A couple of weekends ago, a friend was throwing a fifth grade graduation party for her daughter, and my husband and I were invited. A few days before, I asked my friend what kinds of things her daughter liked, and she said that she was getting into all the ”girly-girl” stuff. This made me think back to what I was into when I was that age, and I totally understood.
So the day before the party I set out to go gift shopping, but I didn’t expect that shopping for my friend’s little girl would introduce me to the joy of shopping for my own inner twelve year old.
Having fun doesn’t have to be expensive
I walked into the local Dollar Tree looking for fun hair accessories and lip glosses that a twelve year old girl would like. But the first thing that caught my eye were a pack of pink socks with adorable ice cream cones printed all over them.
I picked up one pair for my friend’s daughter.
And another for myself.
There was a pretty notebook with clouds printed all over the cover. I grabbed one for her, and I got a nice notebook for me too. I started noticing things in the store that I wouldn’t have normally noticed, but that I really liked: scented crayons, an organizer with sparkles embedded in the plastic, pretty headbands that I would actually wear…
Soon it became clear that I was shopping for two twelve year olds.
This experience reminded me a lot of the artist date idea by Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist’s Way. In fact, she also recommends going to an inexpensive store, buying art materials that a child would use, and seeing what you can make with them.
Reconnecting with my natural creativity
As mentioned earlier, I was finding myself being drawn to creative materials that I don’t usually consider. Scented crayons. Clay. Embroidery kits.
As an adult, when it comes to my creativity, I think a lot about how to create a polished end result. How can I make things that look nice? How can I make things I can sell?
But when shopping for your inner child all that matters is, “Does this look fun or interesting?”
If you want to get in touch with your authentic interests and aesthetics, allow yourself to only focus on what looks fun to you. You may discover some unexpected things.
I am the creator of my own style
After going to the Dollar Tree, I headed on to Five Below, which is more expensive but still very cheap. I couldn’t find any good lip glosses at the Dollar Tree, so I decided to try my luck at this store instead.
Five Below is known for having a wide selection of fun $5 T-shirts, and I’ve bought T-shirts from there before. However, when shopping through the eyes of my inner child, things looked a bit different.
I was inexplicably drawn to a trucker hat featuring all of the Sanrio characters. It was a kawaii explosion of Hello Kitty and her friends. My twelve year old self would have loved this. My twenty-five year old self would have loved this.
But I haven’t worn anything like that since hitting my thirties. It’s like, hot pink.
But then I was like, “So what? Most people think I’m twenty-three anyways.” So I bought it.
I bought quite a few inexpensive fashion items that day that I loved, but were outside of the realm of what’s typical for me. But I felt in indulging that, I was much closer to understanding what my true-self enjoys.
Give some time to your inner child
Do yourself a favor and take your inner child on a date. Buy weird art items, cheap dolls and action figures, or unique fashion finds that aren’t the norm for you, but that you love anyways.
I’ve always believed that the way we spend money points to what we value.
For me, being twelve was a very difficult period in my life that I’m still trying to heal from. Going out and mindfully spending some time and money on that part of myself was like telling that lonely and sad little girl, “Hey, I see you. I think you’re amazing. And what you love and enjoy is valuable, even if no one else gets it.”
°•°•°•°•