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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want to know if you kit your kids out with a whole new 'wardrobe' each season?

136 replies

Nonalphamum · 28/08/2013 16:09

I don't, but DD's friend's mum was most surprised when I told her earlier today that I don't. She then went on to tell me that at the end of every season she totally re-stocks both her DCs wardrobes with new clothes for the coming season and gets rid of things from the previous one. She also buys them 3 or 4 pairs of shoes per season.

She was genuinely shocked when I said that I don't do this, and things get given to the charity shop/Ebayed when my kids have grown out of them and not after just 3 or 4 months' wear. She was even more shocked when I said that DD will be going back to school in September wearing - shock horror - the shoes I got her in June, as they still fit perfectly and look new.

OP posts:

fuzzpig · 28/08/2013 18:34

Crowler I'm quite glad my DD isn't really into shopping as a pastime. Don't have the money, for a start :o she is happy to choose stuff if she happens to be with me at the time but is not into fashion per se. Hasn't got a clue about clothing brands but I guess that will change when she gets older. My DSDs are teens and really aren't bothered by that though, they are happy to create their own style on the cheap as they know that's all we/their mum can afford!

DD does like making dresses for her dolls out of fabric/paper scraps, and has said she wants to be a clothes designer, it hasn't really translated into her own clothes IYSWIM.

In fact I did start a thread a few months back because another mum had commented (not in a nice way) about the outfit she'd chosen, in that it was a bit mismatched and not fashionable. She was FIVE.

Sorry for waffle

GrimmaTheNome · 28/08/2013 18:40

In fact I did start a thread a few months back because another mum had commented (not in a nice way) about the outfit she'd chosen, in that it was a bit mismatched and not fashionable. She was FIVE.

Surely everyone knows the rule - that if a child is in a mismatched outfit, that almost always signifies they've chosen it themselves and therefore if you want to comment it has to be positively?

My DD is 14 now and its all I can do to get her to look through a catalog. Her absolute favourite jeans are the ones she found in the spare wardrobe which had been there since before she was born which no way will I ever get into again!

Turniptwirl · 28/08/2013 18:42

I can understand getting a few new season cool will be out of fashion in five minutes bits from primark etc every season, but otherwise just when they've been outgrown or worn to shreds!

There's plenty of time to spend ridiculous amounts of money when they're old enough to demand it, why start them on that track while they're still too little to care?!

Dobbiesmum · 28/08/2013 18:43

Tunic dresses are fab on growing girls. Just wear them as jumpers when they get too short on the body. PLUS if you buy them from Next they have arms to fit a chimp so you don't need to worry about three quarter length sleeves..

pegster · 28/08/2013 18:45

Sort of yes but only because DS is September born, soon to be 2 and tends to fit exactly age appropriate clothing. I am now shopping for age 2 clothes for the autumn - both new & on eBay.

Turniptwirl · 28/08/2013 18:46

Those who have to replace their child's wardrobe twice a year due to growth spurts: you have my sympathy! No one is aiming mocking at you!

Those who do so because its the new season and get rid of perfectly good well fitting clothes are insane!

lljkk · 28/08/2013 18:52

I can now wear DS1's castoffs (happy but also .... sigh).
I think some folk must be made of money.

fuzzpig · 28/08/2013 18:56

Surely everyone knows the rule - that if a child is in a mismatched outfit, that almost always signifies they've chosen it themselves and therefore if you want to comment it has to be positively?

You would think so wouldn't you!

ClaraOswald · 28/08/2013 18:56

My sister rarely has to buy much for my DN. He has grown so quickly, he is going through a size a season.

Last year for his birthday I bought him 3-4 years clothes. By April he had outgrown them, so I bought him some 4-5 and some 5-6 as his Easter present. He was getting a tonne of choc from other family anyway.
This year for his birthday I have had to buy him 5-6 years clothes as he has sprouted yet again and the 4-5 year trousers he had look like they have had a fight with his ankles. The 5-6 t-shirts can be worn with a long sleeved top underneath to see him through.
I prefer to get him clothes rather than toys as it means that it's less of a burden on my sister. Plus he always seems to like what I choose. :)

I will be told off for what I have got him. He is the only child in the family, and he gets into all sorts of mud and mischief plus potty training so two changes a day most days, not including pyjamas. I love shopping for him.

He will be three in October.

Mmmbacon · 28/08/2013 19:00

I always do, how could you not buy new clothes for every season, I start buying his winter wardrobe in september, and depending on how long before he grows out of them, replace as needed, then we buy his sumner wardrobe for the 3 weeks of sun we get, then back into new clothes as he always manages to grow 3 inches in those 3 weeks the fairy,

ouryve · 28/08/2013 19:01

Banjo "You lot doing audits twice a year have my admiration. I always intend to do that but end up only doing an audit when I notice one of the kids wearing trousers that look half mast."

My kids don't think to grow in time for the start of a new season. I bought DS1(9) a load of size 10 trousers at Easter. He's outgrown most of those, already. He started Spring with all of 4 size 10 short sleeve t-shirts and by the time the warm weather arrived, in July, I already knew that adding more size 10s would be futile.

