Kids and "hand me down" clothes

[golfgal]

My kids all wear the same size clothes so no one gets hand me downs, they do share some clothes though.

 

[Arielle22]

I was the 3rd of 5 girls (also 3 boys) and as a child all I wore were hand me downs. It never bothered me. When my dd's were toddlers (23 months apart) the younger wore hand me downs. Now she is in larger sizes than her sister. They have very different builds. Luckily my sisters love to buy them clothes so they have a large wardrobe that doesn't cost me big bucks.

 

[geffric]

My youngest son has a great attitude.. they maybe be handy downs but they are new to him..

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I have a DD and 3 DSs. I saved most of the clothes of the boys to hand down and I should have saved very little, especially when the were school aged. My first son was slim when he was young and the next 2 were not. Their taste in clothes is real different, so they don't wear a lot of hand me downs. And by the time the clothes got to my youngest, now almost 6yo, the elastic was shot, etc. He is enjoying wearing his older brothers clothes, though.

As far as coats, we do pass them down. Same with sweatshirts, fleece, etc. Some of the coats have zippers that break and don't make the pass down, but when they are in good shape I don't need to be buying expensive coats more than I already have to.

 

[kmebee]

I have a friend that has 2 DS (8 & 6). She doesn't feel that ds6 should have to wear hand me downs. Since ds8 gets new clothes so should ds6. She has given my nephews so many clothes and so many that had price tags still on them. The ones that weren't new could have passed for new. Same with boots, shoes, coats, almost anything you can think of.

 

[EthansMom]

I only wish I had a "hand-me-down" coat for DS this year. I managed to find a pair of snow pants for DS that were reasonably priced and should last a couple of winters, but still haven't found a good quality coat. This is the first year that DD has been in little boys' sizes instead of toddler sizes and the prices for coats are outrageous. Target wanted $45 for a Target brand coat! I'm looking at taking DS to Sears today to look at the Lands End coats -- $70 (ugh!) but it should last him two winters and would still be in great condition to send on to the neighbor boy afterwards.

I have one DS and one DD, both of whom are older than most of their relatives and close friends. We tend to be the givers of hand-me-downs rather than the receivers.

 

[jbthi]

My granddaughter age 8 gets her older sister's hand-me-downs. She treasures these more than new clothes. She absolutely worships her sister (most of the time) and thinks she is the coolest, prettiest girl ever.

 

[missypie]

DD9 loves to get DD12's hand me downs. She can only get the shirts because DD9 is super slim and DD12 is a "normal" size. She has never complained about hand me downs...and she shouldn't because I buy her as many new clothes as her sister, so she has twice as many tops!

Note to parents of multiple kids at this Halloween time: Don't get rid of any solid colored long sleeved shirts or turtle necks. DD12 doesn't wear turtlenecks, but she is wearing her brother's outgrown black turtleneck as part of her Mickey Mouse costume. You never know when they'll be in some school program where the teacher says "Everyone wear a solid colored red shirt" or something.

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

I have a great system with my friend--we pass stuff back and forth. Luckily, our kids are spaced right that we can do this well--she has 5 kids, I have #4 on the way. It seems more special, coming from her kids, rather than a "straight" hand-me-down! I also shop second hand quite a bit, and my favorite for winter things is the LL Bean factory outlet by my MIL's (we go for Thanksgiving, Black Friday it's 30% off the entire store!).

Right now my older two (DD10, DS8) are EXACTLY the same height and weight, so there's no "sharing" between them. DD10 is developing her own tastes, so I try to keep her brands and styles in mind when I shop. DS8 would go naked--I find he's very tough on pants (what boy isn't?), so I always look for those when I shop. For us, it's less an issue of money as value, and wanting to have money for other things.