Three years ago, Alicia McClain had a crazy idea: She was going to become a princess.

After quitting her job that was one in a series of dissatisfying jobs, McClain started her own company called Michiana Princesses.

Since then she has crowned several other princesses to help spread their motto “dreams do come true,” and bring joy to the lives of many at events in Michiana.

As a single mom, running her own business was not easy. Today, McClain said her sons are more than happy to spread the word of their mom’s royalty ,and with each passing day they express pride in the business McClain built from the ground up.

How did you get involved in character playing?

It was something that I had thought about because I always grew up in theater and grew up singing and knew that I liked to work with kids.

Some of the clock-in jobs that I had at the time were not working with my life, because I am a single mom also.  I needed to figure out how to pull my life together after my divorce.

I stood up one day in the middle of my job and said “this is not for me” and I walked out.

I talked to my biological mother about this idea that I had and said, “I really think that this is something that I could do. I just do not know how to get started.” She started collaborating with me into creating and designing dresses, because you have to make them slightly different than screen accurate. So we hand make all of our dresses.

How did you get started?

We started the business on an accident.

Someone remembered me from high school and she said, “I am never going to forget you and I am going to call you later, because I want you to do something for me.”

At the time she said something about singing in her wedding. 

She called me [later] and said, “I have this idea. Can you dress up like a princess for my daughter’s birthday?” And I said, “Yeah, I will definitely do that.” I took this idea and ran with it and instead of one princess I decided to do them all and we would sing and dance, so we decided to turn it in to a performance.

What do you enjoy about being a princess?

I love so many different aspects of it. 

I love that I get to meet so many different kinds of people. It is amazing. I quite literally have gone down different roads that I never thought I would go. It has really expanded my bubble.

Do you play one princess in particular?

I am one of the lucky ones. I get to do them all. We have all of the wigs. It is pretty cool.

How do you get into character when you take on these roles?

I found that it is actually really easy for me. I am really good at acting, so it is easy for me to slip out of my shoes and into someone else’s, because sometimes that is the best therapy is just taking on somebody else’s role and just forgetting about your life for a little bit.

Do you think that princesses are a good role model for children?

Oh, absolutely. I did not realize starting out how impressionable kids are when it comes to a figure that they look up to.

What do you think children look up to when they see a princess?

Well, in a world that idolizes beauty, I think it starts off there.

They like the dresses, they like the bling, they like the singing and the theatrics of it all. Really that is what ropes them in.

Once you have their attention with those things then you can show them that it is not always about the pretty things, it is about the character inside.  Because then they realize, “Oh, they are nice.”

[For example they might say] “My daughter just absolutely loved ‘insert any name of princess name.’ They just thought that she was the nicest.”

That to me is a big thing. When a child likes and appreciates the princess’ character then that is awesome.

It is really cool to see the sparkle in their eye when they realize that their dream is coming true.  That is actually our motto, which was taken from the mouth of a child. ‘Dreams really do come true.’”

How long does it take

you to create costume?

Each one varies. Sometimes they will take three weeks and sometimes they will take three months. Cinderella took an immense amount of time because there are so many yards in her dress — 87 yards of fabric — and there is like layer after layer. So there is 13 layers of dress, so you are not only making one dress, you are making 13 and then attaching them all together.

Do you have sons or daughters?

I have two boys: Cohen, 7 and my youngest is Camden, 6.

What do they think about their

mom being a princess?

It is pretty amazing to see how proud they are. 

They will walk into a building full of strangers and say, “My mom is a Michiana Princess.” It makes me giggle. I love that they are so proud. 

Sometimes they even get to come on my journeys with me. They love it, like when we get to go to the library or parks, because we get to do parks as well.

How did you get started?

We started the business on an accident. Someone remembered that I sand in high school and she said, ‘I am never going to forget you and I am going to call you later, because I want you to do something for me.’ At the time she said something about singing in her wedding.  She called me and said I have this idea. Can you dress up like a princess for my daughter’s birthday? And I said, yeah, I will definitely do that. I took this idea and ran with it and instead of one princess I decided to do them all and we would sing and dance, so we decided to turn it in to a performance.