Great Pretenders: Costumes for Creative Play {Review & Giveaway}

What child doesn’t love to dress up?  The chance to be anything or anyone is pretty appealing for kids.    I love watching the creative play my boys have when they are dressed up and get ‘into character’,  so I was pretty excited to surprise them with a set from Great Pretenders.

While I loved all the cute little super hero capes I knew as soon as I saw the Dragon Cape With Claws it would be a hit with my boys.  Man, was I ever right!  As soon as the cape and arm cover/claws go on, Smashie he is running fun tilt around the house yelling ‘RAWR’.  He loves to wave his claws around, thinking he is the scariest thing to walk the earth.  We don’t burst his fun by letting him know he is too cute to scare anyone, but Bug plays along begging Smashie not to attack him, which of course leads to him being attacked. Smashie would also like all the other toddler/preschool aged kids to know that the costume is not at all itchy when worn with nothing else.  Yup I have been chased by a naked dragon.  On more than one occasion.

I appreciate that the sizing is variable, my boys aged 3 and 6 can both easily wear the cape and the claws.  I can attest to the fact that it is snug on an adult sized head.  I was quickly demoted from ‘scary dragon’ role to screaming villager.  I feel I nailed my performance.

I love that they have everything from super-heroes to princesses to pirates.  Whatever you little one can imagine!  Also they carry some great accessories to go with the costumes, if you list the category of costume you can see everything they carry to go along with.  For example you can check out the Pirates section which includes t-shirts, full costumes and swords.

I love that they put so much care into creating their products, they ‘get’ dress-up.  They understand what is going to spark a little ones imaginations and then they make a costume to stand up to vigorous play.  I love this quote they have on their page about creative play:

“Pretend play is not just great fun. It’s the way kids develop imagination and creative thinking skills and try out being big and powerful. Pretending also brings the world down to the child’s size and understanding. It’s a way to develop communication skills and an outlet for expressing feelings and fears.”

Right now all the feelings that are being expressed at our house are those of pure silliness.  Now if you excuse me I need to rescue my 6 year old from a suddenly ferocious dragon/little brother!

Win it: One lucky US/CAN reader will win a costume of their choice from Great Pretenders (up to $50 value). Enter to WIN below via Rafflecopter.  Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a sample of a product to facilitate my review. No other compensation was provided and all views and opinions stated on this post are 100% my own.