In A Room Full Of Princesses, This Girl Decided To Be A Hot Dog

All her classmates dressed as princesses but this little girl showed up in a hot dog costume instead

Lots of kids love dressing up as princesses, and that’s totally fine. It’s understandable to want to look beautiful and royal and to fantasize that one day, you might grow up to be just like them. One little girl had another dream in mind when she shunned her dance class’s “Princess Day” theme in favor of a righteous hot dog costume.

Everyone, we have a new life coach.

According to Buzzfeed, 5-year-old Ainsley showed up for her dance class’s princess day looking more like something you’d see at a backyard barbecue. And it was pretty much amazing.

Grayson Lamontagne, a teacher at Holly Springs School of Dance where Ainsley is a student, tweeted out the original photo and it was quickly picked up by a few large comedy accounts. The result was the Hot Dog Princess going viral, with the hashtag #hotdogprincess trending for a couple of hours.

Lamontagne explains that when Ainsley arrived in her costume and stood among the crew of little princesses, that everyone was very supportive of her preference to dress as a tubular meat instead of Cinderella. “When Ainsley got there everyone was so surprised but we loved it and thought it was great that she wanted to wear a hot dog costume. We all took pictures because we thought it was funny that she came to princess week as a hot dog.”

Another dance teacher, Sarah Nativi, notes that the child did come prepared. “She wore a princess costume underneath it and said she was a princess on the inside!”

Aren’t we all, Ainsley?

Even her dad got in on the fun tweeting about his little girl going viral and adding that the sartorial selection was all his daughter’s idea.

There is so much awesome here it’s hard to know where to start. A 5-year-old girl choosing to be a hot dog over a princess is somewhat remarkable considering the allure of frills and dresses for many little ones her age. Deciding to go as a hot dog when she knew all her friends would be pretty pretty princesses is a rather bold statement that speaks of a certain level of quirky individuality not often expressed in such young kids. Lots of children are heavily concerned with fitting in and the fact that Ainsley gaveth not one single shit is amazing and admirable. She was herself. Full stop.

That brings us to the awesome fact that no adult tried to stop her from making an out-of-the-box costume decision — not her parents or dance teachers. Instead, they encouraged her fun idea and let her run with it. To the joy of basically the entire internet.

And hello, we could all learn a thing or two from this kid about confidence and being true to yourself. Everyone else is going formal but you’re not really feeling it? Wear jeans and a t-shirt. Who even cares? Be comfortable. Dress as a hamburger or an ice cream cone. Dream big. Anything is possible!

Ainsley got to have a little fun with her viral fame, opening her dance school’s recital in the hot dog costume. The school tweeted a photo of her with the caption “Always be yourself.”

Looks like this little hot dog princess has that covered.