We loaded our MLP constumes on the bus and traveled to the Jaarbeurs. This time the entrance was in the gaming hall, which means a LOT of noise. I would have liked the entrance in a calmer hall, especially for kids, because going to Comic Con can be very overwhelming. Luckily my Geeklings took it well, but we moved to another hall quickly.

My girls like Comic Con when there are things to DO. They don't give a shit about famous guest, but they like to take pictures at green screens, paint the mural, discovering the House of Wax and hug furries. Especially the last thing.. my Geeklings adore furries, my youngest as long as they don't talk. I had two great days with them. Pieces of their costumes got lost along the way, which was good lesson. Next time I will make the outfits even less complex. My eldest already knows she wants to be a junior furry, and I ordered ears and a tail for her already. We are looking forward to the next edition of the DCC in March!

Some tops and tips for the Dutch Comic Con:

• The House of Wax is amazing every time, and Geeklings love it.
• Changes to take pictures, with green screens, or props are great.
•  The geek mural officially is for kids 7yrs and up, that's just sad for younger kids. Why not create a creative wall where the focus is on creativity, and not on painting between the lines..
• In the Playzone there were a few bouncing castles, great! Every Geekling loves these, but most found them by accident.. I believe they where a part of a Kids Zone, that didn't come together. I hope that something like it will be at de DCC in the future! Geeklings would love to help.

On November 23rd & 24th the winter edition of Dutch Comic Con will again be held in Jaarbeurs Utrecht. More than a month away, but time flies when you're working on a new  cosplay!

My eldest Geekling (4) is every excited about the Comic Con. She loves going there, seeing all the beautiful costumes, taking pictures with cosplayers, and just enjoying the experience. It looks like there will be a Kids Area this time, we'll keep you posted! I asked Evy who or what she wanted to be for the next Comic Con. She wanted to be a My Little Pony, she is a princess I was not surprised that she choose princess Celestia. Luckily for me, that pony has a badass sister, called Luna, she will be Celestia and I will be  Luna.

I started looking for ideas online and found a lot of MLP cosplay, but they were mostly by adults and hardly recognizable for a Geekling. So the search went on, I needed inspiration for a MLP cosplay that looks like a horse, but is also lightweight and comfortable. Finally I found I a halloween costume that had great elements. It is basically a horses backside and legs, that you can easily wear by tying a ribbon around your waist.

The materials are all lightweight, the feet are made with poolnoodles and I used materials I still had lying around for the body (more about that in part 2). I used two pool noodles. I wanted the legs to be same height as her own legs, and one pool noodle was 1.60cm long. Just a few centimeters too short. The noodles usually come in bright colors, in this case red.. and princess Celestia is white.. I knew that painting the legs would be hard, so I decided to help myself by buying some white tights. Evy will wear them anyway, so it would look good to have all four legs in the same color. Painting was still necessary, because the red color could easily be seen through the fabric. A good chance to let my Geeklings help! We needed two layers of simple acryl paint, but it looks like a good start of the costume now.

In the next blogs:
Part2: Body
Part3: Clothes and hair
Part4: Necklace, leg decoration and crown

One thing always came up when I talked to parents of other Geeklings at the Dutch Comic Con in March. They all wished there were more products for children. Maybe Geeklings.nl should fill that void?

For now, let's focus on the positive :-) Of course, toys are present at any Con, even if a lot are for older Geeks.. But two exhibitors at the Dutch Comic Con sold apparel for children. Star-Tees and Dirtees both sell rompers and shirts for Geeklings.
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Which you prefer is personal, the costs of a shirt (online) are similar, but the designs vary. I will only share my experience with Dirtees, because I only own Dirtees shirts. 
​The quality of the shirts is great! After lots of wear and washes, they still look good. The cotton is quite thick, which is different from a lot of shirts you buy at big stores these days.

The first Dirtees shirts my Geeklings wore, where an Iron Man shirt and a Cookie Monster one. Very fitting for my eldest, who LOVES food. I will never part with them, because they still look great. Maybe even for the next generation?

