what do your kids wear to dinner in the MDR

[reallyexcited]

my kids will be 2, 6, 9 in april when we go on the legend. Just wondering what they should wear every night to dinner and on formal night???

 

should they wear pants? Nice shorts and a golf shirt? My DD(9) plans on wearing a dress every night so she's good but what about the boys??

 

thanks :)

[cb at sea]

The 2 year old won't be out of place in shorts...but the others are old enough to wear pants....doesn't have to be "dress" pants...khaki/docker style are fine. A pullover shirt with collar is fine.

 

On formal night, whatever they would wear to a party/church etc...will be fine. Young kids don't need tuxes and gowns...they just look silly. "Good" clothes will suffice on formal night.

[reallyexcited]

do you think my 2 year old can wear nice jeans???

[sandytoes03]

do you think my 2 year old can wear nice jeans???

 

 

I think that's fine. Others might disagree, but I think a 2 year old can wear whatever is comfortable. Have a fun time with your family!:)

[akcruz]

My son (who is now 15) usually brings 2 pairs of pants on board, one khaki and one dark. He will wear a polo shirt on casual nights and a shirt and tie on formal nights. If we can find a jacket for him to borrow for the cruise he will wear it, if not he goes with just the shirt and tie. As soon as dinner is over he goes back to the cabin and changes into his shorts and tee shirt for the rest of the night. The 2 pairs of pants last the 7+ nights no problem.

 

If you are doing a caribbean cruise, it may be too warm for jeans, although the dining rooms are air conditioned. Just something else to keep in mind.

[FlaMommy75]

My daughter(age 7) always wore a sundress with a sweater and on formal nights she wore fancier dresses. My son (age 5) wore khakis most nights and then a suite the first formal night and a shirt and tie the second formal night. I am sure we didn't have to have them as "dressed up" as we did but they loved getting dressed up and it made for cute pics:)

We were on the Legend in November and loved it. Have a great cruise:)

[reallyexcited]

thanks for all the advice!! I am hoping I can get away with my 6 year old son wearing the same pants a few times. I can see him wanting to back to the room to change after dinner so that might help him stay clean LOL

 

my 2 year old has a few khaki pants and nice shorts so i'll bring those..and a few jeans :)

 

I plan on dressing them up on formal nights. :)

 

and my 9 year old DD will be wearing dresses everynight ..her choice :)

[SusieV]

My 15 month old followed the same dress code we did... tuxedo on formal night, and nice slacks and a dressy shirt on smart casual night. Why should things be any different? Especially since you can get used kids' clothes so cheaply and resell later. I am pretty sure that shorts are verboten in the MDR on all cruiselines.

 

It also teaches them about dressing appropriately for the situation when they are old enough to understand. In my son's case, I just got awesome photos.

[Julienatul]

My kids dress like the adults. My DD wears dresses and skirts and shirts for casual nights and formal dresses for formal nights and my son wears a tux for formal night and khaki's and a polo shirt or vest for casual nights. You can get a great deal on kid tuxes on ebay. Twice I paid $14 for it shipped. He looks adorable in it and we cruise twice a year so to me its was worth every penny

[Warm Breezes]

Carnival has a more relaxed dress code. The question is what do you want to see in your pictures? DD(13) will wear a short prom type dress on elegant night and long shorts with a cami type top and sandals for casual nights. DS(16) wears dress pants and shoes and a button up collared shirt for elegant night (no tie or jacket) and long shorts and a collared (polo type) shirt with tennis shoes for casual nights.

[reallyexcited]

thanks :)

 

so did you all bring 7 pairs of pants for your boys? or did they change after dinner and stayed clean?

 

this is our first big trip as a family of 5. We have been to disney a bunch of times in the last 2 years but we drove and stayed in our disney condo so space was not a problem'

 

 

I really am going to attempt to pack light but bringing 6 or 7 pairs of khaki pants for my 6 and 2 year old does not seem light LOL

[zstell]

The first couple of trips with the kids, our boys wore khakis, white shirt and tie for "formal" nights; khakis and a shirt on casual nights. Now that they are older, they wear a suit and tie for "elegant" nights and khakis on casual, sometimes even nice jeans. Our girls always enjoy evening gowns and sundresses.

 

We don't do shorts in the MDR, although they allow it on casual nights. I would definitely not pack 7 pairs of pants per person. Our boys take their suit, 1 navy and 1 khaki dockers and it's always worked fine. Have a great time, we LOVE the Legend.

[Lessum]

We just got off the Legend on Sunday with our 15mo old and 4.5yo daughters. They wore sun dresses every night, including formal night. We didn't do "formal" - I wore a nice dress and my husband work khakis and a nice shirt. We chose Carnival because they are more relaxed and allow men to wear shorts in the MDR. We saw more people not in formal wear, then in formal wear on formal night. On casual nights, a lot of people were wearing jeans and my husband wore shorts most nights. We saw some young boys, maybe 3 and 6 and they wore nice shirts (polo) and khakis or nice shorts.

 

Whatever you wear it will be fine...

[mrs.mobster]

DD follows dress code the same as we do. She wears sun dresses or more casual party dresses (with cardigans) on non-formal nights. On formal nights, she wears formal dresses (with cardigans). She was 2 weeks shy of turning 1 last year (in avvie pic) and will be about a week shy of 2 this year. I love to dress her up and she loves to dress up :) If I had a son I would have him in khaki pants and long sleeved button down shirts (oxfords) on casual nights, and a dark suit on formal night. A tie if he would allow.

