Cot bed, Adult single bed or Child bed?

[longbay]

My DD is 26 months and ready to have the side taken off her cot. However I was wandering whether I should just change her bed completely and buy her a proper single bed or child bed to signify the 'big change'.
I don't want to make a big deal of it, however I think it would be nice to let my DD know that she is a big girl now.
Any ideas?

I think it's better to just take the side off the cot to start with - that way the bed will feel the same, which should help her to settle. Plus it is very close to the floor if they fall out while getting used to it!

On dd1s 2nd birthday I took her out cot and put her in full size single bed. I wondered if she would fall out as she's a wriggler but she never did! She slept totally still all night! We put cot mattress on floor for her jut in case though

both mine went into a full sized single bed - dd at 2 and ds at nearly age 3. We didnt have a cot bed though so there wasnt the option of taking the sides off the cot.

Both mine also went into full size single at about that age (ds1 2:2 dd2 2.5). Had a bed rail for a bit until they got used to it. Only 1 bed and bedding set to get, so cheaper int he long run.

Also went straight from cot to proper bed - cheaper in long run, and you can put the cot matress on the floor for the first few weeks to give them a soft landing!

Great suggestions about using the cot bed mattress as a 'crash mat'. Thanks for all your advice.