Picture Perfect : For kids’ holiday photo ops, forget new outfits. Add lace or suspenders to dress up favorite clothes.
Look around in the children’s area of department stores, and you’ll see acres of party clothes.
Kids don’t ask for these things. Parents certainly don’t want to incur more holiday debt. So what are they good for?
Seasonal photo ops. Those telltale snapshots and home videos that get passed from grandmother to uncle to cousins and then hauled out the next year to be passed around again.
Do you want your children looking like dropouts from the Jane Eyre school for pitiful children? No, you want them to sparkle. You want them to fairly glow with festiveness when they sit on Santa’s lap (click). To twinkle like little stars in the school holiday program (click, click, click). And when everyone gathers at Grandmother’s house for the holiday dinner (24 clicks, then the automatic-rewind sound), you want those kids to shine.
But at $65 a party dress? Fifty bucks for a black velvet blazer?
“Those clothes are like a uniform we put on our children when they go to a party or a bar mitzvah so people will think what a great parent we are,” says Marilise Flusser, author of “Party Shoes to School, Baseball Caps to Bed,” a guide to dressing children.
But such clothes may be uncomfortable, scratchy and completely alien to children, says Flusser, married to menswear designer Alan Flusser. To prevent tantrums, she recommends acknowledging children’s likes and dislikes. Some kids will wear only stretchy, soft knits, while others don’t mind wool, waistbands, crinolines and tight collars.
It’s quite possible to make a respectable showing in non-holiday frocks. Flusser suggests adding a lace collar, lace-edged socks and a petticoat to a summer-weight cotton dress.
Khaki pants, a nice sweater and black tennis shoes will do the trick for boys. Suspenders add a festive twist. And a bit of hair gel says the little guy’s been gussied up for a special occasion.
If you must buy new clothes, comparison shop and carefully consider the occasion. Will your child be lost in a sea of faces or be the snapshot centerpiece?
Sitting on Santa’s Lap: Take a tip from the host--wear a costume. A costume will set the child apart from the big red guy and you’ll have a photo reminder of Halloween, too.
Now is not the time to dress your child in red. You’ll get a tabloid-type photo of a large bearded being with two heads. If your child has a favorite outfit, send him or her off to Santa in it. It will help you date the photo in five years, when you find it under the sofa.
Number in Picture: Almost always two.
Wardrobe Considerations: Head to toe. Santa’s got a stranglehold on the Christmas theme, so work another angle.
The Family Holiday Card: Why not rub in the Southern California weather? Don’t dress the family in flannel, as if you were applying for Daughters of the American Revolution membership. Gloat a little and slip into such summer gear as Hawaiian shirts, Jams, Mossimo caps, bikinis and wrap-around sunglasses. It won’t cost you a nickel.
If the surf scene doesn’t suit you, go for a high-drama black and white photo. Wear high-contrast, heavily textured clothes and ask the photographer to crop tight on the heads.
Number in Picture: No one escapes this ordeal, not even the cats and dogs.
Wardrobe Considerations: For color portraits in a studio or elsewhere, it’s head to mid-calf attire; for the black and white shot, it’s TV-news-anchor-style--only clothes from the waist up count.
The School Holiday Program: The only person looking at your children is you. So why dress them up? Just send them off clean, to prevent sidelong glances from other parents. Maybe you could iron their clothes. If you feel a twinge of guilt when you see other kids in ribbons and lace, wool pants and clip-on ties, just imagine how those clothes will look after two recesses and a cafeteria lunch.
Number in Picture: 25-100.
Wardrobe Consideration: Virtually none.
Holiday Parties: Any party that includes the whole family is likely to be a casual affair. Now is the time for whimsical accessories, like a baseball cap with reindeer antlers or holiday-themed sweat shirts, but only if they’re worn by the children.
Number in Picture: Anywhere from one, a starring role in a snapshot, to scores, as extras in a miniseries-length video.
Wardrobe Consideration: This is the time to be festive. Anything in solid holiday color is an easy out.
The Obligatory Family Get-Together: Here’s the big pressure, the chance to prove that your children are not being raised by wolves, because if that were so, it would also reflect on the parents of the wolves.
This is the time to dress up in that festive style that falls somewhere between church and cocktail party. It’s where the department-store versions of kiddie black tie come in. Do you want your kids to be as uncomfortable as you? Of course not. Get them a holiday-themed cardigan.
They’re practical, cheery, comfortable and washable. Black velvet stirrup pants and lace tights for girls and a velour shirt for boys can last the winter without looking like holiday leftovers.
Number in Picture: Usually family groupings of two to seven. All the kids in one shot, all the sister-aunts in another, and so on. Unless yours is the only child, there will be safety in numbers.
Wardrobe Consideration: The kids have to be clean, they have to look festive, and they have to look like you made some effort to satisfy the Norman Rockwellian dream state Grandmother tries to perpetuate.
Christmas Morning: These are the photos you’ll be looking at for years. The big kids will probably want to wear T-shirts. Suggest they forgo Megadeath or White Snake for solid colors. Blanket sleepers with feet are the perfect PJs for little ones.
People in Picture: Singles. Full lengths and some close-ups.
Wardrobe Consideration: The only person who needs new clothes for the early-a.m. event is the parent. Without scads of relatives or friends to hide behind, you don’t want to get caught in the same old bathrobe.