 

I personally wouldnt do jeans for any age in the MDR. I think khakis would be more comfortable anyhow.

[Warm Breezes]

DD follows dress code the same as we do. She wears sun dresses or more casual party dresses (with cardigans) on non-formal nights. On formal nights, she wears formal dresses (with cardigans). She was 2 weeks shy of turning 1 last year (in avvie pic) and will be about a week shy of 2 this year. I love to dress her up and she loves to dress up :) If I had a son I would have him in khaki pants and long sleeved button down shirts (oxfords) on casual nights, and a dark suit on formal night. A tie if he would allow.

 

I personally wouldnt do jeans for any age in the MDR. I think khakis would be more comfortable anyhow.

Our kids follow the dress code the same as we do too...you choose to follow the dressier end of the dress code and we choose to follow the more casual end of the dress code. We wear long dress shorts/capri's with polo's/cami's/tops on casual nights and dress pants with button down shirts and cocktail/sundresses on "elegant" night. This is allowed in Carnival's dress code as are jeans (which is the line the OP is sailing on). There is nothing wrong with either choice as both are allowed by Carnival and you will see a mixture of both on a Carnival cruise.

 

FWIW my DD loved dressing up when she was younger too. She turns 14 tomorrow...the only dress I can get her to wear is a cocktail type prom dress that she will wear on elegant night...other than that she wears long shorts in the MDR on casual nights with a cami top and sandals. Have fun keeping your little girl in frilly dresses as long as you can.:D

[Onessa]

My DD is now 15YO -- we cruise primarily cooler areas so she wears jeans during the day but for non-formal nights in the MDR she'll wear casual skirts with cute camis and a light cardigan. Formal night is when she wears the "cocktail" style dress.

 

When she was more in the tweens era, I found some skirted shorts that we could compromise on they were shorts AND a skirt at the same time!

 

I still remember our trip to Italy when she was 4YO -- that was during her "I want to wear a bress" stage -- when she insisted upon dresses and leather maryjanes every day. The vendors kept addressing us in German -- I was told that since I don't wear jeans or athletic shoes and my DD was also not in jeans and athletic shoes" that they assumed we couldn't POSSIBLY be American :D !

[G&TQ]

My 6yo will be wearing docker style pants and a button down or polo style shirt most nights but for the "formal" night he will be in a suit. Pretty much just like my Husband. On the firt night we go the most casual. For your two year old I think anything cute should work. They grow way too fast at that age to spend much.

[Warmer Climes]

My youngest is 12 and I have had to convince her that she should pack 4 dresses instead of seven since it's ok to wear something twice. My boys were much older than yours when we started cruising but even on NCL (which is very casual) they wore dockers and a collared shirt on casual nights and a coat and tie on other nights. Why not look good?

 

Barb

[Aelsantokie]

We were on the Legend twice and we loved it!!

 

I don't remember what the kids wore 3 years ago but last August when we were on the Legend this is what I did.

 

For the boys I pack 3 pants. Even though my boys are quadruplets the older two are the same size and the younger two are another size so I pack one each and extra pair in each size. I pack the extra one in case the boys drop anything and get is dirty. I don't want to do laundry if I can help it although I plan on doing it at least once every cruise. I a long sleeve polo shirt and one button down shirt for the elegant night. Other days, they normally don't eat with us and this is their choice.

 

For my daughter I actually pack about 4-5 dresses. 2 of those dresses will be dressier but not the big poufy flower girl at a wedding type of dresses. We dress up her sundress and a light cardigan with hair accessories and cute shoes.

 

I use 3 large suitcase for our family of 7 and I am able to cram all our clothes/toiletries/toys etc etc all in those bags. If everything doesn't fit in those 3 bags, something has to go.

[Nebr.cruiser]

We just got off a 5 night cruise on the Navigator of the Seas with grandchildren. We tried to adhere to the dress code as much as possible, since I think it is good for children to learn that there are times when we need to dress appropriately for an occasion.

 

The girls wore sundresses or skirts and tops on casual nights, dress-up dresses on formal nights, except for one girl who doesn't have many dresses and wore leggings with nice tops most nights. Some of them wanted to wear their 'formal' dresses most nights, so we just let them. They usually changed after dinner to do activities (ice skating, kids club, etc.)

 

The boys wore long pants and button shirts with ties on formal nights. On casual nights they wore long pants with polo or button shirts. We only brought one pair of nicer longer pants for each boy. This worked out okay; they were a little messy by the last night, but not too bad. We didn't let them wear jeans or shorts, but we did see kids in those. They had dark tennis shoes that they wore.

 

Everyone had a carry-on bag which they had to handle themselves (there are 7 of them!) and even the 5-year old got along without needing help. We tried to limit the amount of clothing they took, and yes, by the end of the week they were rewearing clothes, but it worked out okay.

[reallyexcited]

thanks for sharing what you do everyone!

 

I bought my almost 9 year old DD a bunch of dresses yesterday ( some dressy and some more casual) They are all easy to pack! She is all set for dinner every night :)

She had NOTHING that fit her from the summer...she must have had a serious growth spurt and she's on the small side to begin with!

 

I will have to pick up another pair or two of khaki's for my 6 and 2 year old! They each have a pair or two but they will need at least 3..I know how they eat LOL

 

I have a bunch of polo shirts for each of the boys...all I have to get is a dress shirt for each of them...and maybe a tie... and some shorts for DD ( not one pair from summer fit her)

 

I'm thinking I'll find some pants on sale for the boys soon since all the stores are putting out summer clothes :)