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Fashion Friday :: Kid Style {Girls}

Syd commented with this on my Back to School post last month:

I would love to see you do some kids fashion posts.  I am clueless about dressing myself or my children.  I hate a lot of the girl clothes that look like a rainbow threw up.  Help!

To which Sheri responded:

Haha! I love it – girl clothes do sometimes look like a rainbow threw up on them! I agree it is sometimes harder to find appropriate clothes for a girl. How do you do it? Blog away Jo-Lynne!

Which is really kinda funny because I don’t consider myself into the kid fashion scene at all. I see other bloggers posting adorable photos of their kids — girls especially. But I feel that my kids are pretty plain jane. I always joke that I spend far too much money and energy on my own wardrobe to worry too much about the kids.

But at the end of the day, I suppose I am pretty persnickety about what I put on my kids. They get to have some input (within reason) but I have no problem vetoing the ugly.

Just like with my own wardrobe, I only frequent a few stores. If I had it my way, I’d do all my kids clothing shopping at the Gymboree and Gap, but they can be pricey if you aren’t diligent about watching for sales, and neither one of my girls is that crazy about Gymboree anymore.

I do most of my kid girl shopping at the Gap or Target. I usually do a run through Osh Kosh and Kohl’s once a season for my youngest daughter, but my older daughter doesn’t fare too well at either of those stores. She sometimes finds a few cute things at Justice, but you have to be pretty choosy there, and I find their quality doesn’t always hold up to their price point.

Most days my girls wear jeans and a tee or sweater. They don’t really like to layer, so they keep their outfits pretty simple. My younger daughter went a few years where she didn’t want to wear jeans and I had to buy her all leggings. Osh Kosh is great for that. They have lots of little matchy tunics-and-leggings for girls in that toddler to early elementary age group. She lives in outfits like these.

Osh Kosh Tunics-and-Leggings

 

Of course, that DOES pretty much look like a rainbow threw up! HA! What I like about these outfits is they are soft and comfy and mostly made of cotton so they don’t irritate their delicate skin.

For example, this little outfit is from Osh Kosh. I just picked it up at the Tanger Outlets last week.

These outfits are pretty typical for them. My older daughter’s dress is from Target. She loves dresses in the summertime. My younger daughter’s outfit is from Osh Kosh, and my son is wearing khakis from Gap and a striped sweatshirt from Old Navy (I think).

I don’t have a huge aversion to graphics on clothing as I know some parents do, but I can’t stand the cheapy, polystery materials that are so common with girls clothes once they reach a certain age. My daughters love Gap’s graphic tees. They usually have several in their rotation every season.

Gap Graphic Tee Outfit

 

This is currently my older daughter’s favorite outfit from Justice.

Girls Sparkly Sweater Outfit from Justice

 

Target often has cute sweaters, and sometimes I do well there for dresses.

Girls Outfits from Target

 

Their cutest clothes come from a boutique in my mom’s hometown. She shops their end of season sales and gets lots of cute things for my girls there. The dress on my youngest daughter in the back-to-school photo at the top of this post is from that boutique. I love the clothes that come from there, but I’m WAY too uptight about them messing them up. I would never do all my clothes shopping there, even if I could afford to. But it’s a great place to find dressier clothes — especially when they get older and the pickin’s get slimmer at the regular stores.

If you have a good consignment shop nearby, that’s a good place to look for affordable, used boutique brands.

How about you? Where do you find cute kids’ clothes that don’t break the bank??


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18 Responses

  1. It’s good to know that OshKosh has leggings sets. Libbie basically lives in Gymboree ones, but they can be very pricey. Nice to have other options! I’ll look next time we’re at an outlet. (Or have my mom do it. She’s loves a mission at the Hershey Outlets!)

    Nicole Miller makes REALLY cute leggings sets, too. They run occasionally on Zulily. I don’t know if they’re just toddler or if they have those in girls’ sizes, too.

    1. I can’t remember if Hershey has a Hartstrings outlet, but i just looked in ours last weekend and they had Nice Miller sets. Very cute.

  2. Mom of two girls here. Gap really is great, especially if you are planning on hand me downs. Their clothes hold up better than Target or Old Navy and the color palette stays pretty consistent so you can pair a hand me down tee still in good condition with a new pair of leggings and have them match (also great when kids grow at different rates and fit into different tops/bottoms than their older sibling did).

    That is not to say my girls don’t live in Target’s C9 athletic wear line (love the skirts and shorts with built in bottoms) or rock their sweater dresses to church most of the fall/winter. I also love Target for fake Ugg boots (the girls both went with glitter pairs this year – with their BOGO 50% off deal) and ballet slippers (wish they had more in stock this season).

