years ago!) were many of the costumes that we had as children. My mother would pack up a parcel regularly and airmail it off to my aunt who, in turn, passed them on.
It is an utter joy to see these things again (the baby caterpillar bunting was especially adorable) and my daughter (4) is wearing, right now, a princess petticoat of many-layered tulle with faded stars and satin ribbons. We worked out that it has delighted at least seven little girls and (probably) four boys and it will be passed along to two more girls and a baby boy by the end of the year.
We know we shall see most of the things again, unless they are loved to death first. And isn’t that the best way to go?
You know, you can certainly have the best of both worlds through the use of those space saver bags! All of my out-of-season clothes go into several of these reasonably priced bags and all the air space gets sucked out with the vacuum. They’re compressed and protected and you can fit the flat bags practically anywhere! They can be Tickle Space Bags 🙂
Don’t give up the Tickle Trunk. My 5 and 3 year old granddaughters are playing with a cape that was made for me when I was 4. I will be 55 in the fall. (It was knit in wool.) My mother’s hats with the feathers are theirs and they play lady at tea, and party at church. Their mother’s nightgowns are festive gowns. Don’t throw out a thing. Wash them and patch them, sew up the rips. There is still a lot of magic left.
In order to keep all the “doing rooms” moving forward…don’t touch the dress-up clothes right now. Applaud your efforts to date (i.e. have a beer), carry on with other rooms, and feel good about what you’ve done.
Then…2 months from now…pull out the boxes so that you can sort out anything they don’t like and then have the “picking process”…whereby each girl gets to pick out their favorites and box them up in a special box with their name on it that will reside in the cellar until they move out. This gets it out of their bedroom and resolves any future probate issues should you die without a will specifically listing “dress up assets”. Yes, you will have 3 small boxes in the cellar, but really…you can’t throw away their childhood!
I say keep the trunk, add the potential DVDs of the show and store it all away for the future. Maybe you can find some somewhat inconvenient location to store it in to free up more accessible space.
That was lovely. Thanks for brightening a crappy day.
ahhh, thank you for this. my most precious first (and only) grandchild turns one in a week or so, and i have been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to give her something significant.
a tickle trunk… of course.
I’m “doing” my room right now as well, and my mom won’t let me give up my Barbies. Except for the one the cat chewed on until it looked possessed. I’d much rather clean my room than have to read Frankenstein again.
I don’t think I ever played dress up as a kid, except for on Halloween. Now that I’m old enough to make my own costumes, I dress up for every available opportunity. Coincidence? Maybe.
Save it for the grandchildren! My parents saved some of my toys and books and my kids loved to play with them when they went to visit. It makes visitng the grandparents extra special!
No one will remove an item from that trunk, not one thing, ever. Don’t even try.
You know,our tote is in the attic, crowded, cramped, but, it’s there, and someday they will open it and show their kids, and you’ll love that flood of memories. Cram it somewhere…..
Is there a way to make blankets/throws or some other item you and the girls might like from the dress up materials? That’s what I’m thinking of doing (rather, having done as I don’t sew) with some things I have that my grandmother made (all but the hand-knitted coat.. no cutting on it!) I was thinking that this would be a way to keep those things close but in a more useful, beautiful manner rather than tucked away in the attic. Might not work for you..but just a thought. Hope Joe is doing well!
Wonderful, delightful. I don’t think I could toss those either. I remember dressup make-believe, it was real. I hope Joe’s recovery is progressing steadily and he is comfortable
The very best souvenirs you’ll ever get are memories, and it sounds like your kids have plenty!
What a wonderful post!
Tora in Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Keep the trunks. Those are the tangible bits of precious memories.
Sooo looking forward to Philly tomorrow. It’s pouring rain right now in central PA (10:30 pm Saturday), but I hope tomorrow will be close enough to okay.
The train arrives shortly after 9 a.m.; I can use my Amtrak stub on SEPTA, then take the free trolley from the station to the library. Must claim seat as early as possible! Then a quick browse around outside in the stalls. The “Whole Food Giving Grill” looks quite healthy and “good cause-y” for lunch! Train then car back home, tucked into bed with at least one cat by 10 p.m. Sounds like a plan.
Those items are so cute, I think they merit being saved for the grandchildren.
I live in Michigan where we import Canadian television programming. I grew up watching Mr Dressup among others. I miss him dreadfully.
Now, regarding the Tickle Trunk. There are just some things that must not fall prey to “Doing.” There are just some things in the world that must be hoarded, protected and loved. They have no practical value, but they symolize things that are priceless. These are the things for which you MUST find space in the attic. These things are even worth giving up stash space. So keep the Tickle Trunk, and the soft toys and the Barbies. These are the tokens of their childhood and one day, your grandchildren will eagerly run to Granny’s Tickle Trunk to have a Butterfly Tea Party when they come to visit.
No. Tickle Trunks *stay*. I grew up with an attic. I *know*. My kids didn’t dress up much…but then, again, we had no attic, and no TT of any real kind. But Hallowe’en costumes were fashioned… and theatrical costumes (my DS is now a BFA(Dramatic Arts))…So. TTs are part of life, like Sharon, Lois and Bram’s Elephant, like Ernie and Bert and Big Bird and Grover and Oscar and Mr. Roger’s sweaters. Leave ’em under the beds for your grandchildren!
Oh keep the costumes. Someday your girls will thank you that you kept them and their children get to play with them. I can’t imagine the day when my babes outgrow all their dress ups and those great tendencies.
I’m probably repeating many posts because I haven’t read them all, but don’t throw away the tickle trunk! Keep it even if you have to rent a storage space. My oldest granddaughter dresses up in old prom dresses, nightgowns, a dress my husband sent me from Hong Kong that I never could get one leg in (she could wear it at age 8 to show how off he was in size), and anything else we could find. She would have loved a tickle trunk!
Lovely post!
See you tomorrow, Steph! I live about an hour from Philly but my soon to be a college grad daughter lives there so I am coming to visit her and we are coming to hear you speak! I have a bin full of Halloween costumes I made and other treasures. Not to mention boxes of favorite toys, baby clothes, school work, etc. There are some things that you just have to keep. My grandparents got rid of stuff that they thought no one would want including an awesome doll house. Other items I used to play with at their house got ruined in a flood. I really wish I had those things.
tickle trunk stays. seriously, you just cleared space for them. those clothes and things are full of fun for everyone no matter how much you might “hate” mum at the moment. more memories and physical things will join it over the years (the ribbon from the flowers at my wedding, the veil, etc). could i choose one thing? no, not likely, please don’t ask me to.. but do i love ’em all? YES. [ok it helps i’m an only child. ;)] hmm.. i wonder if anything still fits, my foot hasn’t grown since I was 9…
Oh you have brought so many good memories of my childhood, my kids earlier years, and the discussion my hubby and I had about where we were going to store the costumes box. There was never even a thought of getting rid of them. Thanks!
My kidlet would happily accept most everything from the ‘tickle trunk’ despite the fact that we have never seen Mr. Dressup.
This just inspires me to fill her dress-up hamper fuller! Hooray for the imaginations of kids!
If the girls are willing to store the Tickle Trunk under the bed(s), then it should stay. If they were desperate for the space, it might be different.
