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Do you have kids who love to dress up just as much as my kids do? Every day, my boys are putting together a new outfit to go along with imaginary games they are playing. It usually involves hunting down bad guys and superhero moves, so I knew they would love playing with these fun army items.
These Army Dress Ups are a part of my Dollar Store Dress Up Series. In this series, I take items I find at the dollar or thrift stores and create an item that my boys can use in their dress up box. I found that it’s especially hard to find things for boys because most dress up items are catered to girls.
Dollar Tree has some great items for dress up. I found the helmets and vests in two different colors of camo-green and khaki. They also had some fun accessories to go with them, including grenades, binoculars, and compasses.
The items are fun on their own, but I wanted to do something a little more with them. I thought it would be fun to add their names and give them patches when they complete goals this year.
To add their names, I used black iron-on vinyl and my vinyl cutting machine. I put “Sgt. Sean” and “Sgt. Jackson” because I thought that would make it more authentic. Because the vests are made out of material that melts in heat, I couldn’t iron the vinyl directly on the vests themselves. So, I used some khaki cotton fabric and put the names on it. Then, I used hot glue, yes hot glue!, to put the fabric on the vests. It’s held up great so far!
And now for the patches. We just started doing this challenge but this is how it will work. When they complete a goal, I am going to use inkjet fabric transfer paper to print off a patch that goes along with their goal. Then, I’ll iron on the “patch” to the khaki fabric and glue the fabric on the vests. Some of the goals we have are:
Super Reader, Terrific Swimmer, Home Run Batter, Dance Maniac, Big Helper, Cleaning Expert, Potty King, and Kindness Master.
I thought of these things that we have been wanting them to work on and then could give them a challenge. Once they complete the goals we give them, we will give them a patch and a treat. I will update the list with the patches as I make them. We are just starting it so wish me luck! It’s going to be fun.
