Have a gift of money to buy clothes for whole family - where would you spend it?

[GeorginaA]

Okay, I have a cheque from my grandmother to get us all something for Christmas. As we've been living in Tesco & Matalan finest of late, I thought it would be nice to buy one nice outfit for each of us (18mth old ds, 4.5 year old ds, dh & me).

• I don't necessarily want fashionable, but I'd like something nice that washes well, is hard wearing & practical can be worn for "smart" if needs be but not reserved for special occasions only. Something higher quality than Tesco, basically ;)

• total funds is £200 so we're not talking hooooge spending money (I also have dreams of having a bit left over to put towards holiday fund, but I know I'm probably pushing it a bit).

• I'm really out of practise at this whole shopping for clothes lark. Which shop is a) on the internet and b) would suit?

Ta!

john lewis

M&S is good quality and you can get something from the Per Una range for yourself. Or Debenhams is good for the whole family and is good quality and you can get something designery!

next

£75 each for dh and you
£30 each child

£90 left for holiday fund

Meant to say you have a generous Granny!!

asda for kids and DH -- and the rest of the budget for you at John Lewis!

or for a treat check out the monsoon sale for you there are some gorgeous things left at very good prices

"you have a generous Granny" - I know, I'm still reeling a bit, which is why I'm a bit fuzzy about where to spend it I like your budget split of £75 per adult and £30 per child - I think that's realistic.

Next used to be lovely - but we found that a lot of the kids jumpers shrunk on washing - do they still have that problem or is that resolved now?

Haven't looked in M&S for years - is the sizing okay for skinny boys, or do their trousers end up around their ankles I remember their baby stuff with ds1 (okay, 4.5 years ago now, lol) used to be huuuuuge around the middles!!

lol re: asda, mancmum

Erm .... just realised Northerner ... I have £200, not £300 - that budget leaves me -£10 for the holiday fund!! (but I still think you're right, that's a reasonable split!)

I'd bung it all in the holiday fund! The DCs will remember a holiday long after they've grown out of the clothes

Or £50 on something for you and DH, £150 in the holiday fund

I like Next, their clothes seem to fit dd really well but I reckon your ds's may not be as chubby . We usually do the Asda and Matalan thing too though, Next shopping is for special occasions or sale shopping only as we're generally skint.

Do you have an Adams or Mothercare near you?

Get dh something nice from John Lewis and get thee to Monsoon immediately (well maybe tomorrow...)

Or have you had a look on the internet for more designery stuff for the ds's - I remember getting lots of posh looking catalogues for kids clothes from companies like JoJo Mamn Bebe with pregnancy magazines.

Just a thought too - it might be worth investing more in ds1's outfit as ds2 will get the use of it as well!

Or you cound just blow the lot on a nice weekend away somewhere!

"might be worth investing more in ds1's outfit as ds2 will get the use of it as well!" A year ago I'd have agreed with you, but to be fair, ds1's a slow grower and he's doing a fab job of thoroughly wearing clothes out. Don't think ds2 is going to get many handmedowns from this age, tbh

Has Next still got a sale on or is it only very selected lines only? Might try and drift over there at the weekend and inspect carefully ;)

What are H&M clothes like these days? (carefully dragging shops out of the corner of my memory)

Hehe MT

at northerners adding up....

Oh, I really like the idea of a weekend somewhere or sticking the lot in the holiday fund... but I get the feeling grandmother would like to see something fairly tangible and longer lasting than 3-7days... that's why I thought if I get some clothes and syphon a bit off for the holiday pot it would be an acceptable compromise

I went to our local Next at the weekend to find that it had been pretty much picked clean

The sale had only been on a few days but obviously I wasn't quick enough!

H&M is pretty hit and miss, but always worth a look, for all 4 of you.

Do you have a designer outlet anywhere near you?

Spent hours in Debenhams with my mum recently (she loves to shop). It was great there is a really wide range of stuff and a good sale on. It also has concessions so there is lots to choose from.

Georgina, both of our local Next branches are bare now, sales wise

Bum.

I could suffer a trip to Debenhams I suppose ... oh how I loathe clothes shopping in real live shops, let me count the ways