When I really am ready to give something up, it isn’t a sudden decision and it isn’t forced by cultural pressure – then I don’t regret it. But whenever I succumb to frustration or to cultural pressure – when I “should on myself” and begin flailing, throwing away random stuff just for the sake of getting rid of something – I always regret it.
Oh, you can’t get rid of that. It must be passed down when the girls have need of tickle trunks in their own households. 🙂 We have the “dress up bin” here. Not quite as cute a name. But the use is the same. And it gets drug about each and every day here!
I loved Mr. Dressup. We lived in Conneaut, OH and were lucky enough to have Channel 11 (I think it was 11? Vic was the newsman) come across the lake (Lake Erie) clearly. My mom got to know what was going on with “The Young and the Restless” early (Canadians were a day ahead on that show for some reason) and I got to watch Mr. Dressup, and learn to sing the Smarties song. Casey…Finnegan…I loved them. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. 🙂
The dress-up stuff is non-negotiable. My friend’s daughter is 13, and for her the biggest tragedy about getting older has been growing out of her dress-up stuff. She has all the electronics she could possibly want, her own bathroom, a room full of books and art supplies… and yet, last year, we went down to the thrift store on “fill a bag” day and came back with all the sparkly metallic shirts, asymmetrical skirts, and silk scarves one kid could want. Stripes? it went in the bag. The end result has consistently been some sort of Russian refugee anime pirate gypsy. She’s happy again.
You can’t get rid of the tickle trunk.
Nieces & nephews, grandkids, visitors… keep it. We are still building ours.
My boys did dress-up. My youngest spent most of his childhood flying around in a cape. They were knights (were knighted at the Renaisance faire), Robin Hood, astronauts, pilots, Indiana Jones, Jonny Quest, mad scientists, and wizards. Whenever Dad was doing odd jobs around the house the boys would put on their tool belts and be handymen. Kids learn so much and have so much fun playing dress up.
We have a dress up trunk at our house too, also filled with costumes my kids don’t use anymore. We keep putting more adult size things in it too. why? Because we pull it out anytime we do a service project with children. From babysitting to having my young nieces visit to visiting children’s hospitals with our youth group to running a busy booth for wee ones at the local craft faire. Keep it, keep adding memories and things to it, and pass along the good times!
Don’t throw the tickle trunk away. Save it for your future grandkids. If they turn their collective nose up at it, that’s when you get rid of the box.
You made me laugh out loud, telling your family you were going to be “doing” their room!!! Ha Ha Ha. It’s good for kids to share a room, it makes it easier to be a good roommate, and a good marriage mate!
I grew up in northern Maine, and channel 6 was a Canadian channel. I didn’t know this growing up. When I moved to NH when I was 15, I was astounded that none of my new friends knew Mr. Dressup. He was as important to my childhood as Mr. Rogers, and Big Bird. Maybe moreso.
You know, Steph, I’m sure that there is a family that you know with kids just the right age to fall in love with everything in your Tickle Trunk. It’s easier to pass things on than to just get rid of them 🙂 You made me tear up a little today.
What other people said–would Hank go for some of it? Oh, and I didn’t get rid of my stuffed animals until I was in college. Then I gave away the good-looking ones to a women’s shelter to be used for birthday, etc. presents for kids. I still have my Pooh-Bear though… (I’m 38.)
My 2 20-something daughters don’t even live at home anymore and still we can’t get rid of the dress-up boxes (2 gigantic rubbermaid tubs- we have some IKEA underbed boxes- these are bigger!) stuffed under the spare bed off the basement family room. They still rummage thru it when they are home to find things for various costume parties or for Halloween (or call and send the 16 or 7 yr old down to rummage so we can mail something). They add to it when they are home, things (scarves, a tiara, shiny/glittery high heels) appear and disappear with no rhyme or reason, even my sister adds to it (anyone need to borrow a beautiful royal blue burka, an embroidered fur child size vest, green velvet slippers with curled up toes?!). Face it. The tickle trunk is a battle best left for another day!
It is *not* useless stuff. It is the stuff of memories. When the house is finally empty, you will one day find yourself up there playing in the trunk and remembering each of those fantastical creatures your children’s unique imaginations created. That trunk represents the wonderful moments and minds of your children and falls into a category of sentimentality that it is ok to hold on to forever. It’s not something to lump in with the holey old tshirt given out at a hockey game, it’s like the handknit baby blanket your grateful recipient’s child sleeps with every night.
You’re keeping childhood in there. You’re keeping magic and wonder. I’m all about decluttering, but I’d save those boxes. Their daughters and sons will want to dress up. Magic still lives in those boxes. Save them! I have a three year old, and we have dress up clothes. . . . they’re worth their weight in gold, or cashmere!
You can’t get rid of those costumes and such! It’d be a crime! If you have grandchildren, (a good probability, considering you have 3 girls) they’ll use it someday. That’s a lot of memories to just toss. Besides, it takes a lot of time to put a good costume box together. I’m 24, moved out of my childhood home, and neither my mom or I want to remove those things.
Aw, I don’t have kids, but keep it! Even without grandkids, you can be the awesome neighborhood lady with the go-to box for great costumes.
Ohhhh, Mr. Dressup! The minute you said that I started hearing the theme music to his show in my head! I loved watching him when I was a kid. The Friendly Giant too. They were great. For the record though, you don’t have to be Canadian in order to have grown up watching Mr. Dressup. If you grew up in northern NY,(about a 30 mile drive from Canada) before cable, you got to watch Mr. Dressup and the Friendly Giant. We only received 3 American channels, and 2 Canadian ones so I grew up with Mr. Dressup too. I spent a lot of time with Canadians and in Canada so I also know about Butter Tarts, squeaky cheese curd, fish and chips, Canadian beer, hockey, curling etc. In fact, you made me homesick the last time I heard you speak because your accent isn’t all that different than what I grew up with. (My friends finally understand why I say Dude all the time LOL!) I think the problem is that your Tickle Trunk holds way too many memories for your girls to give away. Maybe it should be one of those things that they keep to share with their children some day. My grandmother kept some of my mom’s toys and I was captivated by them. I still have her teddy bear, who became my teddy bear. Seeing and playing with some of her toys gave me an insight to a side of her I would never get to see as her daughter, and I think that’s a wonder thing. Kids always like to dress up in funky costumes and I’m sure that someday your grandkids would love your Tickle trunk too. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. Now if only I could get a good recipe for butter tarts!
The Tickle Trunk is one of the great things that I remember about growing up. I come from a military family that moved every year or two, so much of the stuff from my childhood is long gone (my parents gave it away rather than pack it). I remember tons of fancy clothes (cast offs from mess dinners) that my grandmother cut down to fit me (and my brother). We had Black Watch plaid outfits from my father’s old kilts, ball gowns made of shiny lining material, shoes with sparkles, and pieces of uniforms – my grandfather was an RCMP officer. We also had clothing collected on our travels – lederhosen from Germany, hats from England, and batik cloth from Ghana. And lots and lots of fancy hats – pirate, soldier, police, fur, with veils and beads…
When we all grew up, there were still a few pieces of the Tickle Trunk around. My daughter was the first grandchild, and she played with what was left – and generated more. Five grandchildren and many cousins came along to enjoy the stuff in the trunk and augment the contents. Some things wore out, went home with others, or were redistributed through Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
I turn 50 next month, my daughter is 27, and my mom still has a tough time not buying costumes for the Tickle Trunk when she’s out at a garage sale. 🙂
BTW, we didn’t have a TV until I was 12 – and most of our houses only had one bathroom. Dad had priority from 7-8 am (he had to go to work) so if you wanted the bathroom before then, you had to be up early.
