Where to buy Filipino Ethnic Costumes for kids?

Besides the Maglalatik costumes that my son will wear at the school on the Linggo ng Wika this month, the school requested to dress up the students on Monday with Ethnic costumes.

My Philippine History is getting rusty so I forgot what the Ethnic Costumes looks like (except Igorot). I am glad that I am living in a modern world and I just need to ask Mr. Google to give me some ideas.

I was overwhelmed to see that there are lots of Ethnic Groups here in our country. I saw some costumes online and I think that the best Filipino Ethnic costume that is suitable for my Ren is the Moro/Muslim or Maranao Costume. Why? because I know my son will be comfortable wearing it (unlike the Bahag of the Igorots), and I think that it is easier to find and I know that the textile is cheaper.

So yesterday, I went to Baclaran to check if there are some costumes that fits my budget (there are lots of stalls at the back of the Baclaran Church). Pagkatapos ng mahabang tawaran, I did find one and I think it’s a good deal already. This costume is around P400-P500 at Kultura in SM, I bought it for P220.00 (ayaw ibigay ng P200 ni ate hahaha)

This is the original costume design – the vest & pants are made of satin fabric with sequined patchworks. If you want more sequined patchworks, then you need to shell out more money. I am a practical mom, and I don’t want to ruin our budget for a costume that will be used only once.

But frankly, I am not satisfied with the design, I think that it’s so simple and plain so I bought a black ribbon and added it to the costume. Here is the finished product.