​​At the latest Comic Con I bought another two shirts. A red Wonder Woman shirt and a brownish baby Groot shirt. Another great thing about the Dirtees shirts, the sizing. They overlap sizes, so you can buy them a bit big and your Geekling can wear them for a long time. My youngest (2yrs old) fell in love with her Wonder Woman shirt immediately. She even cries when she has to take it off in the evening..

​​So, when on a con, visit Dirtees or Star-Tees and find a cute or badass shirt for your Geekling! Dirtees is also present in movie theaters of Pathé and Kinepolis, especially when a Geek movie premieres.

I saw so many amazing Geeklings at the Dutch Comic Con! Have a look at the new generation of geeks, you are awesome! Until next edition (23 and 24 november).

This weekend it's Dutch Comic Con again, in my hometown Utrecht. My eldest Geekling Evy loved her visit last time, so naturally I took her with me again. She dressed up as a rainbow fairy, and I decided to go as a the tenth doctor.

One thing we both loved was the house of wax, close to the entrance. It's theme was fairytales and everything looked amazing, from witches to princesses, to the emperor without clothes and sleeping beauty.. it had it all.

For children I can really recommend  the experience hal. I like the set up, with a lot of space to move around and discover everything. Major network Fox was there, but you could also have your picture taken with Dumbo, or as Shazam. At the Powerpuff Girls booth you could design a shirt with a personalized Powerpuff Girl, so we did :-) The smallest size was 116, which was fine (if not a bit big) for my four year old. You can also play card games in this hall, or work a collective painting. Children need supervision under the age of seven, because they take this sh*t seriously!
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The gaming hall was not for us, but could really be for other boys and girls. In the dealer hal you can find things for everyone. But, it's also one of the most crowded places. I am still amazed that no company specializes in making things for Geeklings. Then again, you can find things like Disney statues, kids shirts and (pluche) toys everywhere.  

But in the end my Geekling had the most fun by looking at all the Cosplayers. She really liked the Disney princesses again, but adores furries too. They always get a hug from her, and she wants to have her picture taken with them.
I am visiting DCC again tomorrow, after that to can expect another report, with pictures of all the sweet, cool and amazing Geeklings I met there!

Have a look at the adventures of a young Geekling at the Dutch Comic Con, featuring Cyarine :-)

'We are going to the Comic Con together', I told my three year old daughter. 'It's a very nice place where people go, a lot of them dressed up. And you can dress up too!' She was almost jumping up and down in excitement.. We took her to the very first Dutch Comic Con when she was a few months old, but this felt like the first time.

She chose to dress up as her favorite princess, Rapunzel, and took her toy frying pan with her. I found a dress for myself and used some golden dye to make myself recognizable as queen Arianna, Rapunzels real mother. In preparation to the big day we watched a few cosplay videos and Evy was looking forward to it very much. 'Are we going to the Comic Con today??' 'No, not yet love'...

Finally it was time. We live in Utrecht, so we took the bus and walked the last bit. Evy saw other cosplayers on the way. 'Look, that person has green hair!' She didn't mind that it got busier and busier. In the hall we bumped into a Rapunzel cosplayer, so her day was already made.. At last we got a wristband and could go inside. A lot of music and other sounds came towards us, but it didn't deter her in the least.

A thing I really liked about the Dutch Comic Con is the lay-out. The hall we entered in was filled with the photobooth, catwalk and the quest square. This is comparable to Facts, Belgium, but unlike in Gent there are still other things to see and do in this hall. Green screens from The Simpsons and Aquaman, a Star Wars prop with Storm Troopers, but also some dealers. The other half of the hall was for computergames.
Evy and I got in line for Laura, or Cyarine. She is my husbands cousin, and Evy is one of her biggest fans. The line wasn't very long, and Evy got a big hug :-) Laura give her a signed print, but she really didn't understand the meaning of an autograph. She wanted to write her own name! Laura found this very amusing and they traded autographs..

Another good thing about the Dutch Comic Con, a lot of food stands. This means a lot of different foods, but also enough room to sit down and eat. The bathrooms weren't too busy either. The total lay-out was a bit confusing at times, but I liked the mixed halls best, something to eat, something to do/see and something to buy. The dealer hall can be bit too much of the same thing.