These are some of the things I feel like I missed growing up in a highly transient household. Things were regularly put into storage or given away as we went cross-country (again and again). If you think being forced to share a room is against the Geneva conventions, imagine a car ride with two small children with only one two apiece sharing the backseat for five days with only food and stretching breaks.
I think keep them, cant they be put away in the attic? I know I couldnt throw out stuff like that, its not the items themselves but the memories, they will be so special for you and the girls, and as some people have said…maybe grandkids will rummage in there in years to come and thats such a special feeling!
I think some kids dont get this experience now, my kids are only little but I do make sure they get a mix of all things…yes they have computers but they also have a HUGE bookcase and also dress up stuff and lego and all the things that help nurture fun and imagination. Believe me I know kids who dont and I see the difference and find it very sad indeed.
The tickle trunk strikes me as a sort of legacy, which, in my opinion, is worth hanging onto for grandkids. We have something similar, my sons don’t do much with the stuff inside but, like you, no one is willing, or even considering, going through it to get rid of things – it’s almost sacred…
I was reading the post, and got to the Ipods part. I read Wii as WII, two totally different things. I’m like how do kids play World War 2? That sounds like a bad imagination game. lol I am not trying to correct but the I’s are lowercase. 🙂
I remember sitting in a box as a child with my parents keys punched through a whole pretending I was driving around. Good times.
Good luck with the rooms, I have been “doing” mine since we moved in.
I can understand why you want to keep them. Do you not have a loft that you could store them in, perhaps in vacuum sealed bags to compress them, which would enable you to keep them for any possible grandchildren? Or you could just put them in vacuum sealed bags anyway and stow them back under the bed where they would take up a great deal less space.
That is the stuff the vacuum bags are great for. They should free up several boxes and some under bed space. Save them, even if you have to put some of your yarn collection in vacuum bags to make room.
Tickle Trunk: Love the “Mr. Dressup” reference. My daughter loved that show. Went to see him in person once. May the dear man rest in peace.
Happy Victoria Day weekend!
*sniff* just yesterday I was sorting through my cedar chest where I have my costumes from ballet recitals, the butterfly and ladybug costumes I made for DD (now 16)and assorted other special occasion handmade things. The outfit I made for her 2nd birthday, an Easter dress, etc. Somewhere in the basement is a “tickle box” too. Some things are meant to be saved. What a wonderful post.
Oh yes – grandchildren!! This is a treasure to be handed down through the generations. Please, please, don’t get rid of it. Or if you do, ship it to me for my grandchildren. We’ve started working on their dress-up box.
I’m all misty. My daughter’s memory box is under my bed, I’m not letting go of a thing.
Some kids still play dress up! We are going through a pirate phase here in my house. We have two pirate hats (a captain and a matey hat)–and if he can get his hands on a coat hanger, my son uses it to make pretend he is Captain Hook. We also have an assortment of super hero costumes, and some cowboy stuff. It is so much fun to watch him play–and he is an only child and makes pretend others are playing with him, when there are no friends around.
I don’t think I could part with it either. My mom still has our dress up box, tucked away in her attic, along with all our blocks and brio trains. I am really looking forward to raiding it, along with thrifting and sewing to make a dress up box for my 2 year old!
Keep them. There are so many other things that can be turned loose — but the things that define your family’s experience as a family have to be kept.
Besides, how are amateur and professional historians and anthropologists supposed to figure out what people did in the 20th century if things such as the Tickle Box are sent to the landfill?
I am familiar with the concept of playing dress up but have never heard of a tickle trunk. It sounds delightful. I’ll have to store that one away for when we have children.
Thanks for sharing your memories and photos, Stephanie. I have 6-month-old twin girls, and I’m starting to think about the toys and opportunities they need to explore their own creativity and imaginations as they get older. We played ‘pretend’ a lot growing up, but not so much dressup, and that’s something I’d like to give my girls.
I grew up in Detroit and watched Mr. Dressup. I thought it was better before Casey and Finnegan left the show. I also loved The Friendly Giant. Keep the Tickle Trunk.
Hi Stephanie,
I just think that your posting was very cute, and I am sure it evoked lots of memories for you as you all went thru it! I loved Mr. Dressup — one of the best shows EVER for kids. Living just down the QEW from you in the ‘burbs, I had an idea…if you are looking for a very rewarding use of these things, nursery schools, or your local kindergarten classes are ALWAYS appreciative of dressup clothes. I am not a teacher or anything, but a mum to a 6 year old, and to see their creativity and imagination soar when they get dressed up, is very contagious! Hope everything goes well for you in Philly!!
Happy knitting! Kirsty
In a word…Grandkids….
sniff…
I understand about the non-negotiable items in the kids’ rooms. My 17-year-old SON refuses to allow me to relocate the collection of beanie babies that takes up several shelves in his bedroom. I don’t want to get rid of them, just put them in a secure plastic box in the basement. He won’t hear of it!
Some things are not menat to be thrown out. Ever. Let your girls pass on the joy to their children when the time comes. You can always find room for the things that matter most. 🙂
Don’t give up the trunk! No way…
I believe you said the goal was to make room for the things you love. Clearly you love the tickle trunk, it can be used in the future (grandchildren), and is not easy to replace. All good reasons to keep it!
You’re killing me!
When we were small, we didn’t have a lot of money and my mum bought most of our clothes at the St. Vincent de Paul on Wellington (in Ottawa). In those days they had a 25 cent box of discounted stuff. If we were good we were allowed to get a treasure out of that box. I remember all of them – a 50s prom dress in pink, with pink pearls all over the front, a lace nightie, a gypsy outfit, some tunics that we used for playing Rocket Robin Hood, an old knob my brother swore was off the magic bed in Bedknobs and Broomsticks…
I bought my nieces and nephew their own treasures the same way – and I think there are still lots of kids playing dressup out there.
I hope you hold on to those boxes!
I say give the boxes to Hank. The girls can enjoy reliving memories at your sister’s house. Problem solved.
I still remember our costume box when I was a kid. My brother and sister and I would dress up in hats, my mom’s old dresses and high heels (well, not my brother…) and parade around. It was great fun! My two kids had several dress-up boxes also. Great big squares of fabrics to make forts with and lots of hats, shoes, costumes, etc… I bought a lot of tickets to some wonderful puppet shows and plays. I also bought a lot of food from the “grocery store”. Now my kids are 20 and 17. In a few more days, high school days will be over…. How did that happen so fast? I think you should find a place to keep some of the best outfits, and stash them somewhere for your grandkids (some day far in the future… which will come way too quickly!)
Another comment…. I made most of my kids costumes for school plays and halloween. (Wait… most? All of them!) About two weeks ago, my son was invited to Junior Prom and it was a masquerade ball. We pulled out an black cape that was lined with liquid gold fabric. It was originally a Dracula costume, but with a little cutting and sewing, he became Zorro! It was great!!
