Bunnykins and Pierrot the Clown

This time each year we love to visit small, quaint thrift shops in search of addition items, just perfect for inclusions into our "tickle trunk".

Bunnykins

and
Pierrot the Clown

They were happy shoppers at our local thrift shop,
chosing fun additions to our tickle trunk.

If you recall the daytime children's show with host “Mr. Dressup” , you will most definitely know then what a tickle trunk is. Ernie Coombs played the lead character during an amazing and longest running children's television show from 1967-1996, and still, there are continued reruns each week today, found on CBC TV.

Mr. Dressup was airing daily when I was a youngster, and years later, a show my own children have enjoyed over the years as well, that is when we had cable television (there is none here in our location),watching the ever popular puppets, "Casey and Finnigan" with their brilliantly imagined adventures.

Mr. Dressup's tickle trunk

Never mind the children, I loved watching Mr. Dressup draw on his art easel, tell stories, make believe in the garden with the puppets and (my favorite part) search inside the trickle trunk for perfect dress up costumes. I am so excited to recently find out about Mr. Dressup's timeless classic children's broadcasts beginning to trickle in on offered DVDs, shown below. What a hoot! And, aside from other legends such as "Mr. Rogers" and "Fred Penner", we still prefer Mr. Dressup hands down to this day! A trivia item for you to end this blurb: Mr. Dressup was the best man at Mr. Roger's real-life wedding.

Mr. Dressup DVDs now available

WE have our own version of a tickle trunk, a trunk my mother and husband secretly sanded, painted and fully restored for me long, long ago now (I was 17 years old then), and one that initially stored hopechest items (quilts and matching pillows my mother made, and engagement gifts), clothes for our children to grow into, and then followed by clothes they grew out of awaiting the next child to use. Then, it became the tickle trunk! It has within it a built in removable drawer sitting on the top of the actual inside trunk, so we can store the smaller hard to find items in it, like gloves and accessories. But, deep inside the antique restored treasure itself, there are glorious playtime outfits, old dance costumes and enough hats to become whoever the children desire to be. They love to pick and choose clothing to represent historical figures (like the playmobil I wrote about before doubling as live renditions instead of toys), interesting characters from their assigned living literature stories, Bible or Saint heroes we read about and celebrate feast days with, all th while, loving every moment of the dress up challenge. The children and the grandchildren often make us guess who they are, but there is never a shortage around here of make believe, historical re-enactments, and the like.

Earlier this month we visited several small local thrift stores (we loathe places like Value Village at this time of year that is not our type of fun!) in search of additional possibilities usually displayed at this time of year. Three of the children found special items they just had to have and love! We now have a “Bunnykins”, “Pierrot the Clown" and “Scarlett O'Hara” with a poof of big frilly sleeves gracing her royal blue full lengthened gown, though the latter child would not allow a photo just yet.

After a fluffy washing and dry, here are two of the new outfits for inclusion into our "trickle trunk" fun.

She just had to have this costume,
a true bunny lover now and forever!

See my tail?

Watch me do my tricks.

Alas though, when he prefers not to be representing something sweet, he changes persona by donning another outfit deep within the tickle trunk, lately becoming either St. George seeking the fiery dragon with sword in hand ready to do battle (what is it with boys and swords?), or the iconic villain fictionalized character from the action packed movie series; "Star Wars", that of none other than; "Darth Vader" (which is quite funny as he's never seen the movies and only heard about them by much older siblings). Now, we'll be off to the local dollar store to find him another (!) light saver, the kind making noises as it's in battle motion. During these intense, self driven battles saving the universe, our fighter will often encounter his older brother in moments such as this, suddenly himself inspired to become transformed into the good guy (or the dragon - smile), swords tip to tip, rolling and rushing about with their capes flying against the wind, fiercely giving way to a full siege, then at the end of another battle moment the good guy seemingly wins again, as is the case each and every time mostly due to height and weight of the opponent (laugh).

Mom! I'm trying to finish my math!

The moral of the story for them is; the good guy always outweighs and beats the bad guy, saving the day. A good versus evil story ending for all to ponder.

Ah, one thing is certain. Whether on Mr. Dressup, or within the privacy of our own residences, our children will naturally dream of things to play, become inspired by people they will choose to mimic and we must allow for that imagination to overtake our homes when the moment occurs, transforming it into a wonderland for them to remember these times in the future.