"Boys Clothes aren't as much fun as Girl Clothes" And other Kids Clothing Myths

I have to admit that when I first found out that I was having a girl I was pretty excited. David, my Mom, and I headed straight to Mervyn's at the Salem Center Mall after the Big Ultrasound that revealed that we were having a daughter. We bought dresses to celebrate, including the dress that we ultimately brought Grace home in. I keep very little of my kids' outgrown clothing but that blue dress with the red ladybugs is something I'll always treasure.

Dressing Grace was a ton of fun and I discovered ways to dress her in fun clothes without it costing 3 arms and 2 legs. I have several strategies in buying and then sell her clothes on Ebay to recoup most (sometimes more!) then what I paid. I slowly learned the brands that we liked and held their value when it was time to sell. My favorite brands have changed a little over the years as I discover new brands and learned that yes $48 is an insane amount of money to spend on a dress but when I sell it for what I paid for it's not so bad.

When we found out that our second child was a boy I was pretty excited about getting to shop "the other side of the store" but really had no clue about boys clothes. We made the same trip to the Salem Center Mall (this time shopping at Macy's since I think Mervyn's had closed) and David was thrilled to pieces to buy football onesies. If you know me you know I'm not exactly into sports and it seemed like every other boys outfit I passed in the mall had a sports theme. Not my cup of tea. Even some of my favorite brands for Grace had awful selections for boys, but some surprised me with really cute stuff!

Right now I favor Gymboree for Ethan because A) It's cheap B) I love their layette designs and C) It's easy for me to find both in store, online, and in consignment stores. Some people think Gymboree is expensive but that's really not true. Especially if you're like me and have slow growing children who are fairly easy to buy ahead for. You just have to know the sales. Yesterday Ethan scored two sweaters for $4 apiece, an entire outfit for $8, overalls for $5, and a few other odds and ends with nothing over $5. It's even cheaper then Target or Walmart. It helps that I'm buying small sizes for him and there are always plenty of things left in the super sale bins.

I love shopping for Ethan, it's true that the boys have a smaller selection but I think that's because girls have so many more clothing options that boys don't have. It's a little more challenging to find the cute boys clothes but I think that's part of the fun.

Oh, and for those people that do like sports clothing for their kiddos you'll be happy to know that I do buy one football outfit for Ethan per year. I'm also in the market for a cheap (under $5) Detroit Redwings hockey outfit in size 18months in time for hockey playoff season! Oh, and I'm pretty sure that I have one soccer and one basketball outfit for him this summer. I'm sure I have YEARS of sports themed clothing coming my way so for now I'm enjoying other themes :)