So keep them… you never know….
We have a dress-up box. My kids are 20 and 22. It hasn’t once been tossed aside because the batteries ran out. The dress-up box stays. That’s final.
My girls (now 24 & 20) had a dress-up trunk, and their favorite play for many years was putting on theatricals, circuses, etc. I’m saving the trunk, at least unless and until we move. And if grandkids don’t come along, the dress-ups will be merged with the 2-generations-old dress-up trunk at the summer cottage, which has been a favorite rainy-day occupation and has costumed many a cousinly cast of characters.
Forgot to mention: I also have a “clothing archives” corner in the attic, where we’ve kept outgrown “real” clothes that have special meaning to someone — either wearer or mom.
But then, I was never good at throwing anything out, in the first place …. 🙂
Both of my kids (6 and 3) love to dress up. My daughter (6) loves to be a princess, bride, fairy, witch, etc. My son (3) is often a pirate, a knight, a dragon, a ninja, batman, spiderman and sometimes, a princess!!!
There’s no harm in shoving those bins back under the bed. Your grandchildren will adore them one day!!
My children love(d) to play dress-up. The 8 year old boy and 6 year old girl still do it, but the 11 and 13 year old girls, not so much.
I have 2 ideas. One: If you really can’t part with it, pack it up nicely and find a place to store it until such time as you find other small children at your house. Two: If you can find a family with young children who would see this collection as the treasure it is, give it to them. Give it with joy in your heart knowing that now they will get to have adventures and lots of fun, and will help the dress up clothes fulfill their purpose much better than they do sitting in a box unused.
OK, so I’m #226; I’m going back and read all the comments, and I’m SURE others have already said this, but NO NO MR WIZARD!! Buy one larger box from IKEA or wossname and put everything in there. Yes, Hank might like it; yes, grandchildren will love it (I fully appreciate that grandchildren are not on your radar, when two of your girls are 14 and 16, but “tempus fugit”) And may I add, dear Yarn Harlot: WOULD that there were millions of other mothers who nurtured, encouraged, prodded and watered imaginative play for their children. Not only have you given them memories and a legacy unequalled in the world, they’ll recount tales of their play unto the ninth generation, mark my words.
can’t part with the tickle trunk eh? Yesterday, my 32 year old daughter asked me if I still had her girl guide badges. Oh my. That was 20 years ago!!!
Forgot to mention to the previous note about girl guide badges (I pressed the send button too fast!)- Yes I still had those girl guide badges (and all her stuffed animals and I STILL have a toy cupboard even though the kids are 29 and 32!)
We have a dress up trunk.
My girls are 11 & 13, and I’m still finding dress up stuff in the laundry.
And the Barbies — suddenly important again too.
Oh, Stephanie, how I could relate to this post. My children depended on their dress-up box many times to take them away from the harsh reality of moving yet again. As military family kids, moving was their life. Now, many wonderful things come from moving: learning to speak Italian, camping with ponies on the Maryland seashore, whalewatching off Orcas Island, building sandcastles on the coasts of 7 oceans & seas. But we all know there is no good in the “goodbye” to friends, and one last rousing round of dress-up often seemed to take the awkwardness away of a last night with beloved friends. Our dress-up box moved 13 times in 20 years, and is awaiting grandchildren as well. We have purged a few things, and we have happily loaned out Halloween costumes to younger folks over the years. But the “Wild Thing” costume I designed and sewed (requested by my oldest for his 3rd Halloween) that became the “Beast” costume (for his 4th) when his baby sister, at age 2, was old enough to be “Belle”, is part of our family lore. As is the teal and purple court jester costume I made when my oldest (now nearly 20)was 10 months old. Our precious storage space holds those treasures, along with some awesome yardsale finds in the pirate/knight/fairy dept. Not even the two trees that smashed through our house 18 months ago were a match for the power of that box. Other things were tattered around it, but The Dress-Up Box stood its ground. After all, it knew it wasn’t done helping little people grow yet.
Keep it, Steph….keep it all.
Where does the time go? How did all those moments slip into the past so quickly? I am now waiting for my 18 month old granddaughter to fit into some of the costumes in the old dress up bin – that is if I can find it in the attic, lol! Won’t be long now!
please figure out a way to save those costumes. when the grandkids come to visit (as they will eventually, although our generation will surely never be THAT old)…they will love to use them and it beats having to keep a lot of ugly plastic toys around for their amusement.
Mary E
My dear Harlotta…in case you wonder why we read your blog…this entry is why. You are good at more than the knitting and the writing…or there wouldn’t be a tickle trunk. And the Full Pearl-McPhee crowd wouldn’t be loathe to budge it.
Stet, Stephanie. Stet. (I have to go dry my face now…the ducklings are 14 and 16 so I am right there with you).
I grew up with Mr. Dressup & The Friendly Giant. We had a tickle trunk; in fact, I still have the trunk it was my Grandfather’s sea chest. All the costumes are gone now; all accept a dress that was my Grandmother’s.
Tell the girls I still my Dolly from when I was a baby & my Teddy from when I was 8 years old. You can see them in this post.
http://tapestry.typepad.com/a_mingling_of_threads/2007/01/of_my_childhood.html
No one can throw anything in those boxes away because the items have not (and may never) reach their half-lives. I grew up with Dress-ups – yarns of purple velvet, ball-room dancing dresses from my aunt in NY (we were in Ohio), pointy toe shoes from my neighbor’s mom (we grew out of those in 5th grade – size 5’s). Those were plays and musicals and everything you can think of. I don’t have any of those, but I do have some of the things from my kids. The cowboy outfit and astronaut suit got sent to my nephew – smaller and slimmer than my sons. We called those boxes “the John box.” Most of the junk we acquired can be discarded, but not butterfly lemonade, etc. Keep them for now.
You made me cry dammit. 🙂
Coming from someone who has hauled half a basement full of toys around for her whole life, if all you truly cannot get rid of is a couple of boxes you’re doing great.
I never wanted to have kids, or planned to, no reason to keep things, but I couldn’t let go.
Despite all of this, I currently feed my 14 month old son in the wonderful wooden highchair I had as a kid. Strapped in with a dishcloth, just like my mom did with me. 🙂
We have had many things cycle through our dress-up box(es) over the years and the dress-up clothes still get played w/ often (my girls are 8, 10 and 13, respectively). Turns out dressing up and making movies is still cool and not babyish at all.
We’ve winnowed the costumes by asking the girls to pick their very favorites, and then the rest goes to a younger friend. When they go to her house to visit, they get to dress up to, you know, amuse the younger child.
Good luck!
My kids never had a tickle trunk, but sure found lots of stuff around the house for “putting on a show”. Conversations at 37, 35, and 32 often start with “remember the time…” That time goes all too quickly. My housekeeping techniques sound like your. Glad there’s another one. Have fun in Philly.
Keep the Tickle Trunk, weed it out a bit but for the most part save it for the nieces and nephews and the grandchildren yet to come. I’ve been thinking of starting my own Tickle Trunk so when the little ones come over to visit they have something to play with.
