What did your 2 year old wear to dinner?

[Chan_T]

We are currently planning to cruise (Carnival) in December with our daughter (who will be 2 at the time). It will be her first cruise and our first cruise with a toddler. So, for those of you who are veterans at this...what did your 2 year old daughter wear to dinner each night in the dining room? Also, what did she wear on elegant nights? Thanks in advance.

[YOWmom]

My girls (now 7 and 2) have way too many dresses and not enough places to wear them, so on cruises they usually wear one to dinner every night. For more casual nights they usually wear more casual cotton or jersey sundresses, and on the more formal nights, party dresses or similar. On our recent Disney cruise, my older daughter even got a second wear out of a flower girl dress from a wedding she was in last year. But really, for a 2 YO I think anything goes - if your DD isn't a dress kind of girl, then I think any nice casual comfy outfit would do, especially for the non-formal nights. If you do go the dress route, you might want to bring a light sweater as sometimes the AC can be a little too cool...

[kittycat_26]

I have boys which seem to be harder to deal with when dressing for dinner because shorts are so controversial.

 

For us, my youngest DS was 2 plus 3 months when we cruised carnival last February. He wore whatever was clean. Whether it was pants, shorts, or his suit, he was a huge hit in the dining room. He was greeted personally by many tables as we made our way to dinner and loved it.

 

I can't even begin to thank the people who were kind to him and to us. A 2 year old off of his schedule is sometimes a nasty thing to deal with but we were never shunned. In fact, many tried to help.

 

Have a great time.

[seashell36]

We didn't start cruising until our youngest was four. But, we've had several flower girl dresses that the girls have worn for "cruise elegant" nights. On other nights a sundress with a light sweater or a cute capri and shirt outfit would be perfect.

[Soleil09]

My son (17 months at the time) wore pants and a polo shirt. For elegant night I got him a 3 piece suit with a clip on tie. Very cute!

I think any sort of dress would be fine for your DD.

[Julienatul]

My DD wears a casual dress or skirt set each evening and then her Easter or Christmas formal dress on formal night. We like to get a bit dressed up on cruises, its something we dont always do so it makes it that much more special.

[ladeeesquire]

our first cruise with dd was last sept when she was 2.5. this was after a week at disney so packing was an issue. I brought her one nice dress for formal night then just dressed her kind of cute on the other nights. she was fine. we all dressed down a bit for that one--2 week trip for 4 adults and a toddler is a LOT of luggage--we were within dress code but barely and no one seemed to care a bit. Every one loved our dd!

 

our last cruise was a 10 night in march of this year. We were cruising only and flew on an airline which allowed for lots of luggage. We dressed up every night which included relatively inexpensive party/easter type dresses for dd every night. Yes, I brought her 10 dresses!!! plus about 5 pair of dress shoes, matching earrings/bracelets and hair pretties! It was fun and we all enjoyed it and everyone loved my dd again!! But, it was not necessary.

 

Either way you choose to go, casual or more dressy, it will be just fine!

 

susan

[YOWmom]

ladeesquire - (with apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread) but how was the 10 night on Celebrity with a toddler/pre-schooler?? We would LOVE to try Celebrity, not to mention southern Caribbean, but figured we should wait til the kids are older (they're now 7 and 2). Would love to hear about your experience though... thanks:)

[reallyexcited]

my 2 year old is wearing polos and khaki pants on casual nights...dress shirt and ties on formal nights.

 

we took our DD when she was 13 months and she wore cute dresses...cute capri sets, easter dress ( one night was easter)

[ladeeesquire]

ladeesquire - (with apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread) but how was the 10 night on Celebrity with a toddler/pre-schooler?? We would LOVE to try Celebrity, not to mention southern Caribbean, but figured we should wait til the kids are older (they're now 7 and 2). Would love to hear about your experience though... thanks:)

 

it was great! Interestingly enough, there were very few kids on board, only 10 under the age of 10 on the whole ship. Apparantly this is quite common. For some, that might be problematic because of wanting more same aged kids in the kids program. For us, it didn't matter. My dd wants absolutely nothing to do with the kids program. We did visit there one day and she played with the kids who were there but we cannot leave her. Otherwise, she was a huge celebrity with the crew and all the other passengers. The itinerary was great! Beautiful beaches, etc. I'd do the exact same trip again if we could --they're not doing that itinerary anymore. Bummer.

 

feel free to ask any other questions!

[Chan_T]

Thanks for all the great input. I was thinking of doing dresses (and maybe cropped leggings) with a cardigan/sweater most nights. One of my biggest struggles right now is trying to decide on size. Most of the clothes I have been buying her for this summer are 12-18 months and 18-24 months, depending on the item. She will turn 2 right before we cruise, so I am hoping that she will still be able to wear most of the 18-24 items, but not sure. I guess I'll have a better idea over the next few months.