I tend to buy as much as possible a season ahead in sales, in anticipation of the size they'll be. I can afford to take risks like only getting a couple of wears out of something for DS1, since DS2 suits similar colours (though I did pass some shorts on to a friend with the tags still on, earlier this year, since we've had a run of rotten summers.) I've had to scramble and find a load of plain t-shirts for DS2, though (harder than you'd think!) because he's been chewing the decals off some of his existing t-shirts and has chewed holes in others.

That twice yearly audit ends up happening about once every 6 weeks!

morethanpotatoprints · 28/08/2013 19:08

Yes, because they grow so much. I do accept hand me downs from my sister as my niece is older than dd.
Also going from summer to autumn/winter you obviously need to get them warmer clothes and its unlikely that last years will fit.
There has been the odd thing I was able to keep but its very rare.
Shoes have to be the worst, my dd has gone from a 1 to a 3.5 over the summer hols, everything has to be replaced.

Sirzy · 28/08/2013 19:12

how could you not buy new clothes for every season,

Easily!

DTisMYdoctor · 28/08/2013 19:32

DS is a bit of a slow grower I must confess. I got 3 Autumns and 2 Springs out of the same jacket

GrimmaTheNome · 28/08/2013 19:36

My DD had a school cardigan in Reception which was a bit big to start with (cuff rolled back once) but which oddly enough stretched when it was washed - she had it till about year 3

mrsjay · 28/08/2013 19:37

I can now wear DS1's castoffs (happy but also .... sigh).
I think some folk must be made of money.

DD put a perfectly good hoodie in the recycling last week I decided to nab it see starting my autumn season wardrobe

Whathaveiforgottentoday · 28/08/2013 19:45

I do that audit that several posters have mentioned and top up where needed. Certainly not a complete new wardrobe. When I did the audit for DD2 for the summer she didn't need anything at all as she has so many hand me downs from big sister and cousins. I don't think she'll be getting new clothes for a couple of years looking at the stock in the loft.
DD1 had the same summer shorts for 4 years (started size 18 months when she was in nappies and still fitted her at the end of reception but she has a particularly small bottom). DD2 is wearing the same shorts sitting next to me right now.

capticorn1 · 28/08/2013 20:21

I used to buy new trousers for ds cargo/camouflage type for the Autumn and in the summer my mum would make em into shorts, then they would be passed on to others for the following summer, that way we all saved a fortune. I only buy clothes that I know my son will wear and will even buy the same thing in bigger sizes so that we didn't run out of his favourite style of trousers. Everything else is bought as and when needed. DS has Asperger's and is Hypersensitive to the feel of certain materials as well as sound, touch and taste.

DD is easier to buy clothes for but again it has always been on an as and when basis.

CorrinaKedavra · 28/08/2013 20:28

Depends. DS still fits into all of his summer t-shirts and shorts from last year so I haven't bought anything new this year and I also pre-bought some winter tops from eBay which turned out to be too large for him last year but'll be fine soon.

There will come a point soon if I don't get ahead of myself again that he will need an entire new wardrobe but I don't buy more than four or five outfits for him unless it's summer - he's in uniform or pajamas most of the time.

DD buys her own clothes. Less said about that the better

raisah · 28/08/2013 20:57

I only buy new if needed/ outgrown of & even then I get lots of gifts/ hand me downs so I dont need to buy that much. I certainly dont buy for each season and I avoid spending the full rrp if I can help it.

soverylucky · 28/08/2013 21:03

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MrsTedMosby · 28/08/2013 22:04

God no. With 5 I'd be bankrupt! I buy DS1 clothes and then they get handed down.

I do buy them new clothes if they need it. DS2 currently has 1 pair of jeans, so he needs some more. I do need to check their jumpers as most of them are a couple of years old, so probably outgrown. I will pass down any that aren't wrecked and buy new ones if needed.

All their summer clothes this year are from last year, apart from a couple of bits they got for their birthdays. I always buy a year older than they are so they get lots of wear out of their clothes.

Shoes wise they have school shoes, walking boots, trainers and wellies.

Gubbins · 28/08/2013 22:44

Seasons?! Oh dear, I must be going wrong somewhere. Mine wear the same thing year round, but in winter they stick a pair of wooly tights underneath the shorts or dress and a jumper and a fleece on top. Trousers need buying fairly regularly, but although very tall they are both very slim, so the nearly 9 year old still wears (increasingly indecent) shorts from when she was 5, and the 7 year old still comfortably fits into a pair that are age 18-24 months.

lljkk · 29/08/2013 08:28

I am confused about this fast-growing malarky means frequent clothing changes, and the implication that this just goes on for years and years. Babies grow fast, sure, but...

DD & DS have both grown about 2 inches in last 5 months. That's pretty fast, isn't it? DS is 13 & above 75th percentile for height. Almost every clothing item still tends to last them 12 months+ (maybe shoes only 5-9 months). How much FASTER are some of your DC growing?

lljkk · 29/08/2013 08:30

And toddlers & babies, sheesh, you can pick up piles of nearly new clothes for a pittance for that age group at carboots & jumble sales.

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