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Posted September 1, 2009 by Sabrina Weill

At first it was easy to satisfy our Little Princess' desire for pink-only clothing: The clothes had to be mostly pink, and then she would wear them. Done. Then, more rules came: Her clothes couldn't be scratchy. Or stiff. Or have any other color on them...

Polka dots were okay, but stripes were not. And pants? Don't even bring them in the house. "Give these away to other children," LP declared, pointing at a heap of mostly pink, non-scratchy pants I'd traveled many malls to gather, which had taken her but a few moments to pile in the corner of her room, near the door. "I only wear dresses."

Next came the obvious evolution: "Can I have a princess dress, like the kind you wear to the ball? A pink one, with long sleeves, and sparkles."

I found a little sparkly number at Target (see photo), and rigged a long sleeve stretchy t-shirt under it to eliminate any possible scratch factor. But then, a complicating element: Play-dates. As calls of "It's my turn to wear the pink dress" came ringing down the hall (sometimes followed by the wrenching sound of polyester being dragged between little fingers), I realized something important: we were going to need a few of these.

Other lessons I've learned about The Royal Gown:

Get a few dresses that look pretty much the same. This cuts down (but does not eliminate) the "I want that dress, the better one" arguments among friends (and sisters).

Say "yes please" to hand-me downs. As other princesses in the neighborhood move on to Tinker Bell, fairies, Terminator, whatever, ask if they have any princess dresses they're game to hand down.

Make rules about The Royal Gown and stick to them. If you let a little princess wear her gown to school once, expect to ah, reenact that little discussion every morning.

A few cute dresses:

PINK-n-CLASSIC: Little Adventures Pink Princess Dress from Target, $26.99

FANCY-BALLET: Whimsy Ranch Ballet Tutu, $56.00

EVERYDAY-COZY: Disney Long-Sleeve Princess Tee Dress for Girls, $9.99

Finally: Don't sweat a bit of chocolate. Or peanut butter, or dirt on The Dress. These ball gowns can usually go in the wash (check the label), and it's more fun to let her wear the dress to grown-up parties or out to dinner than to "save it" and keep it looking fresh and pretty. Our Little Princess wears hers to the park... though we take the tiara off for soccer practice.

Sabrina Weill is the founder of the pink and princess-y gift site PrincessLovesPink.com.