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Original poster

How much do you spend on your daughter's clothes?

75 replies

SomeGuy · 04/10/2009 02:31

My daughter is 2. My wife has decided that DD needs to be kept well-styled and hence needs numerous items of footwear (two kinds of boots, various shoes), numerous dresses, and so on. The stuff she's buying is Debenhams type stuff, so the damage could be a lot worse, I should add.

How much do you spend for your child of this age?

OP posts:

FlopemOut · 04/10/2009 02:40

I spend close to nothing on DS, also 2. He mainly gets hand-me-downs so the only real expense is shoes, however I may occasionally buy a top or trousers if doing a shop in Tesco or similar

Zembo · 04/10/2009 06:44

Loads!

We buy loads from Boden and love Polarn O. Pyret (although only buy from there in the sales)..

Shoes -she has about 6 different items of footwear at any one time sometimes more.

Resale value of stuff I buy is good on ebay, that's one of the ways I justify it

Shells · 04/10/2009 06:55

Absolutely nothing. DD is nearly 2. All hand me downs.

BonsoirAnna · 04/10/2009 06:58

Absolutely masses. I have one DD and will only ever have one child. When she was about 18 months and was hesitating over a very expensive outfit for DD in Bonpoint, a friend of mine quite rightly pointed out that this was my one chance to buy little girls clothes. It will never happen again. So I buy what I like, basically.

bigTillyMint · 04/10/2009 07:05

Probably about £20 a month absolute tops on her own clothes as she wears school uniform 5 days a week

tinkerbellesmuse · 04/10/2009 07:12

Hmmm quite a lot which I guess is not what you want to hear?!

DD is 4 (and I have no idea how many pairs of shoes she has - more than I can count off top of my head) and I reckon at the moment about £50 per month (not including the rip off that is school uniform).

This is a lot less than when she was 2 as we now live in the desert so she doesn't need boots/coats/jeans or basically any of the more expensive items.

Embaressingly when we moved here I sold a lot of her bits on ebay and made £800+

MrsBadger · 04/10/2009 07:51

dd is also 2
money-wise we spend very little, but quantity-wise she has tons of clothes - mostly from ebay and charity shops or 3pks of basics from Tesco. My mum buys her a lot too (again mostly ebay or charity shops).
However I am very selective and spend time putting the disparate bits together into outfits so I flatter myself that she usually looks pretty good.

Add to that the fact she is in nursery full time, which has the potential to utterly trash clothes, and that we only have her cousin (6m younger) to hand down to and I think we have a pretty good balance.

Only one pair of shoes at a time though, apart from wellies, and sandals in summer, as her feet are weirdy shaped so can't buy off the shelf in Next etc. She outgrows them four times a year anyway. Usually she has classic T-bar ones, so polished up they are fine for parties but are also tough enough for nursery.

Having said all that I do spend on performance outerwear (iyswim) so she is warm and dry outdoors in any weather all winter - life not worht living stuck indoors with a toddler!

misdee · 04/10/2009 08:03

between the ages of 1-4 my dd's have a lot of clothes. dd1, dd2 and dd3 are now at school so they dont need as much now as they have schooll uniform.

dd4 is 10.5months old. she has an awful lot of clothes. mainly hand-me-downs from older dd's or bundles bought second hand. she has finally moved into the 6-9/9-12 stuff so as well as sorting through what we have, i have added £40 of second hand stuff plus new tights. she mainly has piniform dresses, cardys, long sleeved tops and tights on atm. she looks lovely, without looking too OTT.

when she starts walking she will have 2 pairs of shoes and maybe a pair of boots depending on the weather. 2 pairs of shoes in case one gets wet.

MrsBadger · 04/10/2009 08:14

NB Misdee where is your top tip for tights?
all of dd's from last year (Next, Tesco, Mothercare, M&S) bobbled to hell in about 3 washes. If necc I will go back to Gap but am checking alternatives first...

misdee · 04/10/2009 08:16

primark for little dd4. they seems ok, but only got them last week. i also use babylegs which are cool.

MrsBadger · 04/10/2009 08:18

hmm, will try them
I have got some long socks too (Gap sale) as I reckon they'll be easier for her as she continues pottywards

ninedragons · 04/10/2009 08:23

Almost nothing on 20-month-old DD. I am terribly tight.

