Back to School Shopping

This year I took the stress of back to school shopping out of my hands and placed it firmly in the hands of my now-6 year old daughter.

Except for her, the idea of choosing new clothes for 1st grade was exciting, rather than fear inspiring as it is for me.

She has gotten more and more clear about clothes that she "likes, but won't ever wear". So a few outfits like that later, and it's all up to her.

Here was our game plan:

• Discuss what the appropriate amount of money is that I have budgeted for her fall clothing
• Talk about what types of clothes she needs, dress code, weekend, etc.
• Together create a rough list of how many of each item she needed
• Shop catalogues/online first
• Attack stores in person with no siblings in tow (special time)

Our list of needs:

• 1 pair winter boots
• 1 pair "nice" school shoes (maybe mary janes?)
• 1 pair dress shoes
• 1 sweater
• 1 sweatshirt/fleece
• 2 pairs pants (NO jeans as per her request)
• 6-8 shirts/tops
• 2 skirts
• 2-6 dresses
• 2 leggings
• 2-4 pairs of tights
• 6 pairs of socks
• 8 new pairs of underwear

In the end she only spent 2/3 of her budget (yay, I've never been so proud!), and we accomlished everything in 1 online order and 1 in-person day.

What we bought:

• Winter boots from Nordstrom Anniversary Sale
• "nice" school shoes from Clarks (also on sale!)
• dress shoes (on sale, can you detect a trend?) from Lands End
• 8 dresses (2 from Lands End, 6 from Gymboree)
• 2 leggings from Lands End
• 2 skirts from Lands End
• 1 sweatshirt we bought on vacation
• 1 sweater from Gymboree
• 6 shirts (all cotton, from Gymboree)
• 2 pairs of tights from Gymboree
• 3 pairs of socks and underwear from Gymboree

And now I don't need to get her any more clothes until spring!

By the way- I work the Gymboree GymBucks system, plus sales, so I usually get things for 30-40% off on average. Plus those are the items that actually last to pass down to our toddler:)

How did your back-to-school shopping go?

Jessica

Trying out these link parties this week: Serenity Now, House of Hepworths, Tatertots and Jello

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