Yes but your girls will not be the last little ones to traipse through your home dressed in Tickle Trunk finery! There will be other children, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, their friends… you should keep them. *nods*
Our “tickle trunk” was called the “goodses box.” I remember pulling out all sorts of costume-y stuff as a kid. When we “did” my room, I absolutely refused to part with my Barbies. My neices play with them now, I feel wistful when I watch them.
I have a large Rubbermaid tub full of stuffed animals that I won’t get rid of. I take it everywhere I move.
My mother’s teddybear went to college with her, and college and grad school with me. Now he sleeps on my dresser. If he weren’t so fragile, I’d probably still sleep with him.
Save it for the grands. the next generation. it’s magic moves on. It did for us.
Tickle trunk to attic!
If you must, get those miracle space bags and vacuum out the space. But save them! If your girls loved them, soon enough so will their girls.
Also – good decision on those Barbies…
Keep the tickle trunk…you are cherishing your childrens childhood.
I’ve been contemplating “doing” my 12yo’s closet, but am balking at touching the very same box. Absolutely ridiculous. Nothing fits. Yet I just can’t part with it.
Who ever outgrows dress-up? Isn’t that what we still do when we “go shopping” and don’t actually buy the stuff we try on? It’s time to start the Tickle Trunk, Phase 2. Your girls are heading into the pre-prom years…scour your closets (or friends’ closets) and find new stuff for dress-up, then leave the dresses (or tuxedos) accessible to your teens. (Not that you should SUGGEST they dress up, since God knows they CAN’T do anything you think might be cool.) But be prepared to witness them “trying on” adulthood.
DO NOT get rid of the tickle trunk. You would regret it.
And I saw proof once more as to why you are an award-winning blogger: you actually had pictures of your kids in those costumes.
Plus also, that means you are way more organized than I am, because I could never find those pics when I needed them.
My girls, now 13 and 18, LOVED their dress-up trunk when they were younger. Oh, the cool stuff in there and oh what wonderful fun came out of it. The girls haven’t missed any of the dress-up items for a couple of years but I can’t part with the stuff yet and have it in my office closet. It is definately the stuff that dreams are made of.
My little girl has one of those squishable nylon barrel-shaped containers full of her dress up stuff (she’s 4). If you can spare the space, I bet the next generation will (eventually) have as much fun with it. And you’ll be glad you kept it.
Steph–There is a dress up box at our house too. We live in an old, big-ish house with small rooms. This fall, when my 10 year old son changed bedrooms, the dress-up box was a problem. It’s big. There is even a Roman Centurion costume in there. My boys are now 10 and 14. They still dress up. Yes, even macho 14 year old boys still dress up and play. Two weeks ago I spied my 14 year old and another like-aged friend dressed as a mouse and a Bandito-prince Caspian thing playing with little green army men in the old sandbox. These are boys with i-pods, wiis, pc2’s and the whole bit. I wept with joy and vowed to keep the box. Somewhere.
Ya gotta keep the trunk. You in fact DO need that stuff. Our dress-up stuff is in the basement — I just stirred through it this weekend to find the sorcerer’s hat I needed for a children’s talk at church. My kids are 14 and 18.
Some of the clothes in our dress-up box are the same things my sisters and I dressed up in (a fantastic mexican skirt that swirls in a circle of rickrack when you twirl). You can create a heritage of the imagination for future grand kids, or nephews and nieces, or just kids who visit.
Keep the dress-up stuff.
You want a Herculean task? Try explaining to a sixteen year old boy that the elves are not going to carry the wet towels from his bedroom floor to the washing machine.
Got my reservation for the Chicago do-over–can’t wait!
As a mother of two girls who (by their own request) share a room, and who live for their dress-up bin (they’re 10 and almost 7), I completely sympathize. On a related note, my older daughter, who has been saving up so she’ll have enough to begin to negotiate for my consideration of whether she can buy herself a shuffle, announced to me today that she doesn’t want one after all, as she would rather spend her time doing other things (like, I can only assume, dressing up in a cape and running around the yard with her sister, which was today’s entertainment of choice). Nice.
never posted before, but long time reader.
have all your books, including the newest, which i bought many of for my closest knitting friends. wish we could have seen you)
tears in my eyes as i say goodnite to a 16 year old boy who wore a fabulous (his words) wizard cape and hat i made for him age 5 to …. when he forgot it.
i found it recently, showed him and if he wasn’t 16 he would have taken it back to his room. he just looked at it with longing eyes and said “you should keep it in your room mom”. will keep for HIS little boy.
love love love your blog,
cindy in so cal
I am 43 and I still have all my Barbies and their clothes and their shoes. I won’t even think about getting rid of them.
Congrats on being in the Toronto Star this weekend. As for the tickle truck…keep it. One day there will be grandkids (I know right now you shudder to think). And what about Hank? Wouldn’t he love to get his hands on the trunk? I have a truck that I call my tickle trunk but it contains all sorts of odd balls of yarn.
I’m not Canadian, but I grew up in Detroit. Watching Mr. Dressup. Keep the boxes and don’t feel guilty about it. You’ve got plenty of other stuff to toss out.
If you need any convincing that kids still play dressup, I recommend Soulemama.com.
My problem is the opposite: I’m finding myself starting to collect things for kids to play with and learn from, but I’m not pregnant yet. Jumping the gun just a tad…
So sweet. Those things are going to come back into fashing one day, you know. I can remember playing all those games although I never had the tickle things and never heard of Mr. Dressup. Imagination play doesn’t entirely depend on the clothes (but I’m sure they helped!).
Oh, do we have dressup boxes. Whatever survives past dessup age, will go into a Hall of Fame box for each child to pass on to their children.
For Christmas last year, my mother created cowboy outfits for the Wonder Twins. Boots, pants/skirt with handcut fringe, cow-pattern vests, shirts, cowboy hats….. my daughter wanted to wear her full outfit to church yesterday.
When I volunteered at a family homeless shelter, dress-up was their favorite activity. If you ever find the courage to give it away, a family shelter might be a good place.
I know that you already have a million comments here and that I’m a few days late reading this, but this post so touched me. My kids are now 15 1/2 and 13 1/2. They are a boy and girl respectively and for years shared a room. In fact, most nights I find my daughter sleeping on his couch though she has her own perfectly good room next door. They still need to talk in the secret wee hours even if they have bickered all day.
But my son has a huge wooden blanket chest in his room that holds all of their costumes and their childhood was just as you described your daughters’. We have a great photo of my son as Davy Crockett wearing one of his 3 coonskin hats, chaps and a suede vest over his plaid shirt, and the cowboy boots he wore at all times while aiming the vacuum cleaner attachment that was the sorry excuse for the gun we never let him have. He now attends high school at Baltimore School for the Arts for acting. We still have one TV, no cable, no computer games and one bathroom and ALL of the costumes. Maybe my husband and I can join forces with you when the MP’s from the Hague show up. (How does one actually flee with all that yarn in tow?) In any case, I wouldn’t change it for the world and the costumes are staying put.
Hi – I brought the young hecklers in the back row to see you in Philadelphia. They enjoyed it within their limits. . .
