Trendy Thursday: Thrifty toddler style

N always has plenty of clothes, although he does also get good wear out of them now he doesn’t grow as fast.  Sometimes I do open the wardrobe and think there’s too much, but as I buy a size ahead in sales, there’s never as much as I think there is.

We still find sometimes that we’re running low on clothes (or maybe that’s because I wait until his washing basket’s overflowing to wash them all).

I do buy quite a lot new (with supermarkets and seemingly ongoing sales, you can still get quite a lot for the money), and nearly new sales are handy for the odd item.  As boys especially get older, there’s less choice second hand, especially when you think they tend to be in uniforms as they get older.  Our handmedowns have reduced as well.

But my best friend and I do a bit of handy clothes swapping.

I tend to pass on most of N’s handmedowns to her son who’s almost 2 years younger.  His wardrobe must be massive as I think she has a few other friends passing on clothes for her son too.  I do sell some of his clothes, but unless there’s a nearly new sale coming up, it seems to be a lot more effort for not much return even for decent brands and immaculate clothes.

The only issue is how expensive it can be to post clothes in the amount I have.  So it tends to be quite sporadic when I see her to pass them on.

In return my friend looks out for bargain clothes for N.  Round our way, there’s never many children’s clothes in the charity shops, but up by her, there’s a never ending supply of really cheap clothes that still have good wear in.

The latest parcel she sent down had 6 tops – including 2 shirts, and a pair of trousers.  The lot cost her £2.18!  Ok so the brands are predominantly supermarkets and Primark, but they’ll last, and the basic t shirts are great for nursery.  It doesn’t really matter if they get too wrecked.  If the items last through N wearing them, I can then pass them back to her afterwards.  Lots of thriftiness and eco-living going on.

N was quite pleased as in the parcel there were 2 ‘party’ shirts.  He doesn’t tend to wear shirts day to day, as I never think they can be that comfortable, but we like them for parties.  We’ve had lots of 3rd birthday parties, so he’s had some wear out of them already.

This one included a sleeveless t shirt to go underneath as well.

And this long sleeve shirt with cool badges and pockets.   I think both were Primark.  For parties, we tend to pair shirts (or bright jumpers) with cords or coloured chinos.  So much more comfy than jeans at the moment as N struggles with cut and keeping them up.

The good thing about getting surprise parcels is sometimes you get sent items you’d never choose yourself but turn out to be nice.  We have received 2 pairs of dubious trousers, but they didn’t fit anyway, so they’ll go back to my friend.  Otherwise, I’d definitely advise trying a similar approach to buying children’s clothes.

What thrifty bargains have you been buying recently for children’s wear?  Do you swap with friends?