Do your toddler's clothes ever match? - Page 3

[mbm]

We have a bin for outfits (I fold all the pieces together in a bundle), a bin for random shirts, and a bin for random pants.

This system works really well for me, because I usually just pull out a complete outfit and I'm done. DH, OTOH, always seems to find the rattiest emergency hand me downs at the bottoms of the bins of shirts and pants. AND he is color blind. I just have to laugh it off when she looks ridiculous.

[Super~Single~Mama]

Originally Posted by lach

See, I love that! That's WHY all their clothes match Me? I'm a frumpy mess. But I think it's easier to buy kids clothes in sets where I buy the whole matching outfit including the socks and whatever. And then I hang the outfit (pants/skirt/dress/top) on a hanger, and in the morning I just grab the hanger, go into the sock drawer (DD) or basket (DS) and grab the socks that go with the outfit, and we're good to go. Absolutely no thinking required on my part I think it's funny that this comes across as organized... seriously, it's a combination of laziness and cluelessness about how to coordinate outfits myself. Plus, it saves hangers that I can hang things together in outfits Their bedrooms are so small I tried to go minimal on furniture, so all their clothing hangs in the closet. Again, another thing that I think comes across as "organized" but it's actually that I'm too lazy to buy bureaus when they have perfectly good closets.

See, your system would drive me INSANE since I absolutely, positively HATE hanging clothes on hangers. Even for me - the only things on hangers are coats, and dress clothes that would wrinkle in a drawer.

I just don't have the patience to hange things up - too much effort for me! So, if I came to your house, and saw all your kiddos clothes hung up in their closets I think I'd die - I would feel horribly disorganized

[dawncayden]

Originally Posted by Nicole730

DS rarely 'matches', but I always think he's quite adorable. He picks out his own clothes, pretty much every day. So it's always a hodgepodge of items. Jammies, mixed with sweats, jeans, etc.. His socks never match each other because he takes them apart and picks out two different ones. Although he has starting asking me if the two he picks out match. I do let him leave the house in whatever is weather appropriate. He's 2.5, but he's been picking out his own clothes (and cloth diapers!) for quite awhile.

I love it when kids look like kids, which in my mind includes picking out their own clothes.

ETA: My interpretation of matching is the pants and shirt color coordinate - not the outfit came from a matching set at the store. I never buy matching sets on the store, even if it's the rare occasion I am buying new from a store.

Ds also LOVES mismatched socks...he will pick one sock with a car 'to give him speed' and a sock with stripes 'to give him power' I love it!

[mokey4]

I just LOVE this thread- thank you thank you thank you for posting!

All DD's clothes are hand-me-downs, consignment sale finds, or goodwill. With a few exceptions. And I went through a phase where I really fretted that I could never put together two pieces that matched, so i went out (to goodwill & a consignment sale) to buy lots more clothes in the hope of being able to match some items. Now we have a RIDICULOUS amount of clothes in my daughter's drawers (much more than she needs), and it's possible to put together a match but takes way too much time and brain power. I just don't have it in me. So, sometimes she matches, but usually not.

Oh, and I refuse to put DD in jeans because they inhibit her movement. She loves to run and climb and she does so much better in soft cotton pants, which are always in some bright color, usually patterned. She has a couple of hand me down jeans that I have put her in for special occasions, and i always feel bad.

i did buy a couple pairs of leggings new when i had a sweater dress that i loved for her (consignment) and nothing to wear on the bottom. they were cheap though.

so yeah, my daughter doesn't usually look very coordinated. and i don't really care. she's still the cutest thing ever. and she's super messy (food, water, sandbox) so i feel like dressing her up would just add to the stress.

i'm glad others are like this. i feel like most of our toddler friends look more put together.

[dislocator3972]

hah! I'm becoming much more confident about my little hobo looking baby.

Most of her clothes are stained (either from previous users or as a side effect of DD's voracious appetite) but she has plenty of nice clothes for leaving the house. I suppose it shouldn't matter if she has a reindeer shirt and flower print pants when we're just going to cover them with snowpants anyway.

Especially if all our kids are equally 'unique' in their fashion choices.

[dachshund mom]

The worst we do would be mismatched solids, like a red t-shirt with pink shorts.

I go through the hand me downs and then go to target and get some solids fill in the outfits. I hang almost everything except her one pair of jeans and one pair of khakis and her few t-shirts. I can hang as fast as I fold, and then it's all matched up for me, so I do like the sets. I have a hard time matching girls clothes unless they're sold that way because I prefer cotton bottoms over more neutral but less comfy jeans or khakis. She doesn't really get too messy. We attempted finger painting the other day and she flipped out at the idea of getting paint on her fingers. I swear I didn't do that too her, she came out that way. Right now though we're PTing and of course the bottoms get wet and I have to change the outfit if we go back out.

[Caterina]

I love my DD's self-chosen outfits. Some days she'll wear a striped shirt, a polka-dot hoodie and mushroom printed leggings. Outrageous, but it just looks so cute. I wish I could get away with so many colours and patterns and still look so good. The girls at our local video store say that she's their fashion icon.

