Dressing Children Fashionably – Tricks of the Trade

I’m about to have my 5th baby. (Well, in the summer.) So it goes without saying that I’ve been around the block a time or two when it comes to clothing small people. (Three of which are girls, which, in my opinion, are a little more fun to dress.)

my daughter Adelaide in the My House Jumper by Misha Lulu

I’ve found that higher quality (sometimes designer) clothing holds up better, washes better, and is almost always cuter than its inexpensive counterpart. However, I am a bargain hunter at heart. I avoid paying retail for kid clothes as much as possible.

(Unless it’s Christmas money. Heh.)

There are a few tricks I’ve gleaned over the years and want to share. The online ones are Retail Me Not which allows you to enter in a store’s web address and it will give you coupon codes (if there are any out there and available).

For children’s fashion especially, YOU MUST be a (free) member of daily deal sites like Zulily, The Mini Social, and the Gilt Group. My girls’ Vive Le Fete smocked bishop dresses were $30 from Zulily, while they retailed at $75+. Grandmommy paid for those.

Next, eBay!!! If you find an expensive piece you’d love to get cheaper, eBay is a GREAT resource. Seriously, try it. Loads of our stuff have come from there. There are also some fabulous buy/sell/trade facebook group pages, usually named for specific brands like Gymboree, Tea, and Miniboden.

And then there’s the infamous consignment sale. I’m VERY picky when I shop those sales and tend to only pick up the brands I know and love. Also, I know it’s a lot of work, but you can get a lot of your investment back if you re-sell outgrown clothes, shoes, toys, and gear at those sales. I think last fall I made over $600. (Granted, it was the first fall sale I’d ever done and had an entire attic to clear out.) However, word to the wise, high-end designer brands do much better either on eBay or those Facebook b/s/t pages.

So happy bargain hunting! Make me proud!