The Trouble With Tinkerbell

According to the story of Peter Pan (Disney's version, at least), Tinkerbell has a somewhat fiesty nature that makes life a little difficult for those with whom she comes in contact.

Well, we've been having our own dealings with Tinkerbell's temperamental nature. Miss Almost-Six has a run of birthday parties these school holidays, the final being of a "Dress As Your Favourite Disney Character" theme. Miss Amost-Six didn't hesitate to ask to be Tinkerbell, and I knew that a local chain store had 20% off everything - including their Tinkerbell costumes. With a week away immediately preceding the party, and many other projects already on the go, I decided to take the easy way out and purchase a costume.

I must confess, I was partly influenced by the offer of a prize for the best costume and suspected I couldn't make a prize winning costume as easily as I could buy one in the time I had.

To cut a long story short...We purchased the costume, took it home, tried it on and noticed how small it seemed, despite being marked as Size 6-8. So I figured it wouldn't take much to find a bit of fabric to add an extra skirt to lengthen it, and still be in the running for the best costume award.

This morning we found a lemon coloured ladies' slip at Savers which I cut into an appropriate shape in no time at all. As I began to gather the top and measure it against the Tinkerbell costume, I noticed for the first time the actual costume tag (as opposed to the labelling on the coathanger as seen in the photo). And it said Size 3-5.

Well no wonder it looked small!

I have searched high and low for the receipt - which I thought I kept - but to no avail. So I shall go into the store tomorrow with the "tried on once" costume and see if they will exchange it. Unless all the other costumes are also mislabelled and they too are all Size 3-5. Meanwhile I will keep on gathering the lemon underskirt, for even with an appropriate sized costume some extra layers will be appreciated in these cold winter days.

It's a shame, though - I saw some lovely Belle (from Beauty and The Beast) costumes in Target today - in the right size and a little more winter friendly.

Edit: I've just been talking with Gadgetman about the whole costume dilemma and he decisively said to go and buy the Belle dress and give the Tinkerbell one to Miss Two. Miss Almost-Six is in agreement. And the lemon skirt? What girl doesn't need more dress-ups in her dress-up box?