If I’d read this first, they would have come in costume 🙂 They certainly have a great collection, but mostly improvise from everyday items. In fact, the older one was reminiscing at the book fair about being Darth Vader by holding a small bowl over his mouth. Good times.
I’m 25, I went through some of my stuffed animals at my mom’s house. I put most of them in a bag to go to charity, but there was still a good amount that I could not give away. As I get older, I toss more and more things as I go through them, but there are some things I will keep. I will keep the costumes sewn by my mom, a few stuffed animals (er, maybe more than a ‘few’) and my mircoscope from my uncle.
Hey, I’m 27 and my childhood dress-up box is still intact at my parents’ house 🙂
I love the old pictures of your daughters in their dress-up outfits. There’s a picture of me at 5 or 6 wearing a kimono, a gauzy scarf and huge sunglasses…According to my Mom, I was busy being “a puff of smoke.”
I just turned 39 and still can’t bear to part with my old ballet costumes – you know… the ones that would barely fit on one leg now… And my niece is old enough that she won’t be able to wear a bunch of them too. I also have the first Halloween costume that I picked out for myself and my mom made. I was 5 and wanted to be Cinderella. So I was. There’s a picture somewhere in my mom’s house.
I totally get not being able to throw that stuff out.
We won’t discuss the dolls and the stuffed animals.
Just wanted to say again that I loved you in Philly yesterday!
I forgot to tell you (although maybe your handler did) that whoopie pies are best with a nice cup of hot coffee or tea or with a big cold glass of milk. They’re very sweet and rich!
I’m pretty sure my mom has the halloween costumes she sewed for us.
I can’t imagine getting rid of our stash of dress up – old Halloween costumes, other accessories. Luckily the youngest is an infant so there’s a while to ruminate.
Perhaps these are things best saved for your grandbabies? In 10 or 15 or 20 years?
OHhhh my.. as I sit here typing.. gazing lovingly at me is my stuffed tiger…. his eyes are scratched, his tail has been sewn back on a million times. He has been with me for 56 years, and I have no intention of retiring him.
Carolyn
I belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism, so I still play dress-up. Keep those trunks–you’ll want them later. You really, really will. They may have to be stored elsewhere eventually, but they should never be tossed.
Good luck on the rest of your tour!
Also, I forgot to mention–I’ve really enjoyed your sock posts. I, too, have dainty feet.
You can’t get rid of the tickle trunk! You have children whom will probably have children of their own. What a great legacy to pass on to them. My grandson is 12, has the Wii and the X-box 360 and he and his friends still would rather dress up in the muskateer costumes or outer space get up and play in the woods down the block. Some of which my daughter and her cousins wore. Some things, like fine knitting, are meant to pass on not throw out.
Keep. The. Trunk.
Also, I miss Mr. Dressup! I grew up watching him (Detroit suburbs have no problem getting CBC, even 30 years ago!) and my kids did, too! ‘Course, I also miss the Friendly Giant…
Yes – we had a tickle trunk too. And we knew where Mr. Dressup lived, and drove by his house on occasion for excitement (never saw him outside, but it was still exciting). I’d have trouble with saying goodbye to those too. It IS magic.
You know you can buy leg extenders, and raise the beds for more storage!!
One word for you: grandchildren. Items such as those found in your Tickle Trunk should be, nay, are required to be available to the next generation. And they will get played with. I am the mum of an almost-five-year-old master of the art of imaginative play and he is currently donning his “black knight” costume and racing around the garden after imaginary bad guys!
Stephanie,
Things as special as the tickle trunk should not be thrown away. They should be shared with other children. Surely you & the girls know someone you love enough to give them the joy that the trunk gave all of you? Sharing it keeps the memories alive for you as you see the items bring joy to someone new.
Imagination is a magic too often lost.
Stephanie from Texas
Don’t throw that out. Maybe I’m sentimental, but those are things for cherishing. And using again. It may seem silly to think so far ahead, but when I was a child I played with things from my mother’s “tickle trunk” and I expect that my children will enjoy those objects too. It’s too precious to give away.
We run into the same problem at my house – you are not alone – we have 2 of the three kids sharing a SMALL room, and have one bathroom (ours does have a shower) 🙂
There seems to be a neverending “doing” of the room in order to find the floor! I do miss the little kids…now we are all swim towels, flippers, and oodles of action figures. They grow so fast.
I would say what fun for Hank, but I bet little boys, being what they are for a long as they can, Joe notwithstanding, probably don’t hold nearly the appreciation for butterfly wings and pirate lunches that little girls do.
Can I just say that I can hum the entire Mr. Dressup song? Not that anyone would recognize it, tittering tuneless mess that it would sound to them. But I had no idea that was still stuck in there. The things you do to me, Steph.
I too had dressup clothes, which were passed to other kids when I outgrew them, but I still have a few odd boxes of keepsakes I can’t bring myself to part with (not to mention a bunch of boxes that I’m scared to open) *g*
However, for the folks who mourn that they’re ‘too old’ to dress up now? You’re never too old. Check out the site for the International Costumers Guild (http://www.costume.org/)- a group of folks devoted to the creation of costumes- there’s also a list of conventions frequented by costumers who love to show off their creations.
Hi there, if its been under the bed this long, and the memories it brings back stops you all from hauling it out and chucking the stuff, then it belongs right where it is. And every once in a while when you “do” the room, you can take a break when you get to under the bed and remember….and then when your girls bring their little ones over, their favorite place wll be their mums oldroom, under the bed in the tickle trunk. They may even add to it!
Just a little misty eyed for sure. My son refuses to part with a chair that is too small for him to sit in because that is where we read all our adventure books. He insists on saving it for his children. He is 7 so I guess we will be walking around it for the next 20 years!
what is the difference between an XBOX and a TickleBOX (trunk)? Aren’t the video games mostly about following the games’ rules? Do they have much creativity, activity, happy social interactions?
I love the resourcefulness of the ticklebox: sewing, using a potato sack, putting things together to make a bigger, better thing….now that is brain develoment!
My daughter is five and she has a tickle trunk under her bed too. It is filled with many wonderous things, mostly to assist in her quest to be a fairy or a princess or a fairy princess. There are old halloween costumes, costumes her grandmother has purchased, jewelry donated from one of the privately owned boutiques in town, including these fabulous beaded beanies. At Christmas we bought her a frilly dress that is suitable for a flower girl in red from Zellers….it has lace and gossamer and beads. She loves that dress and is allowed to play in it whenever she likes.
I think that when she gets to be that age, I will find the space to store that tickle trunk somewhere out in the shed or wherever so that someday, should I have granddaughters, they will get the same pleasure out of it that she does.
Oh My. Goodness. That sounds like too much fun. For the record, I’m 27, have no kids (don’t even like kids), and haven’t played dress-up for probably 20+ years, but your post here made me misty for kid-days and play time. I had a stint in my early 20s when I played dress-up every weekend at the renaissance faire, and your post reminds me of that time for me – fun, happy times, when the weight of the world stayed outside the gates. Good post today. (They all are, but if they make me sniffle, they get gold stars, b/c girlfriend doesn’t cry.)
