My fancy dress made Mummy smile again
Stephanie Tysoe, 27, from Bedfordshire, bit wanted to find a way to spread a little of positivity...
Dressing my little boy in a Harry Potter costume, I couldn’t help but have a little chuckle to myself. ‘You look adorable,’ I cooed, placing a wand in his hand.
Our very own Harry was just two months old, and as he lay down surrounded by props, I snapped away with my camera.
After finding the costume in Primark when I was pregnant, I couldn’t wait to get Harry in it.
Now he finally was, it was as cute as I’d imagined!
‘Perfect,’ I said, flicking through the photos on my phone and sending one off to my husband, Jack, 28.
‘That’s hilarious,’ he messaged back.
‘I’ve shown it to everyone at work!’
But I didn’t just stop with Harry Potter.
After that, our little man dressed up as Woody from Toy Story, Superman and even a car mechanic!
My older children, Isla, five and Archer, three, were even getting involved too, with Isla posing as the Belle to Harry’s Beast in one of the photos. It was adorable!
Posting each snap to Instagram, everyone seemed to love seeing Harry dressed up as famous characters and I soon gathered thousands of followers on the site.
‘This made me giggle,’ one follower commented on a photo of Harry dressed as Freddie Mercury. ‘This is adorable!’ another user posted. It was all just a nice bit of harmless fun and the reason I’d started doing it in the first place was to keep my spirits up. After having Harry in November 2019, I hadn’t quite been feeling myself. Harry was doing fine, but my anxiety was beginning to get the better of me.
‘The baby blues should be gone by now, but I still don’t feel right,’ I worried to Joe one afternoon.
Constantly anxious, I decided to see my GP, who diagnosed me with postpartum anxiety.
Deciding I needed to do things that made me happy and keep me laughing, I started to take even more photos of Harry in fancy dress.
I even started making some of the outfits myself, giving me a chance to focus on something else other than my own anxiety.
Sewing together a pair of ears for a Dobby the house elf costume, my spirits were already lifted.
‘You’re going to love this one,’ I laughed as Harry snoozed beside me one afternoon. He’s always more than happy to pose up a storm and has now been a chef, Sully from Monsters Inc and even the Easter bunny.
My next project is an Elton John costume - complete with feathered shoulder pads. It might be my best work yet! I certainly won’t be stopping Harry’s photoshoots any time soon though.
They’ve made me smile and I hope they have for others, too.
During such a difficult time, it’s been nice to spread a little bit of positivity.
I know Harry’s photos will be making people chuckle for years to come!
It’s nice to cheer people up!
Follow Stephanie on instagram @mrstysoe