Dress Your Daughter in Baubles, Bangles and Beads

Want to treat your little girl like a princess? Skip the same-o same-o of the Disney store and head to Devon Avenue. Sunday night we stopped by Tiffin for some takeout after an afternoon at the Retro on Roscoe street fair. The girls were tired and hungry so we had little pistachio and cardamom ice cream pushups at Sukhdia's Sweets and Snacks. Sukhdia's also has rows and rows of brightly colored sweets and candies and roasted nuts. You can choose a quilted and ribboned box off the wall, then pick and choose an assortment of candies that are almost too pretty to eat. A great hostess present.

Next door was a sari store and I promised Mia to show her something pretty. But I didn't really know how pretty! Step into Taj Sari Palace and say hello to your Indian fairy godmothers. Tables and shelves loaded with intricate hand beaded silks and sheers and scarves in every color of the rainbow. Inexpensive bangles and elaborate gold and crystal jewelry. Glittering shoes fit for Cinderella.

We bought the girls an armload of pretty bracelets (12 for 8 bucks!), then gasped at the dress prices (justified - the prices, not our surprise, that is) and asked if they had a sale rack. The saleswoman sent us down the street to their clearance store. Randy decided to wait in the car with the wilting Nora and listen to the Cubs. Mia and I set off down the street past more sari stores and electronic shops displaying awesome Bollywood posters, past Patel Brothers, the famous grocer that is a overwhelming sensory experience in itself, past the vendors squeezing out cups of sugarcane juice.

Once we found the little shop, Mia picked out a buttery yellow outfit with a long slim skirt with a matching sleeveless tunic with criss-cross lacing in the back. The skirt and top were both decorated with gorgeous swirls and flowers of colorful beading.

The saleswoman said she could take a credit card but would need to process it next door. No problem, and she disappears, but when I heard banging on the door and saw a family trying to get in, I realized the woman had locked us and the rest of the shoppers in the store! When in Rome. Glad there wasn't a fire.

Mia wanted to wear the outfit home. A father waiting outside the store for his wife and kids told her she was beautiful. As we walked down the street, she held her skirt up above her tennis shoes and her head high.

Tiffin – 2536 W. Devon 

Taj Sari Palace – 2553 W. Devon 

Sukhdia’s Sweets & Snacks – 2559 W. Devon