Inspired by this brilliant post from Summer Bellessa last week (I Let My Toddler Dress Me For Week – Here’s What Happened) , on Friday I let my 4 year old daughter choose what I wore on the school run… and it became a campaign for Comic Relief!
We were even featured in the Daily Mail!
You can join in too! Just text "FUNNY" to 70011 to donate £1 and share your photo!
Hot off the press: scroll down to the bottom of this page to download an A4 poster, an A3 poster and a facebook post to help publicise your own attempts and get more people involved below! Many thanks to Jo at Driven By Design for these!Here's what happened when I had a go...
My four year old dressed me in pretty much everything pink she could find, including a tight pink jumper over a dress, her pink princess bag (accented with a teddy, naturally), some bright pinky-purple tights and red patent heels...
And (thankfully) a long velvet coat that hid much of my spectacular ensemble.
As a tool for getting everyone up and out the house on time and happy, it was a winner. As a tool for encouraging wardrobe and bedroom tidiness, not so much…
Nonetheless, my daughter proudly led the way as I sashayed through the school gates looking utterly ridiculous. She didn’t care that some of the parents were clearly wondering whether I’d actually made it home to bed yet.
She only had eyes for those already shrieking with delight at my ‘refreshing’ new look. (One lone lovely friend didn’t bat an eyelid. She told me later she’d just assumed it must be what everyone was wearing in Paris, because I’d been there the day before…).
Cue much laughter and smiling at the school gates. I posted evidence of my outfit over on Facebook, encouraging other folks to have a go, and it went crazy with comments from friends trying to psyche themselves up to have a go too…
So along with lovely Tracy from The Bear and Miss Rabbit, Amy Beeson-Uddin of The New Arrival, and many more lovely brave people, we quickly agreed that Comic Relief would be the perfect incentive (as unlike me, some people apparently need an incentive to make a fool of themselves …)
As I’m already gearing up for the Team Honk 6 hour danceathon, I checked in with the fabulous team over there, who thought it would be an ideal #honkfromhome activity. Lots more parents said YES they’re in. And even some of the teachers at my son’s school said they’d let the kids dress them.
I then got extremely over-excited when Comic Relief’s very own Emma Freud tweeted her love of the idea… LOOK!!
So it looks like #mykidsdressedme is officially ON.
I’ll be letting my kids dress me again. And I hope you will be too.
What’s the plan?
On Red Nose Day, Friday 13 March, (and in fact on any other day you fancy in between!) let’s try to get as many parents as possible to get dressed by their kids; and ask them and their friends to donate to Comic Relief for the pleasure of joining in (or seeing someone they know make a fool of themselves…).
If you want to do it earlier, or for longer, feel free. To join in, just text "FUNNY" to 70011 to donate £1!
And when you have a go, you could also nominate 3 others to have a go at #mykidsdressedme for charity next!
If you do it earlier - like even TODAY or TOMORROW - you might even get your photo featured in Comic Relief's posters and on the set... BE WARNED!
As long as you donate, we don’t mind when you do it or what you wear. Because underneath all the long velvet coats, teddy-bears and red patent heels, what really matters is how the funds we raise can make a difference to those in need.
OK I’m in – eek - what should I do first?
Pledge to join us using the hashtags #mykidsdressedme and #honkfromhome on social media.
See if your school and/or your bravest mates fancy joining in – it will be much less embarrassing if there’s a whole gang of you looking ridiculous in the playground.
Failing that, go it alone - and nominate 3 others when you're done!
Before you chicken out, ask your friends to donate RIGHT NOW to make sure you really do follow through.
How can we donate?
Just text "FUNNY" to 70011 to donate £1, and share your selfie! You'll get sent a link to send your photo, and it could get used in the Red Nose Day campaign too.... in the background on TV, on posters, the sky's the limit!
And if you want to donate more than £1, feel free to use this #mykidsdressedme Red Nose Day Giving page we made earlier with Team Honk...!
Do I have to be a mum?
NO definitely not! We want mums, dads, grandparents, teachers, in fact just about anyone who is up for being dressed by the kids in their lives.
How do I share my photo?
Post it on facebook, twitter, instagram wherever you like! Just add the #mykidsdressedme and #honkfromhome hashtags so we can find it. And of course, donate!
We're also making a little My Kids Dressed Me gallery on Story of Mum, and we'd love to share your photos there too to inspire others to join in - so share it here too if you can! (just click on 'join in' there and find your photo to upload... )
How can I promote what we’re doing?
Please share this post, use the hashtags #mykidsdressedme and #honkfromhome to talk about what we’re doing, and share the text donation number!
Download the posters and facebook image from below, and share them far and wide - with your community, playgroups, schools, and random people you meet in the street...
And naturally, we’ll all be encouraging more people to donate by sharing photographic evidence of us all looking ridiculous on facebook, twitter, instagram and anywhere else you care to hang out, using the #mykidsdressedme and #honkfromhome hashtags.
If you want to follow what we’re up to, find us on twitter at @storyofmum @theBearRabbit and @amyibeeson – as well as following the main @team_honk account.
If you’re happier in the real world than on social media, we’ll be sharing a printable poster very soon that you can use to persuade others to join in or donate.
Still not sure? Here’s a final recap:
10 reasons to let your kids dress you on Red Nose Day (or indeed any other day...!)
1. It will make your morning A LOT more fun (because it’s hard to shout “Shoes! Teeth! Now!!!” and laugh at your reflection in the mirror at the same time)
2. You might actually get to school/work/out the house on time and smiling (we got to school on time for the first time in ages because the kids couldn’t wait to show the world how fabulous I looked…)
3. Even if you don’t get to school on time, everyone will be laughing so much they probably won’t notice. Plus, if you nominate 3 other people to join you, you get to laugh at them too...
4. Your kids will think it is brilliant (either because they genuinely want to make you look ‘good’ or because they genuinely want to make you look like an idiot).
5. It’s a great confidence booster. The kids felt like visionary stylists, and I felt pretty amazing (afterwards…!) that I was actually brave enough to prance around the playground looking like that.
6. You’ll be raising invaluable funds for Comic Relief
7. Those funds will help amazing projects like these.
8. You might just discover a great new colour/clothes/hair combination that you’d never considered before. I shall be wearing pink tights and red shoes again, genuinely…
9. One silly colourful morning might just change our big grey world for the better. Because...
10. Did I mention you’ll be raising invaluable funds for Comic Relief…?
11. (a new one!!) You could enter your photo in a lovely competition from Saltwater Sandals to win yourself some funky sandals over here.
Many thanks for the photos from (top to bottom):
Me, The Bear and The Rabbit, Tigerlilly Quinn, Alexandra Goldstein, and Bambino Art Photography.
In other heart-warming news, we have an amazing competition to win yourself some me-time if you fancy that; and we're encouraging you to make yourself Mama Me-Time Tokens. As you do ;)
Woop woop! Download your posters and facebook pic as PDFs below - or you can download the image below directly for facebook