We all want the very best of everything for our new baby daughter or son but the financial cost of having a baby can come as a big shock to new parents, especially if they don't know anyone who has already gone through the experience. Not only are there the major items to cover such as medical expenses and buying a crib, a car seat, a stroller - there are all the other things that add to the cost such as bottles, diapers, bedding for the crib, burp cloths, bibs and all the numerous other items you never realized were needed for babies. So, unless you have unlimited funds, it makes sense to economize on some items and buying cheap baby clothes makes a lot of sense.
When you make a list of the essential items of clothing you are going to need for your new baby, you will begin to realize just how many "onesies", sleep suits, socks, hats and other outfits are needed. But should you succumb the recommendations for organic or natural clothing (possibly more expensive!) or are regular products sufficient? And once your baby is born and you settle into the day to day routine of looking after your baby, you quickly realize that while it might be nice to have designer clothes for your little one, they go through so many changes of clothes during a twenty four hour period (who knew babies could be so messy!) that designer clothes would be rather an extravagance.
Because babies grow so fast and are not very mobile during the first few months, they tend to outgrow their clothes rather than wear them out. For this reason the most practical clothes to put your baby in are all-in-one play and sleep suits. They are very comfortable for your baby to wear, which is the main criteria when choosing any infant clothes, and the design of them means that they make dressing and undressing a wriggling baby easy and the poppers make for easier diaper changing. Not only that they are among the cheapest of baby clothes you can buy and are suitable for either a girl or a boy.
As you will need a reasonable number of these items both for day and nighttime wear it is cheaper to buy them in multi packs. Take a look at the Gerber packs of short sleeved and long sleeved "onesies" that are available in places like Wal-Mart and Target starting for about $7.50 for a pack of four. You will also find multi packs of sleep suits, bibs, socks, mittens and hats at very affordable prices in these stores. It is also worth checking out other big stores like Babies R Us, JC Penney, Sears and other department stores to see what they have to offer.
Another way to save money on baby clothes is to wait until the stores have their sales. For instance after summer, when they are getting ready to introduce their winter clothes, and again after the Christmas holidays when the new spring and summer clothes are due to arrive you can often find some incredible bargains. Okay, so maybe the clothes will be last season's lines but they will still be cute and you will have got them a lot cheaper than buying them when they first come out. And don't forget to look in the paper for coupons to get even more money off your purchases.
For another great source of cheap baby clothes look in your local paper for garage or yard sales and make a note of any that specifically mention baby clothes. You can quite often pick up whole bags of nearly new and often brand new clothes for a fraction of the cost of buying them in stores. The same is true of visiting thrift stores.
However, if you really do prefer to buy new, then as well as checking out the big stores it is worth doing some research on the Internet. There are so many on-line retailers to choose from and again you will be able to buy multi packs of essential items.
So, although you may want the best for your baby, if your budget doesn't allow you to go out and buy designer outfits your little one isn't going to feel you don't care. Let's be honest, he or she is not going to know the difference between a Ralph Lauren sleep suit and a Wal-Mart own brand one! Buying cheap baby clothes makes economic sense for the parents and you can always suggest to the doting relatives and friends that they might like to buy the designer outfits for those special outings.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
When Did Kids Clothes Become So Complicated?
As a parent of a baby you get to choose what newborn baby clothes to put them in whether your taste is for cute or funky, designer or cheap baby clothes. And you might expect that even when they reach the toddler stage they will be quite happy with your choice of clothes - after all, whenever you buy your baby cheap toys, they are quite happy to play with even the packaging the toy came in without complaint! But it seems that, at a much younger age than when my children were young, both girls and boys are getting definite ideas on what kid's clothes they want to wear. Even infant boy clothing and infant girl clothing can now cause headaches for unsuspecting parents!
When I think back to my own children my daughter was at least four years old before she started having definite ideas about what she would and wouldn't wear, in fact she flatly refused to wear dresses! On the other hand, my son at the same age was quite happy with whatever clothes I chose for him (except dresses!) although they were always more appealing if they depicted favorite characters such as Thomas The Tank Engine, Superman or Transformers.
Things have certainly been different with our grandson who is now four and a half years old. From about the age of two he has had very firm ideas on what clothes he wants to wear. He has always been keen on cars and vehicles and so buying clothes with pictures of those on them were always greeted with delight. One of his favorite movies was Cars and he loved having tops, socks and underwear with pictures of Lightning McQueen on them.
As he has got older and his game playing has changed so too have his favorite characters. A short time ago he was very into Ben 10 and proudly showed his Ben 10 pajamas and socks as he rushed about pretending to change into one of the figures he had seen on TV. According to his Mum he has now outgrown Ben 10 and he now wants to emulate Super Heroes such as Batman, Superman and Spiderman and save people from the "baddies". Now clothes with these action figures on are cool! How long this phase will last is anyone’s guess!
Another new interest is soccer and he now "supports" his local team Blackburn Rovers and the England national team and proudly sports the England shirt that someone bought for him. He thinks it's great because all his friends wear them too.
But it 's not just his friends who influence what he likes to wear. He also likes to get dressed up for a special occasion in a smart shirt and trousers just like Daddy. I'm not sure my son went through that phase until he was much older as he much preferred being in clothes that allowed him to rough and tumble.
Obviously my experiences are based on the relatively small sample comprising my children and grandchild, plus friends and relatives and what I see in the shops. But what do you think?
When I think back to my own children my daughter was at least four years old before she started having definite ideas about what she would and wouldn't wear, in fact she flatly refused to wear dresses! On the other hand, my son at the same age was quite happy with whatever clothes I chose for him (except dresses!) although they were always more appealing if they depicted favorite characters such as Thomas The Tank Engine, Superman or Transformers.
Things have certainly been different with our grandson who is now four and a half years old. From about the age of two he has had very firm ideas on what clothes he wants to wear. He has always been keen on cars and vehicles and so buying clothes with pictures of those on them were always greeted with delight. One of his favorite movies was Cars and he loved having tops, socks and underwear with pictures of Lightning McQueen on them.
As he has got older and his game playing has changed so too have his favorite characters. A short time ago he was very into Ben 10 and proudly showed his Ben 10 pajamas and socks as he rushed about pretending to change into one of the figures he had seen on TV. According to his Mum he has now outgrown Ben 10 and he now wants to emulate Super Heroes such as Batman, Superman and Spiderman and save people from the "baddies". Now clothes with these action figures on are cool! How long this phase will last is anyone’s guess!
Another new interest is soccer and he now "supports" his local team Blackburn Rovers and the England national team and proudly sports the England shirt that someone bought for him. He thinks it's great because all his friends wear them too.
But it 's not just his friends who influence what he likes to wear. He also likes to get dressed up for a special occasion in a smart shirt and trousers just like Daddy. I'm not sure my son went through that phase until he was much older as he much preferred being in clothes that allowed him to rough and tumble.
Obviously my experiences are based on the relatively small sample comprising my children and grandchild, plus friends and relatives and what I see in the shops. But what do you think?
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