bold bright baby clothes at reasonable prices

[Ilovekittyelise]

Hi all

I'm sure this thread has been done to death but couldn't see anything.

We don't know what our baby is but both loathe the idea of blue for boys etc and would like to dress our baby in bold bright colours that would be what would be considered unisex; we know that the germans and scandinavians tend to do a better job than us with this type of clothing; anyone got any suggestions for where to shop. I love boden stuff, but don't really want to spend that kind of money on everyday clothes!

Thankyou xxx

H&M has a really good selection, very reasonable prices. You'd be hard pressed not to find something bright and unsex there.

If you don't mind used, you can pick up LOADS of baby stuff for very little money on e-bay, including Boden, Gap, Miniature etc.

Be warned though, you are quite likely to be swimming against a tide of pastels in regards to presents that you receive from people!

I too am in fear of pastel matinee jackets...

Being of a crafty inclination, I'm planning to knit a few bright bits for mine, but other than that I'll be looking for inspiration on the high street.

I've seen some gorgeous stuff for girls, but nothing very exciting for boys... a lot of it seems to veer between twee, pastel sailor suits and jack-the-lad slogan t-shirts. (Though I've noticed that French babywear tends to include a lot of bright, puppet-like stuff that is much more to my taste)

Polarn O Pyret is fab here

toby tiger looks great

Sometimes you can get good stuff in TK Maxx as it's so random. I feel exactly the same way as you.. I want BRIGHT boy's clothes!

I managed to get quite a few nice things in H&M recently - they have a selection of vests from just £2.99 each that come in nice bright stripes for starters.

eBay is great too, but I've been let down by getting often quite faded and pilled stuff in the past which has put me off a bit.

On the high street, at reasonable prices:

Next - sift through the cartoony branded stuff and there are some real gems
John Lewis
H&M
Mini Club at Boots
Pumpkin Patch
Asda and Sainsbury's too, again, look past the cartoony stuff and you can find some good bits.

Also have a Google on The Hedge Pig, Kids Should be Kids, Viking Kids and Rainbow babies.

thanks guys, great suggestions have written all down in my little notebook; have never been a real master of ebay but a fantastic idea for all things baby iv heard great for pushchairs etc also...

hey has anyone been to NCT sales?

NCT sales - yes, I help run ours.
Can be very hit or miss, and not brilliant for clothes. Great for stuff like cots and buggies though.

There's always dye ... DS2 is currently sporting a natty purple tie-dyed vest.

oooooooo some great ideas; am LOVING tie-dye and knitting ideas! thanks everyone x

2nd hand boden on eBay

or H&M/Primark (don't like Primark myself as I tumble dry everything and most of their stuff isn't tumbleable).

It is VERY hard to find the sort of clothes you are after. Red things from the boys section tend to have black dye that darkens the red. Red things from the girls section tend to have pink dye to pinkify the red and/or they have ornate collars/necklines/buttons to make them girl ish.

Warn you that it is a constant battle!

I get all DD's clothes from the NCT sale, way cheaper than Ebay and there's a great selection- I think it depends where you live though, some tend to have more clothes and others more toys.

You could always get plain white sleepsuits and dye them in the washing machine.

I got some bright ones in the Peacocks sale at Christmas but no seen much in there since in bright colours.

Also BlueZoo @ Debenhams but more expensive

Ilovekittyelise - if you fancy knitting some quick and bright baby bits, you might like to check out a book called Chic Knits for Stylish Babies which has inspiration for quite a few non-twee items. Or even sign up at www.ravelry.com which has thousands of free knitting patterns.

(Ok I'll stop now - apols for inflicting my knitty-overenthusiasm on this thread!)

My all time fav is SuSu Mama

If you have rich relatives who want to buy them a gift point them in the direction of Nordic Kids (website), their stuff is gorgeous.

H&M is great. loads of plain babygros and trousers in bright colours.

i don't normally go in polarn o pyret because it's SO expensive, but the sale is quite good.

You'll be better off buying a few packs of your favourite colours of Dylon. And maybe some fabric paint, glitter, iron-on patches etc if you're feeling creative!

Then you can make boring white clothes, any questionable presents and greying secondhand stuff into really cool funky clothes! You can even make pink babygrows and vests more suitable for boys!

Here's a few more I've collected over the weeks:

Barnyard Kids

Nordic Kids

Yellow Lolly

JoJo Manan Bebe have some nice things, and agree Nordic Kids lovely but expensive.

I loved Moonkids for DD when she was a baby. Really funky baby soft terry towelling pieces it's on sale ayr Viking Kids at the moment too. I buy it for friends with newborns as it is all pretty unisex but the colours are fab!

Boots have got some lush romper suits 2 for £10 that are scandi-ish with apples on :)

Next have got some fab bold bright babygroS at the moment - 3 for £14 so more expensive than supermarket ones but good quality and very cool!

an example here

or here

If you look on Youtube there are videos for making trousers. It's really easy. I love making DS(5yo) silly, bright trousers.

Ebay, charity shops and scrapstores are good for cheap fabrics.

XL mens shirts from charity shops are really good for making PJ bottoms.

I saw some really nice new cheap sleepsuits on eBay - loads of bold colours to choose from. I'll see if I can find the link x