Old Navy Thinks My Daughter Has to be a *Ballerina* Monkey

Like a lot of moms this time of year, I’ve started looking around for potential Halloween costumes for my little girl.  I like to start on the web because it’s easy to see who carries what.  My daughter has a keen interest in sheep and tigers right now, so I was looking for something along that line.  I was pretty excited when I saw that Old navy carries Halloween costumes, and they even have a tiger no less!  My excitement turned to dismay when I saw this:

Um yeah…because basic animal costumes are for boys.  Here is a snapshot of the girls’ collection:

Guess girls have to be *ballerina* monkeys, if they are to be monkeys at all.  Gah!
Just to be clear, I’ve got nothing against girls dressing up as cupcakes or Snow White or even ballerina monkeys.  But I don’t see why girls can’t also dress up as tigers, sharks, or regular monkeys.  Way to keep promoting the stereotypes, Old Navy.  I expected a lot better from you.

I was annoyed enough to actually email their customer service about this.
Me:  I was looking at your Halloween costumes for girls and boys, and I have a real problem with the way they’re segregated.  All of the “boys” costumes are simple animals like a tiger, monkey, etc.  Why can these not also be “girls” costumes?  Why does the “girls” monkey have to be a ballerina version?  And why would you assume that girls want to be cupcakes but not tigers?

I got a reply which was as follows: Please know it is never our intention to upset or frustrate our customers in anyway. We do our best to offer our customers top quality, fashionable merchandise at a fair price, and we regret disappointing you.  Blah blah blah…

I didn’t think it was their intention.  I’m sure this was purely unintentional, but what I’m asking them to do here is think a little bit.  Maybe there could just be a generic “Halloween costume” section for kids?

When I was a kid, I think there was one year when I dressed as a princess for Halloween.  But in other years I went as a tiger, a witch, a gift box (yeah that looked as funny as it sounds), etc.  I don’t know if I’m just old and times have changed or what.  All I know is that my daughter loves tigers and leopards and sheep, so that’s what she’s going to be for Halloween.  Even if that means she gets a costume from the boys’ section.

Ever feel like ripping your hair out while shopping for toddler clothes?

I recently started shopping for my daughter’s fall wardrobe (yep, she wears other brands.  She’d be naked most of the time if she depended on Technigirl for most of her clothing since we make limited quantities!).  Shopping for toddler clothes is soooo frustrating!  A 2T in one brand is often nowhere near a 2T in another brand.  And, even worse, a 2T size of similar items within the same brand can be bizarrely different.  Case in point:  I often buy outerwear at the Gap for my daughter.  Usually, their coats are HUGE.  Last year, I bought her a 12-18M (she hit 12M last November) and it was huge on her when the season started, but fit perfectly by the end of the season.  I figured I would do the same this year and it would work out great.  Yeah, not so much.  I bought her a 2T in this super cute jacket, only to find out that it barely covered her belly, and left no room for sweaters, etc. underneath!  And my daughter is a little on the small side (she’s almost never been above the 25% for weight).  So I bought a 3T for my 21 month old daughter to wear this winter.  Crazy.

The worst offenders are those oh-so-cute and matchy “sets”.  That’s right, I’m talking to you, Carter’s.  It’s such a great idea on the surface – for one reasonable price, you get a cute top with a matching pant or legging.  I don’t know about you, but my toddler is not exactly proportioned like an adult.  She has short-ish legs and a long torso.  Yet many of the pants in these sets seem to be sized as though these kids had Amazonian legs.  So what ends up happening is, I pay good money for the set, but she only gets to wear the top.  The pants stretch 6 inches past her feet and basically just sit unused in her drawer.  By the time they fit, she’s outgrown the top!  Now I mentioned Carter’s because they seem to be one of the worst for this.  I’ve had better luck with certain other brands, particularly the more expensive ones like Tea Collection.  But ya know, I don’t have the money to dress my daughter entirely in Tea Collection, so she gets a mix of stuff from Carter’s, Target, Gap, and a few others, including Technigirl of course!

So I’m boycotting sets.  From here on out, this kid gets separates only!