Shopping Tips

When I first shopped for raingear for my son last spring, a very helpful sales associate was kind enough to give us lots of attention. When trying to decide on the size, she gently steered me to try the next one up. In my mind, I thought it was an unnecessary move because, clearly, that raicoat is the perfect size for my little guy now and he is getting quite impatient!

Rolling up the sleeves of the next size, the woman said, "If you get this one, you'll get another season out of it."

It was the strangest thing -- it's as if a lightbulb went on in my head. Not having shopped for a kid before, and not being around an extended network of relatives or friends with kids, it had never occurred to me to buy something bigger in anticipation of his growing needs. To everyone else, this probably seems like such a logical thing to do and in retrospect, I scratch my head wondering why I never thought of it. I suddenly remember my childhood days of wearing shoes and clothes a little to big for me to grow into. However, as a new mom, I was projecting my own adult shopping needs on my child. Of course, I have to buy things that fit me!

Ha, ha. That was then and this is now. I've learnt a few other basic things since that I feel I should write down. Partially to remind myself of my folly and also to remind myself of how far I've come.

Some shopping tips for buying kidswear:

Always try the next size up in shoes and clothes. Kids have an amazing talent of sprouting. I like to say that there are days when my kid looks like the Incredible Hulk, with the sleeves on his shirt up to his elbows and his flood pants ending at the ankles. It is absolutely amazing how fast they grow!

Buy clothes in sets. You might think that pair of matching pants to go with the shirt is priced a little high, but you'll find you'll keep wishing you bought it every time you put that shirt on. (This is a lesson I've learnt as an adult as well.)

Buy clothes that you can layer. You'll get extended wear out of the t-shirt if you use it as a first layer under an overshirt this time of the year.

If you have storage at home, buy basics on sale and save it for the following year. This does not work for me in terms of anticipating my kids shoe size, but it works with clothes.

With regard to that last point, the End-of-Summer Sale at tykethreads.com is going well. I am seeing orders for shirts that are size 2, but shorts that are size 3. I can only imagine that wise parents are buying the shorts for next season.


I'm also selling a lot of Rileyroos infant sandals like this beautiful Dakota sandal in Fire Engine Red. I think parents who are planning on going away for the winter are stocking up because we all know how impossible it is to find sandals in the winter!

I'll be posting more shopping tips as I think of them. In the meantime, must go pack more orders!