Girlie girl pink princess fairy store in London

Wait, did I fail to mention pink and girlie?

I came upon this Mystical Fairies pink princessy shop yesterday in the village of Hampstead, London. And even though this kind of store is everything that I am NOT, I couldn't help but go inside! I thought of Avery, mostly, and ... okay... basically every little girl in the history of mankind. I have to say I was awe-struck at once, and wish I could show you a picture of the intricately princess'd inside (Trust me, I tried and was almost taken out by a pink tutu'd glitter employee)

The shop itself wasn't that large, but wall to wall tea sets, dolls, ballet girlness, gowns, glitter, fairydust makeup, hair accessories, princess jewelry, purses, sequins, canopies, etc ... and even hanging from the ceiling were glittery branches holding fairies, butterflies and girl wonder-ness.

My mum bought a new fairy teaset for the girls, and invitations to a teaparty. The checkout employee had ringlets, tiara, and a tutu.

So if you know me ... it wasn't long before I started feeling claustrophic as the walls of pink and frilly started crashing in on me... my breathing quickened and I had to go back outside into the fresh air. I felt like I needed something to redeem myself... like... find a sport store and buy a new jersey, or drop down in that village alley and start doing pushups. I wonder if this is how dads feel when in this same situation? Where did my girlie girl gene go? Did my sister get double? All I know is ... we do things for our girlie daughters because we love them, and we know they love the pink girlie princesses, so of course we oblige! But I would openly embrace it, love it, delight in it TOO if it had more of a tomboy edge on it.

This is what it would look like:

HOT pink and brown

glitter football stripe sticks

pink sporting goods, cleats, socks, bats, balls,

vintage pictures of Sport Princesses on the walls... and sport pennants... and framed jerseys... and merchandise

Green turf floor with white 10 yard lines on it

The jewelry would be sport wristbands, headbands, leatherbands, soccer ball earrings

Princess gowns next to the sport jerseys and crinoline

and a high def tv on the wall playing sporting games so the dads would still feel manly and embrace going in, too.

A Sport Princess beginning

I used to flinch at the word "princess".

My sister teased me when I made my own onesies for my daughter when she was newborn... I wasn't finding much neutral colored clothes for so young, and when I put Mackayla in boy onesies... yellow or blue or green, everyone thought she was a boy... and that just wasn't fair to my sweet little baby.

So I bought pink plain onesies, and sport patches from a craft store, and made my own! I'd put on a sport ball patch, a number or two, and sometimes put her name "Mack" across the back. I didn't think much about it back then, but now I realize it was the start of the Sport Princess concept.

My sister teased me again after she taught Mackayla all the mainstream princess names and got her into dress-up gowns. See, she had a baby girl just 9 days after I did! Sweet little Avery, who is the girly-girl-princess of them all. I was no competition at first... Mackayla started requesting a dress everyday. So I compromised and bought her new flouncy skirts to twirl in, but sport shirts to go with it... and eventually... her own mini football jerseys. She loved it! As long as she had some girly twist to go along with the rugged sports, she was thrilled.

Ringlets... glittery stripes... puffy crinoline under her skirt...

It wasn't until after I created Sport Princess characters, pictures, and stories that she really got hooked though. She started asking me to call her "Jo" and wore her pink soccer socks and cleats through the house and to preschool! She made me cut out paper dolls and characters and act out the stories with her at night. She has colored and painted countless Sport Princess pictures by my side at night. She is both my biggest fan and inspiration.

The real eye-opener was when we hooked Avery, too.

I have rarely seen anything as beautiful as a rugged sport shirt or jersey over a flouncy skirt, coupled with tennis shoes or cleats, skipping off to preschool and singing a sport tune.

"J J! na-na-na-na-na.....na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na... na-na... na-na"

Will you help me share it with others who might feel the same?