[DevaMajka]

Ds rarely truly matches. We use fitted cd's and fleece pants (some I ordered from a wahm, some from thrift stores), so that takes away most options for buying a whole outfit. Most of his shirts come from thrift stores. I try to make things match "enough" (like light blue with brown- I love that combo!) but I don't go overboard. Some shirts that he has don't really match any of the pants, but if I like the shirt enough, I don't care. If dp dresses him, he migh be wearing striped pants with a very differently striped shirt.

His hat never matches his coat (or clothes) either.

I do have a couple outfits (with cotton pants or jeans) that I put on him if we'll be out for a while and he's wearing pocket diapers, if I think about it.

[anechka]

Originally Posted by mokey4

I just LOVE this thread- thank you thank you thank you for posting!

All DD's clothes are hand-me-downs, consignment sale finds, or goodwill. With a few exceptions. And I went through a phase where I really fretted that I could never put together two pieces that matched, so i went out (to goodwill & a consignment sale) to buy lots more clothes in the hope of being able to match some items. Now we have a RIDICULOUS amount of clothes in my daughter's drawers (much more than she needs), and it's possible to put together a match but takes way too much time and brain power. I just don't have it in me. So, sometimes she matches, but usually not.

Oh, and I refuse to put DD in jeans because they inhibit her movement. She loves to run and climb and she does so much better in soft cotton pants, which are always in some bright color, usually patterned. She has a couple of hand me down jeans that I have put her in for special occasions, and i always feel bad.

i did buy a couple pairs of leggings new when i had a sweater dress that i loved for her (consignment) and nothing to wear on the bottom. they were cheap though.

so yeah, my daughter doesn't usually look very coordinated. and i don't really care. she's still the cutest thing ever. and she's super messy (food, water, sandbox) so i feel like dressing her up would just add to the stress.

i'm glad others are like this. i feel like most of our toddler friends look more put together.

Great thread! My DD is two and it NEVER occured to me to match her outfits. She ges lots of hand me downs and we don't have any particular system. I put clothes on her that fit well and comfortable. I do not buy jeans because they restrict her movement. We mostly do leggins and short dressess. And I could care even less about shoes, as long as they fit well, I am happy. Because I do not accentuate her attention on clothes, she does not pay much attention to it. She is happy with whatever I put on her. Of course, when she goes to school, I will put more efforts into making her outfits "coordinated".

What I find interesting is that some mothers put so much effort in their kids clothing but they do not dress themselves. I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings but the jeans and shirts seem to be the staple of mothers I often see in various settings. Hell, some people here wears pajamas outside of a house on a routine basis. This all seems very strange to me as I used to live in the country where people dressed much, much nicer than here. No one in their right minds would ever venture outside in pjs...

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by anechka

What I find interesting is that some mothers put so much effort in their kids clothing but they do not dress themselves. I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings but the jeans and shirts seem to be the staple of mothers I often see in various settings. Hell, some people here wears pajamas outside of a house on a routine basis. This all seems very strange to me as I used to live in the country where people dressed much, much nicer than here. No one in their right minds would ever venture outside in pjs...

This is so true. DS almost always matches (well not *perfectly*, the socks might not match if I'm in a rush), but I'm a mess -- I'll layer on a couple of shirts that probably clash but are *just right* for nursing DS, throw on a pair of jeans & comfy, non-matching shoes, and I'm done. Part of it's comfort & the other part is I don't have devoted aunts & grandmas buying me clothes by the bagful like DS does!! I don't buy clothes for myself so nothing I have fits right or coordinates well.

[dividedsky]

my kids always match. but that's because most of their clothes are solids or stripes, and rarely deviate from a palette of grey, navy, green, brown, black, yellow, orange with a smattering of purple blue, most of which kind of go together.....

i'm just not into prints. i guess that's making my life easier, eh?

[NicaG]

Originally Posted by dividedsky

my kids always match. but that's because most of their clothes are solids or stripes, and rarely deviate from a palette of grey, navy, green, brown, black, yellow, orange with a smattering of purple blue, most of which kind of go together.....

i'm just not into prints. i guess that's making my life easier, eh?

This is what I do too. I generally pick a color palette each "season" and just buy clothes that fit into that palette, and I mostly buy solids with a few cute prints thrown in. This was easy for my ds (everything for boys seems to match navy blue!), but it's been more challenging for dd's clothes. This winter she's mostly in pink/brown combos, with a little navy blue thrown in.

I'm also pretty ruthless about purging/decluttering the kids' clothes, since I hate to have a million outfits around cluttering up the drawers and needing to be washed. If I don't like a gift or a hand-me-down, I give it away again. I don't feel compelled to keep everything. Less is more.

[daddymaniac]

My little princess is pretty picky herself about what she wants to wear. she's only 29 months old and she impresses me every time with whatever outfit she pulls out of her little white wardrobe. Most of all she loves her little dresses. We usually buy them online and make it a kind of special event for her. Every month or so we sit together in front of the family PC and check out the latest designs from LittleWhiteWardrobe.com or similar sites.

The basic stuff we usually get from the shops. She looks adorable when she puts on way too many clothes that don't match at all but somehow go together :) Let's call her Ms. MissMatch :)