Decorating your ‘Darby house’

My husband and I try our best to keep our daughters, ages 3 ½ and 18 months, away from overly commercialized products.

My oldest definitely knows who Dora the Explorer is, but she’d have a hard time naming the Disney princesses. A couple weeks ago, my heart broke when she recognized Barbie in the Sunday newspaper advertisements, but I chuckled to myself when she referred to the product she was looking at as a “Darby house” by mistake.

Some of our friends and family members say we should just relax. It’s not like we’re freaking out or anything; we just think they’re too young to long for this or that just because some marketing genius at Mattel knows how to make a buck.

I’m not saying this is the right way to parent. It’s just our way. The last thing I am is an expert on parenting.

Lately, when my daughter starts to show an inclination toward something commercial, I’ve been trying to find ways to explore her interest without giving into the mass-produced toys. She’s been talking about princesses ever since attending a princess-themed birthday last month, so we checked out some non-Disney fairy tale books from the library and I’ve started calling her Easter dress her “princess dress” (it scores pretty high on the twirlability scale).

When she’s having a Barbie moment, I pull out my stash of free makeup samples and we get “fancy.”

The more I think about it, there are a lot of ways to enjoy popular kids’ themes in creative, more personalized ways.

-Take a peek at this “Princess and the Pea” playroom designed for a 3 year old by Jennifer Ward, of Minor Details Design (Brooklyn based. Sorry). I love how it’s girly but not in a syrupy-sweet way.

-Thank your lucky stars if your child decides to fall for “101 Dalmations” or some other animal-themed idea. From making bedding out of this adorable fabric to volunteering at an animal shelter, there’s no shortage of ways to explore her interest.

-I received an e-mail the other day from a mom who’s putting together a bedroom for her two young sons to share. The boys love superheroes, but she’s afraid if she buys all the matchy-poo bedding sets, curtains, etc., they’ll outgrow the theme within a couple of years.

So how about sticking to classic colors (mom said the boys love red and brown) and then decorating with superhero accents, like framing a Superman poster or starting a collection of classic superhero lunchboxes to be displayed on a shelf? You could even have a superhero lunchbox personalized for your little one here.
If those ideas are still too commercial for you, create your own superheroes and order these personalized capes for the kids.

-If Star Wars is your kid’s thing (or your thing—you’re not fooling anyone), you’re in luck. There’s no shortage of crafters out there offering alternative ideas to the products you can buy off the shelves.
Here’s a roundup of ideas from Craft.
And my editor Joe sent me this link to a hilarious Tauntaun sleeping bag . I don’t even know what a Tauntaun is, but I’m still laughing.

What ideas do you have for indulging your child’s interests without plastering their rooms with cartoon characters?