Rant: who’s hoarding all the Frozen stuff?

It’s been brought to my attention that I don’t do nearly enough rants here these days, so I’m going to fix that with a lengthy rant about Disney’s Frozen. No, not the movie itself, which we love, I’m talking Frozen STUFF.

You see, I have two Frozen fanatics in my house. These kids would love to own an official Anna and Elsa dress or two. In fact that’s all my 5 year old asked for this past Christmas, but all that was available locally was toddler-sized. We bought her the cheapie toddler dress from Target because Santa doesn’t let kids down like that, but it’s just too short for her and it’s apparently “very scratchy”.

It's this one, if you're wondering:

So, what happened to all the official Anna and Elsa costumes, you ask? Someone somewhere is hoarding all the Disney Store dresses and crushing little kids dreams everywhere. I’ve made approximately 1,508 calls to the local Disney Store and the Disney section at our local JC Penney’s inquiring about said dresses, and I’m sick of getting the same response.

They don’t know when they will get more, but I can call back tomorrow.

I know that it’s not their fault, but every time I hear it, I die a little inside. I don’t want to call back tomorrow and wait on hold while someone runs to check their stock {or worse, doesn’t need to check because they already know they don’t have any dresses as they’ve already run to check for the other 50 people that called that day} and then call the next store on my list.

I don’t want to have to try this hard to spend $70+ dollars. Because, friends, I can think of about a million other things I could easily spend $70 on without having to hunt. And the seller would gladly take my money in exchange for whatever it was I was buying. Because that’s how commerce works.

But, not with Frozen it doesn’t. The folks at Disney have messed with supply and demand and it’s pushing people like me to the black market. By that, I mean Amazon, and ebay, and Craigslist, where sellers are swooping into stores and loading up on all those dresses that children like mine have been dreaming of since November. We’re talking huge markups on Frozen gear just because they can. 

This is a real listing. For ONE HUNDRED NINETY DOLLARS. For a costume. Utter craziness.

I want to make one thing clear: I know this is a frivolous rant. We’re not talking life-saving medicines; we’re talking dress up clothing. Kids don’t need dress up clothing, they need love and affection and sustenance.

That being said, with a birthday coming up and a trip to Disneyland on the calendar, this is the one thing I was hoping to wrap up for my daughter this year. She plays Elsa all day long using all sorts of my clothing and housewares that she fashions into a costume. While I admire her rich imagination and her endless creativity, I also want my skirts back.

Thus my search began. And, let me tell you, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing a Disney Store exclusive item with the designation “NWT” going for 3 times its value on a secondary site. It makes me hate that seller who loaded up on coveted LITTLE GIRL’S DRESSES with the intent to make a quick buck off their parents. Seriously, people.

On some level, I get it. I’ve taken economics, I understand how free markets work. But, on another more personal level, I just can’t understand the person that does that, knowing that the people they are really hurting are little kids who want to play dress up. Little kids who think that their parents can work miracles to get that coveted dress for Christmas or their birthday. Little kids with absolutely no concept of what things cost.

I sound like a bitter and desperate woman, right? Yes, that just about describes me.

This is what a mom sounds like after embarking on a 5 month long journey to find a Frozen dress before her kids’ first Disney trip. And, while the trip is a surprise, that doesn’t mean that the kids don’t already have their hopes set high. Their imagined Disney trip is always drawn like this:
Yes, that’s my daughter in an Elsa dress surrounded by Elsa and Anna. An Elsa dress that some ebay seller is auctioning off to the highest bidder and profiting from while moms like me are hiding in closets hoping their kids don’t overhear “Frozen” and “Elsa” while calling around from store to store to find.

I know it’s ridiculous and I should just spend the money for the marked up dress if I want it so much, but I just can’t do it. Like you, I have a budget, and $150 dresses for kids simply does not fit in any sort of budget I can get behind. Plus, I refuse to go black market on principle alone.

That leaves Etsy sellers or making one on my own in the wee hours of the night so my kids don't see or hear. I'm almost at that point.

These kids? They don't ask for much. They just want a Frozen dress or two.