We live in a posho area with fabulous charity shops so it's all DKNY, Seed and adorable little Scandinavian clothes for next to nothing. If pickings were thinner I would spend more, so I admit it's mostly down to luck and locality.

KristinaM · 04/10/2009 08:24

soemguy - can you afford it? if not i suggest you talk to your DW about it.

if you can, i suggest you suck it up. two pairs of boots doesn't seem excessive

it could be worse - you DW could be spending the money on drink/drugs/keeping a toyboy in a flat somewhere

if you think clothes are expensive, wait til you start spending on childcare . that second pair of boots will seem like a drop in the ocean

misdee · 04/10/2009 08:25

oh yes, i prefer long socks/babylegs for nappy changes. i hate putting tights on a wiggling baby lol.

i will say to the OP though, that the one thing i dont skimp on is footwear and coats. dh complains as all dd's have at least 3 coats. a winter one like a duffle, lighter spring/sutmn jacket, raincoat. older dd's have school shoes, wellies, trainers, and a pair of party/fun shoes.

monkeysmama · 04/10/2009 08:40

I spend a lot but somehow it's ok to buy lots of stuff for dd 16mo) We do a big shop at the start of the season - so last month did £100 Verbaudet order & same in Boden, Molly & Jack & Mothercare. My bf has a shop selling Scandanavian kids clothes & I get hefty discount so buy stuff there too . She has 2 pairs of boots, a pair of trainers & converse boots.

My mum works with young pregnant women so I give everything to them after.

notyummy · 04/10/2009 08:42

Very little - and we could afford to spend a lot more. Really can't see the point as long as she is warm/looks nice and clean. She has a reasonable selection of clothes, a lot sourced from charity shops.She one pair of shoes; one pair of trainer; ome pair of sandals and wellies (all bought good quality and new - its about the only thing we splash out on!)

Much rather stick the money in a savings fund for her and she can make use of it as a deposit on a house/pay uni fees - hopefully in the long term she will thank us more for this than having designer labels when she was too young to register what they were.

MrsBadger · 04/10/2009 08:50

oh yes I missed the vital point

we could spend a lot more - I don;t ebay and charity shop out of necessity but out of choice, iyswim

hoxtonchick · 04/10/2009 08:57

mrsbadge, h & m tights are the best by far. dd has had some which have lasted 2 years and then handed down to at least 2 others.... great designs too.

KristinaM · 04/10/2009 09:00

another vote for H&M tights. rememebr to wash them inside out

sarah293 · 04/10/2009 09:02

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

stinkypinky · 04/10/2009 09:26

DD is 3, expecting DC2. I spend very little, as have very little left after paying £600 a month for childcare. Only one wage too. Make money go further by shopping at charity shops. Grandma buys quality new shoes as needed. I always buy underwear and nightwear new.
I only buy second hand Next clothes - much cheaper than the cheapest new stuff, plus much better quality.
TBH would do the same even if money was no object.

BonsoirAnna · 04/10/2009 09:40

I always buy Doré-Doré tights. Expensive, but they last and last and last - until the child has grown out of them.

mwff · 04/10/2009 10:06

when dd1 was small i spent as little as possible, bought mostly second hand and expensive things like shoes i bought boys ones so i could save money handing them down if i had a boy.

now i have a dd2 i spend more on clothes because i know they'll get plenty of use. not that i buy any more clothes, but i'll buy boden for a few "key pieces" (pmsl) (always with a code but don't always wait for sale any more), then fill in the gaps from howies sale, h&m, peacocks, sainsbos etc.

charity shops round here are rubbish for children's stuff and i can't be doing with ebay for kids any more as i need to be able to send things back if they don't fit.

bronze · 04/10/2009 10:08

Hand me downs here. Only thing new is shoes and thats one pair weather appropriate so crocs in summer boots in winter

Othersideofthechannel · 04/10/2009 10:11

Two kinds of boots seems reasonable if for different purposes: eg welly boots + leather boots for daily winter wear

but two pairs of same purpose footwear seems a bit excessive knowing how quickly their feet grow at this age

I'd barely spent any money on DD when she was 2 as lucky enough to have friends who handed down good condition clothes and a relative who just adores buying clothes for little girls.

I don't have any desire to choose the clothes myself so am quite happy to save money for the teenage years!

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