Since I've decided I'm not going back to work next year we're trying to think of some creative and new thing to have stashed away for Darcy as we won't be able to afford CC any more. So looking for some cool ideas.
Dress Up Box- Yes. Craft Box - Not really (I HATE craft!!!!! but my kids love it).
In our dress up box we have your usual commercial costumes eg Spiderman, Winnie Pooh, Fairies, Snow White etc all of which the kids love and regularly use. We also have old handbags, scarves and hats of mine and DH's. We have aprons and chefs hats, feather boas, capes, old dancing leotards, bunny ears, reindeer ears, fireman hat, viking hat and for xmas I have just ordered another pack of 6 hats eg policeman hat etc.
Craft Drawer contains glitter glue, different types of paper and card, cheap wooden photo frames to decorate, wooden spoons to decorate/put faces on, paper plates, googly eyes, coloured pasta, string, empty toilet rolls, some photocopied pictures to cut out and colour in....ummm thats all I think.
We have 3 big tubs of craft stuff now - it seems to grow all by itself! Lots of coloured cardboard, different papers, ribbons, glue, glitters, pom poms, paddle pop sticks, sequins, beads...you name it, it's probably in there. I tend to buy extra bits and pieces when I see them at the $2 shops or at kmart/big w/target - if there's like a pack of foam shapes or paint rollers or whatever it might be, I just buy one thing every now and then. Both of my kids love art and craft, and it helped that I had my own tub of stuff before #1 was born (I always liked to make cards etc when I was younger) so we have just added to it over time. I cull stuff sometimes, too.
As for the dress-ups, we have a massive collection of those, too - another of my kids favourite things to do. I have bought commercial costumes over the years when they've been like on clearance, or they've gotten them as gifts, but on the whole I have gone to second hand shops or my aunty/grandmother's etc house and gotten beads and vintage handbags and scarves and sunglasses, different coloured ballet flats, lots of hats, clip-on earrings, bracelets, satin gloves....there's an endless list of things in there. Plus I go to Spotlight and the like and buy bits and pieces that we need if there's a fancy dress party or a book week dress-up thing, and it gets added to by that as well. But I have found that out of everything the kids have in there, their favourite things are the second hand 'real-life' things - they like to dress up as little real adults, rather than superheroes etc most of the time. Especially when my daughter was littler, and would come out with the whole works on - feather boa, some sparkly top that fit her like a dress, beads/bracelets/earrings galore and a massive pair of sunnies, with a pair of my heels on
feathers, pipe cleaners, textas, pencils, clag, glue stick, safety scissors, cardboard cut outs, coloured match sticks, stickers, coloured paper, pictures of toys and characters cut out of junk mail and coloured doilies (sp). I also try and collect some of the recycling to build things out of. I thought it would be a cheap way to entertain but i spent a bit of money setting it up, but worth it in the long run.
Erin used to love my old shoes and bags in her dress ups and scarves or even dresses of mine.
I will try to photocopy some crafty stuff for you when school goes back.
Re: the hats, don't know if you get any of the educational toy magazines? They are given out at CC, Kindy & usually playgroup. They had a pack of 6 hats for something like $19...waiting for ours to arrive any day now.
Do you have a....
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Lots of coloured cardboard, different papers, ribbons, glue, glitters, pom poms, paddle pop sticks, sequins, beads...you name it, it's probably in there. I tend to buy extra bits and pieces when I see them at the $2 shops or at kmart/big w/target - if there's like a pack of foam shapes or paint rollers or whatever it might be, I just buy one thing every now and then. Both of my kids love art and craft, and it helped that I had my own tub of stuff before #1 was born (I always liked to make cards etc when I was younger) so we have just added to it over time. I cull stuff sometimes, too.
feathers, paddle pop sticks, paints, dot markers, stampers paint pads, paper, you name I probably have it 
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