Magic suitcase

Today my parents and my grandpa came to visit and my grandpa brought me this:


Yes, this is an old suitcase. I would guess REALLY old! I was looking for an old one to make a "magic suitcase" out of it and was very happy that my granddad still had one. It is even not broke yet or anything and there is even still a key to it. (If this would have been my suitcase I am sure the key would have been lost a LONG LONG time ago.) I also love the inside - it has two pockets.

Well, I guess you are wondering what a magic suitcase is? Well, I have to admit I stole the idea from Melissa and her lovely blog. It's a suitcase full of dress-up clothes. I was wanting to put together dress-up clothes for a long time. I inteded to put them into a box or some kind of wooden chest. But I was a bit scared to use the chest after all, because I was afraid my daughter might squish her fingers when closing the lid. So, when I read Melissa's post that was it - a suitcase! What a lovely idea! (Also as Melissa points out the advantage of being able to easily take it with you is a great one.) I call it "magic suitcase" - that was actually my idea ;-) - because by using it's contents you can be someone else. And I simply loved the name! :-) Had to make it sound more mysterious. :-) And I wanted it to be an old suitcase rather than a new one ... I think it just fits better - and maybe makes even a nice decoration in the kid's room.
So I have the suitcase ... now I need to get stuff together to fill it. For now I let my daughter play with the empty suitcase. She wants to put all her play shop stuff in there. Also up until now she was never really into dressing-up. She did like to get her face painted to be a mouse or something like that ... but getting all dressed-up wasn't her thing yet. But I'm quite sure that will change with time. I also think it will be totally cute for a birthday or when friends come over ... So I am really looking forward to February because in Germany there is carnival. They sell costumes and face paint and accessories everywhere and I am hoping to get some good deals afterwards ... :-)