I loved playing dress up when I was little. And not so little. I don’t know if my mom still has all of the things that were in the trunk, but I imagine she still has some of them. Your assortment sounds familiar: prom dress from the 1950s, wedding gowns (my mom’s, my grandmother’s), a muumuu, bunny and cat costumes (hand sewn, of course), and enough bandanas and skirts and bracelets for a number of purposes. What fun! Thank you for sharing the photos–it brought back fun memories.
My daughter is 24 and STILL has her dress-up box! Imagination is such an important thing to cultivate in our kids. Hard to do these days when they are bombarded with SO MUCH media and stuff. When a good friend was recently asked to describe my 24 year old daughter in two words, he said, “childlike wonder.” How cool is that!?
I can guarantee kids still play dressup — having sat through a tea with princesses, a hunt for said princesses conducted by stormtroopers and an absolutely gut-busting lunch for pirates. All in the same weekend. Ipods may now provide the background music, and Wiis may occasionally be used as weapons (don’t ask), but kids will always love dressup.
A suggestion? Do you have any little relatives who need a tickle box? Because what many of my now-teenage friends have done is pass their treasures on to relatives and friends, who continue the wonderful dressup plays. They’ve each kept one special outfit for remembrance, though.
Seeing the picture of your pirate-daughter with the hanger in her hand cracked me up. My son (4 yrs old) commonly breaks pieces off hangers to run around with a “hook” hand and a sword to be a pirate too! Dress up is eternal.
Don’t get rid of the trunk! We still have ours in a big box and every kid who comes to visit knows where it is and they all drag it out – boys and girls alike. I routinely snag things and stick them in there too. My girls are in college but I have a neice who is 6 and friends with young children and they all love the dress up box.
You’ll be the coolest grandparent with that box too – just hang on to it.
Good luck with Joe’s leg too@
V
What a delightful read. I grew up (a million years ago) in a three bedroom Cape Cod house. I was one of 7 children. My mom and dad had the downstairs bedroom. Three of my sisters and myself had the “big” (now that’s a relative term) upstairs bedroom, and my two brothers and another sister had the other bedroom. There was one full bath downstairs, and a half bath upstairs. We had a picnic table in our kitchen. We never thought it was weird. It was how our family did life.
Just a thought. You said the girls were doing well as uncluttering and getting rid of stuff. Having been through this with my own two girls you might want to check to be sure it is their own stuff and not their sister’s stuff that is being moved along 🙂
My very-cool 12 year old recently went on her own decluttering mission. She threw away all kinds of papers and junk, packed bags of clothes to give away, reorganized her furniture . . . she did a great job (I am a bit of a saver). Later I noticed a large bag near the attic and basically cried when I realized she had saved all the best dress up clothes and set them aside for storage (many were Halloween costumes and most were sewn by me). How nice that our children appreciate the memories and recognize sentimental attachment (hers, mine, or both – not sure). I will happily find a place to store those dress up clothes, if for no other reason than years from now I can pull them out and say “remember when . . . ”
My aunt lived in New York City; I in Ohio. My aunt and her husband, when not working, were professional ballroom dancers. On occasion, an enormous box would arrive at our house chock full of my aunt’s “old” dance dresses – with matching dyed high heels! My aunt also taught hula at the Yonkers YWCA. I got her hula skirt. These outfits, combined with things my mother sewed and various rummage sale wonders, were a dress up dream. Probably why I still like Halloween and other occasions to dress up.
BTW, being not too far from Detroit and hence the Canadian border, we watched Mr. Dressup too. And Chez Helene, and The Friendly Giant. Loved those shows. Oh, and Hockey Night in Canada. (o;
oh, the wave of nostalgia that comes over me at the mention of Mr Dressup sets me adrift on a sea of memory and is almost always enough to make me weepy. was there ever a kinder, gentler man? i was so in love with his world and how he could draw anything! how he always had just enough tape and paint and sparkles and markers at his disposal. and voilà! right beneath the craft counter was just the right sized shoebox needed to create something wonderful! the glories of the tickle trunk remain unequalled and how could one talking dog puppet (who never actually talked but would only whisper in casey’s ear) be so enthralling? but he was and they were and are forever more.
prior to his passing, i had the great good fortune as an adult to see Ernie Coombs (Mr Dressup’s other persona when he wasn’t on set!)in one of the Christmas pantomimes when i took my son, then 5, to see cinderella at the elgin, i believe? and although i knew he was in the show and would appear any moment, i found myself welling up as he came on stage! all those memories of the hours of magic he made for a little, creative kid and how i wished i could repay him and let him know the debt i owed. and there he was! right in front of me. no longer separated by the glass screen of the tv. but real and wonderful and just as alight with love and joy as he ever was.
so steph,keep the tickle trunk awhile longer. someday there will be grandchildren who will thrill with wonder and delight at the thought of their mothers parading around in such a fashion! and when that happens, you know mr dressup will be smiling down from heaven.
It’s true, I still have my toy box! You could ask me what’s in it, but I have no idea; all I know is that I cannot get rid of any of it! Incidentally, I had the multicolor metallic wig. Happy “doing” 🙂
Reading about your girl’s dress-up box makes me think of the one under my youngest’s bed (she’s going on 10) and knowing she hasn’t touched it other than the last “doing” of her room that we attempted over Feb vacation – I think I may need to pack up that box and gift it to her 3 and 4 yr old cousins in Pittsburgh for them to get the same joy out of while still keeping it “in the family” I like to think of my niece and nephew getting the same excitement out of these items as their cousins did and know that even though they live 10 hrs apart that they share a love of similar things.
I so wanted the real tickle trunk, I tried to talk my FIL into a trip to Toronto the day they auctioned Mr. Dressup’s props for charity.
My boys let their costumes go this year (only those they couldn’t wear) to the children’s acting company the oldest belongs to, they wanted to see other kids wear them but I’m still on the hook for making more. Actors get to dress up their whole lives.
Well, there’s three hundred freaking comments here, so you will not likely ever be able to get to this one, but what I do in these decluttering situations is take pictures. I have a very nice photo album of all my child hood soft toys and doll, complete with biographies, trivia, and lists of places it was lost in and then recovered. All the more touching because it is written in my sixteen year old hand writing, very mature looking. ( snort) Much more likely to be gone through than a box of mildewed animals.
How about a really funny photo shoot of how these clothes DON”T fit them- page by page with some of the lovely photos you shared with us? And then, the whole collection can make some child very, very happy. But I would totally keep the wings.
DO NOT GET RID OF THAT TRUNK, GIRL! You will have grandchildren one day and they will love it! Even boys! I have put together a dress up chest for my 6 grandchildren and they also have been brides and firemen. There are 2 boys in the bunch and at the risk of changing their identity they have also been brides and firemen! SAVE THIOSE TRUNKS! You will not regret it!
I’m sobbing.
