@jdn2604 Check FB and the marketplaces, also my wife usually waits until Carters is having a giant sale either online or in store. Also Walmart has pretty solid shirt for next to nothing. Unless they are looking for some specific graphic tee then a solid color or print works for my kids. Ultimately you should take your oldest shopping and let them tell you what they like just so you have ideas for birthdays and other gift giving occasions. Mostly the younger ones don't care or pay attention, but it is still nice to get them new stuff on occasion.
@jdn2604 We do in between. I have a boy and three girls. My second daughter is currently wearing sweaters and pajamas and pants my son wore when he was her age, but she also gets new clothes. We don’t have to buy as many new clothes for her as we do for him, but I’m pretty sure that will change as they get older and start actually wearing through clothes, or staining them playing in the grass and dirt (or just generally being kids.) My kids don’t mind having hand-me-downs mixed in with stuff that is their own, though. If any of my kids didn’t want to wear the sweaters their older siblings wore, I wouldn’t make them, but they just wouldn’t have as much to choose from.
@jdn2604 I faced a similar dilemma. My oldest is the oldest of all the cousins and it seemed unfair that we always bought for her but handed down for the others. Here’s what worked for us.
Every single child gets to “shop” from hand me downs. This means that every 6 months we put all the hand me down clothes into pretty baskets, offer the baskets to the next kid, and they can keep only the things they want. For the oldest kid I buy a bulk bag of hand me downs in the right size from Facebook Marketplace. She does the same thing as the others.
Each kid gets about $50 of brand new clothes at the beginning of the school year from target so they still get that “new clothes” adventure.
We talk a lot about how we don’t do hand me downs because we can’t afford new clothes, it’s because we want to. We value the health of the earth and want to throw away less. And that we make choices about what we spend money on- we would rather go on long vacations than buy brand new clothes for everyone. This has helped with a lot of the whining and inevitable peer pressure to have the greatest fashion.
@jdn2604 I have 4 girls: 7, 6, 3, 10 months (and one boy- 4). We get a lot of HMD from my sisters, the youngest of which is 10, and from my cousins. We pass from kid to kid all the time.
If we do buy new clothing, it's $5 or less per item, and usually I let the kids pick the style they like. I also sew, which means occasionally we'll go to a thrift shop and they'll pick out adult clothing that they like the pattern and I'll turn it into something for them.
For my son, we get from my aunt who has four boys, two older than my son and two younger.
@jdn2604 We shop second hand stores, if there's a once upon a child near you they're fantastic. It's still second hand, it's easy on the wallet, easy on the environment, but they still get to pick their own clothes and own styles.
@jdn2604 Clothing for us is always used and handed down. We have boys, 5, 3 and 20m. I also repair the clothes in fun ways with patches on the knees that have trucks or dinos so it can be new for them. A lot of new clothes come from grandparents. If I get new things for them, I don't let them pick. It is whatever is cheapest at end of season with what they like in mind. I bought all my 5 year olds jeans for $2 a piece a few years ago because it was such a great sale. I put them in a bin and they get them when they are that size. They don't know any different for now. When they get older sure they can have a couple new things. Everyone enjoys something fresh and their own. However, I plan on explaining the concept of clothing waste and how material things should not be our first priority.
@jdn2604 I have two girls with 1,5 year in between and will have another kid this summer that will share it's birthday month with our eldest. Even for our second we mostly use hand me downs and then we add some shirts that fit her personality better than her sisters shirts do. Will do this with kid 3 too (ok, if it turns out to be a boy a bit more will come in new but a lot will still be hand me downs). I would go inbetween with all of them that's what we do anyway. Our first has hand me downs too and those are combined with a few things that fit her personality and style (you all can picture the drama over a Paw Patrol shirt that she just "needed" to have)
@jdn2604 Something in between for us. My older ones get new clothes (was consignment before covid if they had their size) and they get handed down. However for Christmas everyone gets a couple new shirts and that includes the youngest.
@jdn2604 Anything in good condition or sentimental is hand me downs. They get new items of clothes a couple times a year. Mostly I use the Kidizen app which is where people buy and sell gently used clothes for kids and moms. I get almost everything my kids and I wear from there. You can set size filters and price filters. I don't pay more than 10 dollars per item. I recommend it to every parent I know lol. Then you can sit with your girls and let them pick stuff as you browse!
Edited to add. My kids are 8 girl, 8 boy, 4 girl, 5 month girl
@jdn2604 We do a mix with our three boys (2, 4, 6). The oldest gets more new clothes but he also likes shopping. He will go with his dad as they then also get some alone timr. I thrift when I find something I think they will like (I don’t like shopping, but can deal with thrifting). We have a ton of hand-me-downs from friends too.
