Dragons, dragons everywhere

Children of all ages love to dress up and play make believe. Whether it's a dainty princess, courageous cowboy, fuzzy bear or a sweet fairy, dressing up helps children's imaginations soar and leads to endless hours of creative play.

The Fancy Pants vibe

Thanks to Gretel, a Toronto mom of two, there's a fantastic line of dress-up clothes that are made for fun, made to last and made in Canada. Gretel knows about costumes, afterall she's a 20-year veteran of the Canadian live theatre industry, and has taken her skills and creativity to design Fancy Pants Kids, a line of dress-up products "that combine theatrical wisdom, childish fun and a mom's practicality."

Why we love Fancy Pants

We recently received a dragontail and ears, and a fleece crown from Fancy Pants Kids and have to declare to the world of families, this is one of the best products we've ever received.

Our two little picky product testers, who are girls and typically stick their noses up at anything that's not pink and glittery, love playing dragons and take turns soaring and roaring around the house in the purple dragontail they received. Needless to say they love the dress-up attire.

As parents, we love the quality and craftmanship that has gone into making these costumes. The dragontail is fabulous and easy to put on. It's available in two sizes - short and long - and can also be worn by adults for fun family playtime.

All items we received fit extremely well on our children. They can run freely without worrying about the dragontail, ears or crown falling off.

In addition to quality and wearability, the costumes are easy to clean as, depending on the item, they can be machine-washed or wiped clean with a damp cloth.

The gender-neutral costumes will undoubtedly make for a great gift or addition to your child's world of imaginative play.

Where to find it

In addition to the cool dragontails, pointy ears headbands and crowns, Fancy Pants Kids makes magical cloaks, capes and other fun dress-up items for babes, toddlers, preschoolers and big kids. They are currently available online at www.fancypantskids.ca or at a variety of retailers in BC and Ontario. For a list, visit www.fancypantskids.ca/retail.

Win a costume!

Fancy Pants Kids is giving away a short dragontail costume, which includes the dragontail and ears. The lucky babyvibe reader who wins the costumes will get to choose between red, green or purple. To enter to win, please visit www.fancypantskids.ca and then e-mail prize@babyvibe.ca with what you think would be the most treasured item by your child. Contest closes Friday, July 30 at midnight. A winner will randomly be selected.

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