Help with little girls taps shoes please

narabanekeater

Does anyone please know how much approx it would be to have a pair of my daughters size 9 junior tap shoes fitted with a pair of front taps
Im trying to work out if it would be cheaper simply to buy a new pair of have these taps added on to her surrent pair?
Many Thanks

faithcecilia

Are they the basic open front kiddies taps, or are they Oxfords? Its unusual for a basic pair to not have front taps, you can probably get an unbranded pair for about £10 with front taps fitted. I assume that at that small size she only needs basic taps too, not teletones? They would cost a lot more, but highly unlikely in that size. I am not sure how much shoe repairers would charge to fit them now, used to be about £4, and unfortunately toe taps are not easy to fir yourself.

esio_trot

is it replacing teletone taps (thicker taps with a base plate and do they come with the basic taps (basically a thin bit of metal) already on? If they don't have this on already, it should actually be fairly straight forward to put them on yourself (mum used to do mine!) as they should come with instructions.

however, if they are already there, often best to go to a cobbler. I'm fairly sure we used to pay in the region of £5-10 for them to do it for us (and it was always worth the extra to not warp the shoe or, as happened on a few occasions, avoid screws coming right through the toe!)

HelenKA_2

We do our own after once paying £8 to take off a pair of taps and put the teletones on. These are expensive in themselves never mind having to pay extra to get them on the shoe.

We were advised (by the teacher) to lever the old tap off, fill the hole with the end of a matchstick with a dab of super glue on it then put the new tap on. For toe taps the girls like the furthest forward screw left out so as to get a better 'tap'.

We always get the biggest size of shoe we can get away with and use an inner sole for as long as necessary.

narabanekeater

Thank you for your replies. There just a cheap pair that I was gifted so im sure it will be cheaper for me to buy new ones for her as she will soon be grown out of them anyway.
I thought id post incase it would have just been a couple of pounds to add the taps on

narabanekeater

If anyone does know a reasonably priced retailer online id be greatful if you could reply to this thread on PM me. My daughter is a UK size 9 in a normal shoe and I would need a pair with front and back taps

LJM

ebay,ive bought lots from there various sizes in the past for the dance school my girls are at

HelenKA_2

I bought the toe and heel teletones and then just remove them to the next pair of shoes as and when.

I have used planet dance and dance direct online. For the younger girls I usually manage to 'find' some in the lost property or get them off ebay. They're only in them fo half an hour or so a week so I think it's ok to get second hand.

Dazi

The taps that come on basic tap shoes are quite difficult to get off. Once they get older and start wearing oxfords and using teletones its much easier, you can take the taps off and put on the new shoes, although saying this, some tappers do NOT like new shoes. My DD borrowed her dance teachers shoes for a festival when she was 12, and never gave them back. I had to buy the dance teacher new shoes :rotfl:

If your child is intending to compete at festivals, [please don't buy tap shoes too big, it makes the tap sound harder to get out. So many times at competitions you hear the adjudicator say they couldn't hear the taps.

(I used to have a dancewear shop and my motto was, dancing is not a hobby you can grown into)

There are plenty of online dance supply shops and and loads dancewear/shoes on ebay, if I was in the business now I would probably just sell on ebay

ladysparklexx

If your daughter attends a dance school ask if they have any second hand shoes to buy. My daughters current pair cost me 8.00 and are a size 10. Then once she has outgrown them if they are still in good condition then they can resell them for me and I get 6.00 back.