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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Buying new holiday clothes for each trip

32 replies

wingingit1987 · 14/04/2024 21:38

I was talking to a friend today about our upcoming trip next month. She kept saying how she thought it was odd that we don’t buy new clothes for everyone for every trip we take. For context, it’s a UK break we are going to- visiting a seaside resort for a week and a day Alton Towers before we head home. I feel like weather wise it will be the exact same climate as we have in sunny Scotland, so other than a few bits like swimming gear for the kids who have outgrown things- we really don’t need much. My friend says that she buys all new clothes for every trip she takes.

I came away wondering if I’m being a bit miserable but I just don’t see the need for a whole new wardrobe for each of us for a sake of a trip that’s a4 hour drive along the road.

OP posts:

Mintyt · 15/04/2024 06:35

I buy myself a few new dresses for an abroad holiday

StrongLifeLine · 15/04/2024 02:46

I am on holiday abroad now

I bought a couple of new bikinis before the holiday, but I use them as underwear too

My friend gave me a dress 10 years ago & it doesn't wrinkle, so I love wearing it

I have some other non wrinkle items from charity shops too

I usually leave space in my travel bag to bring back a couple of clothes.
I have bought a vintage T shirt
I have bought a new T shirt

Fallenangelofthenorth · 15/04/2024 00:44

Well I've not bought specific holiday clothes for probably about 5 years plus, and as a result I probably look a bit scruffy as nothing really suits me/fits anymore. Whereas my daughter has a whole new wardrobe and looks lovely. I think maybe there's a balance to be struck somewhere between the two extremes!

I don't see why you'd need to buy new for every trip though. More buy what you need for each season.

Original poster

wingingit1987 · 15/04/2024 00:34

I’ll add- we do buy more specific things for certain trips. Like when we go to Disneyland I’ll pick up a few Disney themed items.

OP posts:

Original poster

wingingit1987 · 15/04/2024 00:30

MistyBerkowitz · 14/04/2024 22:52

I think it’s a working-class/lower-middle thing.

Show quote history

That’s the thing- she isn’t wealthy at all. She is on benefits and I know that it must take a lot of her holiday budget up to factor in new clothes for each trip. She doesn’t go abroad, but does do a few UK based trips per year.

OP posts:

Librarybooker · 14/04/2024 23:08

I think I’m the opposite of this. I have several items that almost only come out to be worn on our 2 week UK summer break. They are timeless tops that always seem like the right thing to wear on a cool Cornish evening

Saintmariesleuth · 14/04/2024 23:06

Also joining the general consensus that I don't buy specific holiday clothes. It would just seem wasteful, especially for a UK trip.

I would look at my wardrobe and check whether anything needs updating or replacing before I travel though.

You are just more environmentally concious OP

iAmBarbara · 14/04/2024 23:02

I always have to buy one or two cheap bits for the kids (purely because they’re growing like weeds) but no your friend is absolutely ridiculous!

LAvortonDeLaLitière · 14/04/2024 23:00

I have a super posh friend who is a bit of a clothes horse. She takes her old clothes on holiday and mostly ditches them at the end of the week. Her logic is that a holiday is a time to relax, chill and not give a toss about anything. (She is though a fan of a well placed scarf to hide any spills on a two day old top!)

IncessantNameChanger · 14/04/2024 22:59

God no. Unless the kids don't have stuff that still fits. But I buy them stuff throughout the year as it's needed. I'm really trying to buy the absolute minimum this year unless I see something I love. I'm trying not too look.

We travel a lot. I'd rather take a few threadbare items to leave behind. Things that are fit for the bin as we do tend to buy stuff when we are away wherever we go. So this week we was in Bath. I bought a komono so ideally I would be organised and take holey socks to bin. Otherwise I can't pack my purchases ( especially abroad as the case always weighs a ton more on the return.

SingleDoubleWhippedClotted · 14/04/2024 22:57

Your friend is bonkers!
More money than sense.

MistyBerkowitz · 14/04/2024 22:52

Gunz · 14/04/2024 22:46

Personally I have a set of clothes that I only wear in a hot climate and if lucky drag out if there is heat wave in the UK. For UK based holidays I look at what I have got and may refresh the odd item(usually - do I have the right shoes) Certainly would not be looking at replacing the entire wardrobe. Your friend is off the mark or wealthy.

I think it’s a working-class/lower-middle thing.

Gunz · 14/04/2024 22:46

PeloMom · 14/04/2024 22:37

Does she go on holiday once every 5-10 years?

jernimoint · 14/04/2024 22:35

Not something we ever do - for UK or overseas trips. DCs always have clothes in the next size up (handed down from cousins or DC2 gets them from DC1) or I pick them up some bits from sales throughout the year. But no specific shopping needed for a holiday. We've only done that for going abroad to very different climates, eg Vegas in the summer or Iceland. I generally wear the same single swimsuit I use all year and the same summer clothes I use in the UK, and the same knickers I've been wearing.

LemonySnickets · 14/04/2024 22:32

I do buy a couple of new bits to go away. Just because I want to. When I was a kid though my mother would buy an entire new wardrobe of summer clothes for us kids but they would have to last till the next summers holiday!

DuesToTheDirt · 14/04/2024 22:32

OfMiceandWomen · 14/04/2024 22:27

On my holiday photos I’m wearing the same clothes for the past 10years 😀

Likewise! I was feeling aggrieved about one of my favourite t-shirts not lasting as long as I felt it should. Then I spotted it in a holiday photo from 2016...

MiddleParking · 14/04/2024 22:30

I might not for a UK break, although tbh if it was a week I probably still would. I would never go abroad with no new clothes and I don’t know anyone who would.

OfMiceandWomen · 14/04/2024 22:27

On my holiday photos I’m wearing the same clothes for the past 10years 😀

CurlyhairedAssassin · 14/04/2024 22:26

YANBU. I wish this whole tiktok "haul" trend will die a death, before the planet does.

SleepingStandingUp · 14/04/2024 22:24

Well if they go away once a year at the start of summer and she buys new summer clothes because clast years are too small, and they then wear them all summer, I guess it makes sense.

If she buys a load of holiday clothes that she then chucks out because they're no longer on holiday, she's the crazy one.

aperolspritzbasicbitch · 14/04/2024 22:20

I probably buy new for the children - but only because they are growing so what fit them last summer holiday won't fit them now. And then I'll get a few new dresses for myself.

Weekend breaks in the UK would probably mean a new outfit each, but not a whole new weekend wardrobe

Original poster

wingingit1987 · 14/04/2024 22:16

Thanks everyone. I do pick up anything I think we might need- swimwear or some new dresses for my daughters for the evening entertainment but I’m generally someone who buys in the sales or vinted. I don’t know if it’s because we have a larger family than most- buying everyone a whole new load of clothing at once would be such an undertaking. I tend to buy anything new as and when we need it.

OP posts:

TunaCrunchy · 14/04/2024 21:51

I always buy a couple of new items and I go away a lot.

artfuldodgerjack · 14/04/2024 21:49

I usually buy new knickers if I'm going on holiday and maybe a new dress, not a whole new wardrobe!

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