Children love pretending to be adults, just as adults love pretending to pay their taxes. Enable delightful transformations with today’s Groupon: for $99, you get an eight-child themed costume party from Dress Up and Play Parties (a $199.99 value).

Dress Up and Play Parties owner and mother Cindy Despins concocts children’s parties that spare parents the labour of organization and hassle of cleanup. Like a Muppets cover band, the one-hour party can pay tribute to a wide variety of characters, including pirates, ballerinas, and known juvenile favourites Dora the Explorer and Harry Potter. Parents or caregivers provide the space, and Dress Up and Play Parties sets up 30–60 minutes before the event, provides all the themed accoutrements, keeps party dynamics humming, and dismantles props and decorations after the festivities. Invited children receive a cheerful digital invitation, which can also be printed, and spend the party dressed in costume and hats, immersed in games and baking or craft activities that fit the theme of choice. After a group photo, the birthday boy, girl, or goat and every guest get to keep or devour their costumes, and partygoers leave armed with a motif-appropriate loot bag filled with crafts, hats, and treats. Dress Up and Play Parties welcomes extra guests for an additional $15.99 for each child, and parents may also use the value of today’s Groupon toward other products and services, which include additional party and costume ideas.