This Christmas I transferred from the old cardboard boxes to snap top sealed plastic bins for all my Christmas decorations. And thus inspired I had Tom pull down the boxes of costumes in the attic. My plan was to take out all the costumes, clean them and repack them in nice plastic bins - getting ready for the grands and homeschooling all over again.
So, on the first day of January 2008, Tom climbed into the attic and started handing me down boxes. I was stunned with how many boxes came down. So I took a picture.
Yep… That is 31 boxes and bags. Now one of the boxes and one of the big bags did have fabric rather than costumes - fabric I was planning to turn into costumes!
We were sneezing so bad because all of the dust in the attic and on the boxes! I seriously did not even know where to begin. So I just dug in - and started to pull things out putting them in piles - throw away, give immediately to Heather (all the fabric), wash, dry clean, I do not know. Memories flooded in of all our fun times playing dress up.
So for two days (after work) I have been washing, ironing and folding. I have just barely dented the pile.
So for two days (after work) I have been washing, ironing and folding. I have just barely dented the pile.
I am not sure how I am going to organize the costumes - by size?? by time period?? by type of clothing. One of the problems is some of the costumes did double duty - we had one lovely "bride" dress, which was also a princess dress, and then was the Civil War "Miss Scarlett" dress. I am going to get all of the clothes cleaned and laid out in the spare bedroom and then access the best way to organize. At this point I am thinking of:
- Nativity box - angels, shepherds, Mary, wise men
- Specific Medieval – Evie’s jester costume, princess hat, medieval gowns, knight costume, etc.
- Specific Colonial – our colonial outfits from the trip to Williamsburg
- Dresses - all other kinds
- Skirts – all other kinds
- Shirts & vests– all kinds (including the wonderful white full sleeved blouses for colonial/medieval , etc)
- Pants – including breeches
- Outerwear: capes, shawls, coats
- Hats, shoes, belts, bags
- Animals – eagle, chicken, bunny, lion, etc.
- Miscellaneous – Chinese, Egyptian, Ancient Greek
- Antique - special box of Monihan and Fanning costumes
Of course that is only 12 boxes and I started with 31. HMMMM.
I will post another picture once I am all organized!
3 comments:
Holy moly, Mom. I knew the costumes had built over the years, but 31 boxes and bags!?!? Crazy! You have quite a treasure underneath your fingertips. I can't wait to see the creative make-believe and performances the grandchildren perform with your stash of costumes!
I'm sitting here wishing I was my pre-pregnancy size and see if I could still manage to fit in any of them... even that though is probably wishful thinking!
I can't believe I'm only 25 minutes away and I haven't managed to come take a look yet. hmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Wow! That's a lot of costumes! I'm afraid I would be tempted to just hand them over to the next generation and let them sort them out! What a treasure trove of imagination!
TM
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