Save the Tickle Trunk, or at least an edited version (maybe get rid of the less favored dress-ups, or those that are stained from too many pirate lunches) because even if you don’t have grandchildren (G*d forbid) your girls will run across it when they’re in thir 40s, and nothing will evoke the texture of their childhoods like that box…
My 15-yr old single child never played with Barbies nor with baby dolls for that matter. Way early I had given her a Fisher Price costumes boxes that was also filled up by her grandmother. Being born on Oct 28 – and that close to Halloween, I would ask my mom to sew her costumes: Esmeralda complete with a blue satin corset and a shawl with hand-sewn little metal (clinking) pieces. Then there was the Aladin/Jasmine costumes and an old look alike babuska shawl, and old dresses, etc. I was able to get rid of it promising that my 4-yr old niece would have a better use for it.. DD never was a videogames player: but did she sing and make false entry tickets for us to see her own show: yes she did. Today, she is composing her own guitar songs… I guess it was already there to begin with.. 🙂
Mom still has our Tickle Trunk (I’m 34) and my neices and nephews are LOVING finding our musty old capes, bonnets and the angel costume. They have no idea who Casey and Finnegan are, but the enjoyment they’re having is priceless. Keep it if you can. C
i also grew up on mr. dressup… i think sometimes i miss him. we did not have a “tickle trunk” by that name, but a trunk of dress-up clothes nonetheless.
to be honest, I imagine that my mother has done something with all of those clothes, now that her youngest is nearing 30 – and she moved into a (MUCH) smaller house than what we lived in. but to hear this makes me mourn the days of dress-up:
mrs. buckle-berry
miss blueberry dancer
the fashion shows and the music concerts.
thank you… and good luck. i still miss our version of the tickle trunk.
I have been doing my boys’ rooms and, in their cases, we actually fill trash bags with trash.
So I’m sitting here at work, reading while I snarf down some lunch, and you made me get weepy. I’m now trying to set up our version of a tickle trunk for E. So far there’s a blueberry…!
Sentimental value is value. Good memories can not be found in some homes, sad but true. Good for you all.
Vacuum pack them for grandchildren or grand nieces and nephews. One of my favorite childhood memories is dressing up in a garden shed made over as “my house”, while visiting my Grand parents in England.
I’m sorry that I sold the hand made California Raisin costumes (sizes T2 and T4) in our clean sweep, my adopted grand child would have loved them….. save um
Yes, Yes, Yes, vacuum pack them, after careful cleaning. My son has asthma that none of us ever had, and mold is our #1 enemy here in Massachusets. As long as you can give these treasures clean and safe you can give them to children with family connections they might miss otherwise.
All the dress up clothes my sisters (and brother) enjoyed are still in the dress up bin at my mom’s. We are much too big to fit into them but just seeing them reminds us all of precious memories before we grew up. Now, my nieces thoroughly enjoy dressing up and playing “make believe”.
Keep the precious memories in your Tickle Trunk. You will enjoy pulling them out again when you have grandchildren someday.
Don’t do anything to that Trunk!
Yet…
I confess, after I moved out and went to college, my mother couldn’t bear to get rid of our Tickle Trunk either. (I’m the youngest of several kids. We actually had a Trunk and a gigantic, Navy issued laundry bag that was appropriated from my Dad. From now on, when I say Trunk, I mean both.) It went from under my bed (I was the last one at home too) to the shelf in my closet in my former bedroom. When my sister and I ended up back in our hometown, we had the heartbreaking task of helping our mom move her parents into an assisted living situation. My sister, her husband and daughter and I rented our grandparent’s house and the Trunk moved from my mom’s house to ours.
My niece was about 3 at the time. One rainy day, when life was sucky and Rugarats was a rerun and we couldn’t go out and play, and I was seriously glad that there was just the one toddler tornado amongst three adults, I opened the Trunk for the first time in at least 15 years. And the Trunk lived again. It was the Zombie Trunk of Non-Doom! The Lone Trunkster (and it’s faithful Naval Sidekick) rode again! It was the Hope Chest to end all Hope Chests! Yeah, I know hope chests are supposed to be for getting married. But when you’re digging into the Trunk to Save the World yet again, it becomes the Hope Chest of Epic Proportions. The Hope Diamond of Hope Chests.
The niece is now 12 and she and her BFF still play around with it. And she doesn’t want to give it up yet either. She’s shared some pieces with her cousins, and added some of her own, but sometimes she gets all Labyrinth on us. Remember at the end, when Sarah says “sometimes I need you all” in reference to her childhood “friends”? Yeah, it’s like that.
Long live the Trunk!
Oh Stephanie, I’m typing through tears. I love the heart wrenching sound of noticing your children are suddenly bigger and more grown up and how did that happen all at the same time you want them to stay small and round. My kids are little still and I suffer over every lonely small sock. It seems to effectively balance out the shouting about the cereal, the sitting, the screaming, the pinchypinchy, the standing, the sassy, the whiny and the bad to your sister/brother. Thanks to your big girls for still wanting their trunks.
Because the memories associated with everything in the Tickle trunk are too precious and too closely tied to the Tickle Trunk and its contents. You still love it, they still love it. Let it stay if they want to keep it because they love it. Let it stay if you want to keep it because you love it. If you feel really conflicted/guilty about it, and you have some wall space make a revolving display of the outfits using it. See if that makes it harder or easier to let it go. There will come a time when either they can let it go and you can too, or you’ll need it again for the grandkids.
keep it…..some things are worth keeping.
Our elementary schools take this sort of thing to provide Halloween costumes for children who can’t afford them, and for after school care fun. Day care centers can also use them for dress-up. While it’s hard to part with stuff, my son always felt good about passing on too-small Halloween costumes to younger children.
Oh my funny bone! I played hold-up, ummmm, I mean dress-up as a child and your post brings back so many memories! We watched way too much Superman/Batman/Mannix to not try to save a damsel in distress from a bank robber.
My friends and I had the ‘penny dress’ aka the ugly dress (blue & yellow pennies on a white background), the ‘fish bag’ (a blue bag with plastic curtain rings and rope for a handle, with a big white fish on the front, of course), and the black pancake hat with the wires to hold it on your head.
The three of us girls played dress up for hours which was hot work, and which inevitably ended up as a water fight on the lawn. Those were the days!
Please keep those boxes! They’ll want them for their children some day.
Now you know what the Rat Bastard squirrel was actually doing…creating a tickle trunk for its own young. Put the TT outside with a lovely wee bit of bright yarn and let the RB squirrel really have some fun. OR…call me and I will come and fetch it and store it in my nice dry safe California attic until such time as your “wee ones” want it back for their “wee ones”.
If my mother has gotten rid of my dress-up clothes, I don’t want to know. Seriously.
Found you via Soulemama.
KEEP IT. Please! Keep it for their kids!
I have two girls, aged four and one, and it nearly broke my heart to read about your Tickle Trunk in the shadow of the gallows, because ours is such a vital part of life at the moment (complete with dress-up action shots!).
I couldn’t NOT comment. My boys have a dress-up chest & I can’t imagine getting rid of it… you brought tears to my eyes! lol
I’d box it up (double moth ball protection, lol) and save it for the grandkids! 🙂
My girls still play dress-up. Of course I have a 3 year old, but my oldest is about to be 11. She and her BFF dress up, set up the dolls and pretend to be babysitters at first… then they become all sorts of things. Some of those items will certainly be kept in my treasure box for the next generation… I love that they can’t give it up. And I hate ‘doing’ rooms too, though I think I will adopt your word from now on. I too have two girls who share a room – we emptied the room back in February it was so bad. Took 12 hours to empty it, and 4 days before we could eat in the dining room again! Good news is I can still see the floor in both rooms!