Do you live in a naice bit of London and have a 4/5 yr old?

[Orangedaisy]

If so, is it socially acceptable for your child to go to a church hall style birthday party (with entertainer) wearing a polyester fancy dress/princess/superhero outfit, should they choose to do so?

DM claims it’s not on, and I should make sure my DD wears something nice from John Lewis or joules...... I think DD should wear whatever the hell she wants.

Point on candles noted, thanks, will remind DM. I always keep DD away from the cake anyway (hair....).

Costumes are fine at that age. Getting too smartly/formally dressed up on the other hand might raise an eyebrow.

I generally say no to this but because of the tripping over long skirt risk/fire risk/getting too sweaty when running about. Not because it’s inappropriate.

because of the tripping over long skirt risk/fire risk/getting too sweaty when running about

I usually talk them into a pair of leggings/shorts and a tee underneath, or take them with.

Then if the skirt is hampering or they get too hot they can just strip the dress off. Same for the birthday cake thing if they’re thkind of kid that likes to be near the candles.

I live in West London where there are lots of professional families

As opposed to amateur families?!

We're in a "naice-ish" borough and it's certainly true that the more grubbier and unkempt the child is and the more mismatched and wrongly sized their clothes are, the more middle class the parents tend to be.

We're in a "naice-ish" borough and it's certainly true that the more grubbier and unkempt the child is and the more mismatched and wrongly sized their clothes are, the more middle class the parents tend to be

With bonus class points if their clothes/car is covered in labrador hair...

Also in a naice bit of SW London. This is totally fine. DS1 hates dressing up and is always the odd one out in ‘normal’ clothes at parties. Quite common for the kids to be in dress up even if it isn’t a fancy dress party. Absolutely no one cares.
The poshest person in the kids’ school (she has a title as does her 7 year old son) buys her clothes from Sainsbury’s and her kids clothes from Tesco...

I would echo what PPs have said about the safety of dressing up costumes. There was a horrific accident where a child's costume caught fire from catching on a tealight in a pumpkin lantern while trick or treating, resulting in life changing injuries. The material they are made from goes up in seconds and melts into the skin.

Please please please, regardless of what your child wears, stop with the "naice" bollocks.

But everyone who answered knew what I meant. Happy to use other language if you can suggest some (politely!)

Your question is a reasonable one whether you live in Belgravia or Bradford,
And bravo to @formerbabe for the amateur families comment.

Well I don’t live in said naice area so I genuinely didn’t know whether princess dresses are worn at parties there. I would have let DD wear whatever she wanted, no matter what mumsnet threw up, I was just curious. I needed to use naice as it is understood on here in the context I wanted to know iyswim.

I do swym, but it's a weird Mumsnetism used in a faux Hyacinth Bucket way in an attempt at irony but in fact it's totally unnecessary to tell us how much money these people/one has. As I said- the question is ok regardless of where you live.

I’m on Clapham. It’s totally normal. Although a party in NW3 was rather posher on the outfit front! So depends how naice...