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

[SomeGuy]

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?

More than I should but not more than I can afford. I love my DD to look nice and it gives me great pleasure to dress her so why shouldn't I? Now that she is in nursery uniform 5 days I have cut back on clothes for her and buy what I think that she needs. I am more than happy to buy Tescos etc but find that some of the more expensive brands wash and wear better so shop in the sales and hoard for next year. Today she's wearing a boden top bought in the sale, H&M skinny jeans which are too short but are tucked into Next Uggs so will get another few months wear and she looks absolutely divine and that makes me happy shallow as I am.

I maybe buy two outfits a year for both of mine - the rest hand-me-down (yay!) or ebay. Neither of mine seem to care.

Wait till she's 13 like mine....
5 feet 7, size 7 feet- amazing slim figure....
We went shopping last week as she had NOTHING left from last winter which fit. She likes Uniqlo for tops 9ladies sizes), leggings, skinny jeans and converses. I don't spend a lot- but I think this winter it will cost me about £150-200. Bras are a new item this year(!).
Boots are going to be about £75- as long as she wears them a lot, and gets money's worth, I don't mind. (I sound like my mother) Luckily she hates UGGS which I think are the ugliest things invented.
As a teenager I always had crap clothes- never fit, and even worse my mum would make me things. I do not want dd looking different/feeling different from her friends. However, pester power does not work on me!

I am with Bonsoiranna. Only have one DD, not having any more so if I see something I like I buy it for her. When she outgrows I save an item or two for her memory box, ebay some and give the rest to charity. Some of my friends have been known to 'bags' items before she's grown out of them.

I also remember when I was at school many years ago that the kids who wore 2nd hand clothes got a bit of a hard time so I think I must unconsciously carry that around at the back of my mind.

I have been known to spend £££ on myself so quite happy to do so for DD
Fortunately DP never buys clothes for himself or we really would be broke!

2.7yo DD is dressed almost exclusively in sainsbury's, tesco, and asda stuff, and is always complimented on her clothes. the sainsbury's stuff is really lovely, good quality and very reasonably priced.

I will admit that I'm looking forward to choosing her a party dress for a family wedding though, and may venture towards GAP/Boden to this end.

not loads as DD (7) is hard on her clothes! She is clumsy and a bit tomboy-ish (in games, clothing wise her tastes are quite girly) so stuff almost inevitably ends up with holey knees/grass or food stains on it within 5 wears

i always wore second hand stuff as a kid and never had "nice" clothes. as soon as i was old enough to notice/care it upset me quite a bit, which is why i would never begrudge buying pretty/cool stuff for my dds. although i certainly don't feel that pretty/cool has to equal expensive.

actually, thinking back, it had quite a big impact on my sense of self esteem over my appearance (which was rock bottom pretty much until my mid-twenties). i hope i can help my girls make the most of themselves and enjoy expressing themselves through their choice of clothes.

I have four boys and shopping for their clothes is like a household chore. I have to make sure that they have enough of everything and that it is functionable and weather appropriate. Buying clothes for boys is boring, for me anyway.
I now have a daughter, 2 days old, and am already seeing that she wil probably have far more clothes than the boys. I have recieved some extravagant clothes as gifts, and will be recieving a load of hand-me-downs from a friend who buys expensive clothes for her dds, some of them are not even worn yet.
Dressing a daughter is enjoyable.
I have only had one for two days, and I love it already.

I really like clothes and like to think I know what suits me, ditto my DD.
But this has never translated into a desire to 'dress up a little girl.'

Was always bemused at playgroup and nursery by the people who were into this.
I remember a mum (never seen in the same beautifully-styled outfit twice), picking up her DD and finding her in a spare playgroup dress because her own was wet.
She was spitting with fury and forced the crying girl back into her own wet dress. The girl was three and had got wet through PLAYING.

Likewise the types who won't let their kids jump in puddles if they've got their shoes on. What are they saving them for? They only last 6 months at best.

Strikes me as feeling the need to 'dress up' a girl is veering towards dodgy territory at worst (or is that a sign of my age?) or making rods for backs.
They're not dolls - and why is it predominantly girls who get treated in this way?

Second hand dies not mean grotty though - it may have done 20-30 years ago when I was a child but in our consumer driven high turnover society clothes are not worn out like they used to be. I wear a combination of second hand and new clothes and no one can tell the difference. It is the same with my children. The object is thatvyou need to be selective and I do look out for expensive brand names in charity shops and car boot stalls, as they are usually better made and worn less (saved for best).

My childhood was spent wearing some 2nd hand and some new clothes and I was aware of some stigma from brain dead people but it didn't put me off in the slightest.

I had a friend like this with her DD, it wasn't just clothes, if her mum was picking her up she would panic and wash her face and brush her hair before she came. She also stressed if she had lost a bobble whilst playing presumably worried what her mum would say.

