Smart clothes for boys?

[dottyaboutstripes]

We have been invited to SIL's silver wedding anniversary "do" and I'm led to believe it will be a smart-ish affair though not overly so. When I go to weddings etc (admittedly it's rare), I'm often astounded by just how casually boys seem to be dressed. I think it's really difficult to find the right level of "smart"

Can anyone help? Without breaking the bank! I was thinking this shirt at least for my eldest ds(7) but are jeans ok? I think I'd prefer not but he doesn't have anything else! I also have a 4yr old ds and a 2yr old ds. Girls no problemo, they are looking forward to hitting the shops for new gear!

I recently took my 6 year old son to a wedding and bought him an outfit from Next. Grey dress trousers, grey waistcoast and purple shirt and tie. He looked gorgeous and got so many lovely comments!

There were two other boys there, brothers, and they had jeans on with shirt tails hanging out. I thought they looked scruffy and out of place amongst so many people in there nice clothes.

The whole outfit from Next including shoes (from asda) cost £50.

Second vote for Next boyswear. I only have girls but lust after the boys clothes!! My nephews also have a really nice suit and tie from John Lewis boys if this is the kind of thing you are thinking of and I think Marks and Spencer Autograph has a few smart pieces too.

Monsoon do some lovely stuff

I think that shirt would be lovely. When I've taken my little boy (almost 2) to smart 'do's' I have tended to dress him in similar shirts with a nice pair of cords (from Next) and a nice knitted tanktop (from Matalan) over. He always looks smart, but the individual things are not too smart for everyday wear and can be mixed and matched with other stuff. Layers were also easy to remove when he got himself sweaty running around the dancefloor in the evening!

We took our son, then 18months, to a wedding in february in jeans, a flowery shirt and a waistcoat from BHS. He looked smart, yet quite groovy. Seemed to hit the right mark.