How much do you spend on your childrens clothes?

Moomum

I live in H& M, such good value IMO. I have ds who is 8 and dd who is nearly 2. Ds is in uniform most of the time but I am awful with dd, not bits on a weekly basis!

Northern_Princess

New Look, River Island and Quiz are DD's favourite shops. When she was younger I did the Next sales ie Summer and Christmas for the following year. I could spend up to £400 per sale but that was for a whole load of stuff that lasted her years sometimes. It's completely different now though at £80 - £120 for a pair of jeans I probably spend £250 a month these days. I would never deny her these things though as I went through a horrible time at school being the girl with hand me down clothes and would never want to see her go through what I did

clairehi

I have DS1(12), DS2(9) and DD(1). I used to buy the boys' clothes in M&S, Next sale etc but since DD was about 6 months old I have started shopping in charity shops, as I dont have anyone handing stuff down for her and it would cost a fortune to kit her out from scratch! i have found amazing buys for her and the boys as well, lots of brand new or hardly worn good quality clothes from M&S, Next, Debenhams etc. I got a pair of Gap chinos for DS1 for £3.50 brand new with tags on. My boys are not yet fashion conscious, they just want to be comfy and are quite happy to wear my finds Its saving me a fortune! Sainsburys are favourite for good quality and very cheap babygros and vests, which are probably cheaper new than second hand.

Spendless

Not a great deal tbh especially not on the eldest who is almost 12. He lives in jogging bottoms and the majority of tops are passed on by friends who have boys older than me. I heard the superdry brand being mentioned on here before xmas and I'd never heard of it, and I guess neither has ds cos he walked straight past their shop when we went to a big shopping mall. He wanted to head to GAME though.:D

DD who is 9 at end of next month is obsessed with dresses the longer the better and as I'm not passing on to a younger sibling I let her get whatever cheap rubbish that'll last a season.

JC9297

Northern_Princess wrote: »

New Look, River Island and Quiz are DD's favourite shops. When she was younger I did the Next sales ie Summer and Christmas for the following year. I could spend up to £400 per sale but that was for a whole load of stuff that lasted her years sometimes. It's completely different now though at £80 - £120 for a pair of jeans I probably spend £250 a month these days. I would never deny her these things though as I went through a horrible time at school being the girl with hand me down clothes and would never want to see her go through what I did

Obviously if you are happy to pay that and can afford it then that's your choice, but there is a middle way between unfashionable hand me downs and £120 jeans - Topshop jeans are about £40 and most teenage girls would be satisfied with them.

Northern_Princess

JC9297 wrote: »

Obviously if you are happy to pay that and can afford it then that's your choice, but there is a middle way between unfashionable hand me downs and £120 jeans - Topshop jeans are about £40 and most teenage girls would be satisfied with them.

DD is an odd shape for jeans fitting properly. We have tried Topshop and many other stores (Matalan, Primark, Asda, Tesco, Internacionale etc) but they all literally hang off her waist and hips but fit on the bum Think JLo :eek:

Lunar_Eclipse

Northern_Princess wrote: »

I would never deny her these things though as I went through a horrible time at school being the girl with hand me down clothes and would never want to see her go through what I did

I hope you wouldn't feel like a failure if you did. In my opinion it's important for children not to get everything handed to them on a plate, or they run the risk of being very disappointed as an adult, trying to keep up with the standards they were raised in. There is a world of difference between being raised on hand me down clothes and spending £250/month on your daughter. Whilst the former traumatized you, the latter may still torment your daughter in the longer term.

We buy middle of the range clothes. I'm not a fan of coming home with huge stuffed bags from Primark after a shopping trip, one or two items (which for us tend to be from Hollister or the likes, but wherever suits individual budgets) is sufficient.

gibson123

My daughter gets an allowance and she has to buy her own clothes, she has her own style that is mostly doc martens, vintage, primark, second hand shops and own design t-shirts and jackets. She has one good winter coat and spends hours trawling gum-tree and e-bay. she has way to many shoes. However when we went into a sports shop recently to get her jogging bottoms I picked up a pair that cost £20 and she was revolted and stated she would not spend more than £5 for joggers for gym. I felt vindicated about giving her a lot of responsibility for budgeting so young.

Northern_Princess

Lunar_Eclipse wrote: »

I hope you wouldn't feel like a failure if you did. In my opinion it's important for children not to get everything handed to them on a plate, or they run the risk of being very disappointed as an adult, trying to keep up with the standards they were raised in. There is a world of difference between being raised on hand me down clothes and spending £250/month on your daughter. Whilst the former traumatized you, the latter may still torment your daughter in the longer term.

We buy middle of the range clothes. I'm not a fan of coming home with huge stuffed bags from Primark after a shopping trip, one or two items (which for us tend to be from Hollister or the likes, but wherever suits individual budgets) is sufficient.

No I don't and have never felt a failure I just want to give her what I never had. She has been brought up with a very clear "you have to work to afford nice things" ethic and does work very hard at her part time job in a local stables. She gets up at 5am every morning to muck horses out in the dark and all weathers before school and cycles there

Kaz2904

My DD has lovely clothes but still manages to put together such awful combinations that she looks like a tramp. Or worse :eek:. We try our best but it's a constant argument with her to actually get her to look tidy. If her clothes look nice then generally her hairs a mess. She's 10.
DS (age 8) is a struggle to keep looking smart. He would happily go around wearing a suit and tie all the time. Unfortunately, he's a boy, he's obsessed with Harry Potter and Dr Who so attracts mud and keeps coming untucked. He's built like a racing snake and, the worst part of all is that he keeps growing. He does this in secret. Usually the week after we've bought him lots of new clothes.
I'm hoping for a nice hot spell again this year so he can wear shorts for ages. At least that way he get's to look smarter in his toddler boys shorts