Same girl told my DD that her new jacket was 'disgusting',it was a very nice jacket btw, they were 6 .

i hope i didn't imply that second hand = grotty bigmouth (if it's me you were addressing), as i said earlier i used to get almost everything second hand for dd1 (as i still do for myself).

but i do appreciate how special it is to get something brand new, plus the practicalities for me now are that a) i want to be able to return stuff if it doesn't fit and b) i know i'll get two kids use out of stuff and if i buy new and take good care i can sell on at the end too.

When money is free flowing I spend a fortune on Oilily, Cakewalk, Catimini, Room seven and when it's not I sell it all on ebay and get new stuff!! She always looks beautiful and is even cuter than she looks!!

My 2yo DD has loads of clothes. I mostly buy them in the sales (Pumpkin Patch and Debenhams) or from supermarkets (Sainsbury's stuff is lovely) or Outlet stores, so I don't spend loads.

She has 2 pairs of shoes ATM only because I bought her some Doodles when we went on holiday so she alternates between those and her proper shoes. She has wellies for nursery.

It is easy to get carried away and ATM it is lovely to buy stuff for her because she wears it. I know that in a short while she'll be refusing anything I like, so I'm making the most of it. Not that she is "dressed up" as such. My eldest children had a lot of really cheapy track suits because we had so little money when they were born that it is nice to be able to choose something a bit nicer.

" I am a bit envy at all the ebay comments. She hasn't taken on my hints that old toys, etc., should go on ebay, so if I want something ebayed I have to do it myself.

Can't be arsed with ebaying children's shirts for £2 or £3 a time though. "

well since neither of you can be arsed, why don't you pass them on to a local charity or charity shop instead? get that "feel good " factor

We have £30ish budget for both DCs each month, including toy stuff like crayons, paper etc - DD is 3, DS is 1. They don't have a lot of stuff and what they do have is pretty much all Sainsburys or Next.

Last month we went over budget as they both needed winter shoes (£16 for DD, £14 for DS from the Startrite seconds shop), a winter coat for DS (£14) and wellies for both (£8 for DD, £3 for DS).

This month I think we'll just need some more glitter and glue so it'll even out!

We could afford more but there doesn't seem much point. They grow so quickly! I pick stuff carefully so they always look nice. When they're older and they care more, I'll probably give them a bigger budget. My mum always chose my stuff when I was growing up and I too had quite low self-esteem and never had any fashionable stuff. I'm shallow and I cared a lot

I have 2 dd's and don't spend a fortune, but i like my dd's to look nice and everything must match. Their clothes come from a variety of sources. They have a very generous grandma who buys them beautiful dresses from Selfridges and Debenhams. Their party dresses are from Monsoon, as my brother's girlfriend is a manager and therfore gets a big discount. I like to buy things from charity shops, because you cannot find many of the clothes in high street stores. It is important that my dd's look nice, because young girls are aware of their appearance.

A spend a lot on dd, as I love clothes and so does she.

But hey, I don't drink, don't smoke and don't take drugs, so buying lovely things is my 'fun'.

amazed that a 2yo would have 2 pairs of boots and "various" shoes. DD at 2 had one pair of shoes and one pair of wellies. Mine only graduated to a second pair when they went to school (and needed to keep school shoes decent).

DD when 2 used to get a lot of hand-ons from cousin/DS1 girl-pals. (less now she's 8).

Also she wore her big brother's cast offs. So I used to splash the occasional Boden T-shirt and new shoes and that was about it tbh.

But y'know, do what you want!

about £150 a year but DD (12) is stunningly goregeous and we are grown-up parents, so no need to over-spend.

I know a few people who do this with their sons. I know a lady who has 3 boys: 1 about 4.5yo and twins about 2 yo.

They wear matching outfits, not just the ID twins, but the older lad, too! Right down to socks and shoes (I wonder if she works on the dad to match his clothes, too?). They match, anyway, on outings to toddler groups and with dad to the pokey little local shops. I don't know if it's all designer, but it's definitely 'smart', tidy, new or newish looking.

I certainly admire the mother's organisational skills!

I read today that the UK annual spend on clothes+footwear is 50 billion GBP, or about 480/person. So I guess if you spend same or less than that per annum, you can at least say you're no worse than 'average'.

What you can afford of course. If I was rolling in money I'd buy everything for my kids from Bonpoint and the like. As it is, I don't, but I do buy lots of Gap, Boden etc. They need 'enough' outfits and all the right kind of shoes and coats for different weather. Where you get them from and how many extra things you buy for them after that is up to you. It would be ridiculous to spend money that you need for bills on a 3rd pair of boots. If it's a choice between your dd's clothes and your new computer game or whatever then you have to come to a civilised agreement with dw

I buy winter clothes at the beginning of the season and that is usually all I buy. So I have just spent just under £200 including shoes which will last her until Spring and then I will do the same again. She is 2 and a half and always looks lovely in my opinion lol!!! Most of those clothes will last her through next year as well. OMG just realised that is £33 per months ish......

ourladyofperpetualsupper - maybe people don't let their kids jump in puddles unless they have wellies on so their feet stay dry? Can't imagine DD walking much without having extremely sore feet after jumping in the 3" pot holes we get near here