    And for girls that hate jean buttons (do they all go through this stage?) Target Cherokee jeggings look most like regular denim at a low price point. We upgraded to Gap jeggings this year – they even have belt loops (thank goodness they now come in slim sizes).

  3. I buy a lot for my daughter in Gap Kids and Target. When I lived in Maine, the Children’s Place outlet was a must for us. My girl is a fan of leggings too and everything is better when a rainbow throws up on it, at least in my house. 😉

    ~FringeGirl

  4. I dress my youngest daughter very similarly to yours. . She is pretty picky about how clothes feel (no cuffs at the wrists or ankles, no waffle weave fabric, etc). I found some jeggings at Kohls last week that she loves. I’d share the brand but she’s wearing them, probably their store brand. Very cute and very affordable with their sale price and 30% off coupon! My older daughters and son are all teenagers… I could probably start a blog just about their clothing, lol. My ten year old boy will wear absolutely anything that I put out. He is a treasure on those tough Sunday mornings when everyone else is giving me a hard time!

  5. My 10-year-old daughter has started developing her fashion sense; which for right now means not really liking anything at our usual stores. Huh. She’s still figuring it all out and meanwhile I’m trying to keep her clothed and resist my desire to stock up for next year at all these great sales. But I’ve decided now to teach her about basics and extras. I will choose her basics and she can help choose the extras. We’ll each get veto power and maybe an override or two. I can shop the sales for the basics and we’ll make a road trip for the extras. And she has to be more involved in the whole process: no more clothes magically appearing in her closet.

    Crazy 8 seems to be the best kept secret for kids clothing. They’re owned by Gymboree and are comparable to The Children’s Place in price and quality but with a better website. The clothes are cute and hold up well. My challenge is I live in rural NH with few shopping options, few consignment stores/sales and am over an hour’s drive to the closest mall. I’m getting very tired of mail-order.

    1. Yes, we are having that issue — I can’t just pick stuff up and bring it home. Although as it turns out, I still do that a lot, and just return what she doesn’t like. Shopping WITH her is so dreadful… neither one of us enjoys it, and she asks me to just bring her stuff. So for now, I am her personal shopper. LOL!!

      I have been in Crazy 8 but never bought anything. I should give it another look.

  6. I love Gap Kids and Nordstrom Rack for my kids. The Rack has so many items from Mini Boden, Pumpkin patch and Polo for such affordable prices! Doesn’t hurt that it is less then a mile from my house and next to Wegmans!

  7. When my girls were little, I found a Once Upon A Child resale shop, and I got name-brand clothing for cheap. We found Justice when they were just starting out when my oldest was a pre-teen and she loved the store. I’ve noticed their clothes/style has changed since then.

  8. When my girls were little, I found a Once Upon A Child resale shop, and I got name-brand clothing for cheap. We found Justice when they were just starting out when my oldest was a pre-teen and she loved the store. I’ve noticed their clothes/style has changed since then.

  9. Do you have an H&M near you that has kids clothes? I love their stuff! Good quality, great prices, and similar styles to what Gap has. My girls are 4.5 and I refuse to put them in clothes that look too little kid anymore. H&M has saved us! Their t-shirts are nice and long for my long waisted daughter, everything is soft, and they have really cute dresses for winter. A few of their graphics are odd, and I find their in store selection to be odd at times as well (right now there are a ton of tank tops and summer dresses?) but if you pick through their stuff you can score.

  10. First I love the dress on your older daughter in the first photo! So cute!

    I’m one of those moms who dislikes graphic tees (and character tees, too). The message is sometimes shady or somehow suggestive or screams look at me, I’m cute! I’d rather not call attention to all that at her age (8).

    Lately our household budget has prevented most mall shopping trips, although I still do very well at end of season sales at Gymboree. Yes, I know I’m lucky she still likes to wear the brand! So mostly I’m sticking to children’s consignment and thrift stores. With some diligence I can usually find cute appropriate clothes often with tags still attached! Unfortunately, that means I’m spending more time on their wardrobe than my own! But it does allow me to buy brands I otherwise couldn’t. 😉

    It’s still a struggle to blend what she likes with what I will allow. Although I find it’s easier not to bring her along when I go shopping. Then I bring home what I find appropriate and she just has to pick out something to wear each morning.

    Thanks for weighing in Jo-Lynne!!
    Sheri O.

  11. I am SO grateful we have school uniform here in Ireland! About one day each term they have a non-uniform day for charity (they pay £1 to NOT wear uniform!) and it is the source of much angst and decision making!

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