Wednesday, December 5, 2007

When it's time to shop in the "big girl" section...



I am finding that while I love that the girls are "growing up", I don't love that all the girls clothes in the 5T and up categories are so "grown-up". I love things like this shirt off to the left I picked up for the girls today. It's cute, because they are only five and do not need to look 11 yet. While shopping today at Old Navy and the Gap, it was all cute, cute, cute in the little girl section and all, plain shirts and jeans in the big girl section. Luckily they can still wear a 5T, but by summer, my shopping in the little girls section will be over. What do you think of this transition in clothing styles from the T's to the big sizes? What shops are best for keeping the "little girl" look. I know at some point they will be "big girls", but I'm not ready for that yet! My favorite place to shop for the girls, which they do not have in Montreal, has to be Gymboree. They carry some really sweet and cute things, not too trendy, not too little girl - just perfect. Now if I could only afford to shop their all the time!


I've also been buying some things online for the girls, like these boxes that Kristi featured on her site this summer. I am so tired of barbie's and disney toys, it's been fun looking for unique gifts for them for this Christmas. Have you seen these cute boxes before? Such a great idea! I found these cute patches on an called robbinseggblue, which I would love to use for embellishing. These Matroyshka doll patches I am going to get and embellish a sweatshirt for them; I love finding these things that represent their history. I am waiting until Valentine's Day for this project though!

Today, the snow had finally stopped enough for us to get out around town. This means that I had to get our car out of our garage, which is to say it plainly - a tight squeeze. You have to line up the car just right so that your rear view mirrors don't break against the sides of the garage. Luckily, the mirrors can hinge forward or backward - I've definitely need tested it out. Do you have a garage like mine? After - costco, grocery store, Christmas shopping, and Walmart (not fun), I'm ready to finish my Pink Christmas gift and put some goodmail together. We hope to take a picture here soon for our cards, might want to get going on that!

Our garage!


How did you handle the transition to big girl?
Any helpful hints for a soon be transition mom?
Do you have any presents under the tree? (I don't - yet!)

11 comments:

Rachel Bagley Wurtz said...

I have not experienced that yet, having had boys first and that just isn't an issue, you know. I do love that brown shirt - so cute! I remember Kristi featuring those boxes - way cute! And those patches are perfect for your sweet Russian Twinners! Love it! You are seriously the Queen of creative!

Our garage is the exact same way and for that reason I park our van in the driveway. We have to 'warm up' the van before we go anywhere. We have an older home and I find it so ironic, considering cars were much mmore boat like back in the day.

I have some presents, but it's the dang Pink CHristmas procrastination that's killing me! With everyone getting sick all last week, and utter busyness, I am such a Pink CHristmas loser!

crystal said...

I am so into gymboree that it's pathetic. But I only shop the sales and when they offer gymbucks! I love that the clothes there are still sweet and keep little girls LITTLE! When Isabelle hit 5T, I felt these exact same frustrations that you describe. It's an in-between age. Now Mimi is at that EXACT same age (4yrs old) and I'm annoyed all over again.

Mandy said...

I love gymboree but am with you that it's expensive! I get frustrated with some of the clothes that are out there for Ryley. Am I weird that I don't want my almost 2 year-old to wear a shirt that says DIVA? I don't know why our society is obsessed with making our littles, big too early.

Lauralee said...

How did you handle the transition to big girl? that is tough.. my girls wear a lot of tshirts and jeans.. I don't like them to look too grown up, although their friends do.. my eldest is in the 4th grade.. fashion isn't too big a deal for my girls.. of course I would love to have them looking adorable, but if they are happy in jeans and tshirts then that works, I buy the shirts pretty big, so they cover their middles.. my girls are all about modesty.. thank goodness.. they wouldn't dream of wearing a tank top, or something that didn't cover their shoulders.. I put them in sun dresses when they were little and they see those pictures and are like MOM! why did you let us wear that? whoops!
Any helpful hints for a soon be transition mom?
Do you have any presents under the tree? no.....

Barb said...

I hear ya about the plain big girl clothes at Old Navy, but the teen styled clothing in sizes 7-16 category at other stores bothers me more. I don't want my 7 year old dressing like a teenager!

Love the patches, thanks for the link!

donna said...

It was so hard when my Emily grew-out of the cute little girl clothes. Now that Emily is 12, I let her pick out her own clothes. She has done a great job, Everything is very modest. Which is hard to do. Have to seen some of the clothes now days.. Crazy......
Email me your address.
I have a christmas card for you.

Marie said...

I completely agree about the big girls clothes. I love Gymboree too, but it really is expensive. I can only get stuff if I luck out in the sales section.

Holly said...

I so relate to your thoughts about big girl clothes. We're not there yet, but will be soon-ish. I like Old Navy and Target, but even there some of the clothes have mature and suggestive phrases on them--for little girls!! I don't like the sassy phrases either-what kind of message do these clothes send? It's a shame that modest, age appropriate clothes like Gymboree are sooo pricey. I usually find deals on Gymboree at a local consignment shop, which is so nice!

carlo said...

oh the transition...yuck. just plain yuck.

cass and i had a HUGE go-round at justice (ick) for her nutcracker day out dress. excuse me but do 4th graders need to look like they are going to the prom? i was freaking out... i really think she was testing the waters, as they say, but it was not a fun day out trip, as we usually have. i blame the stores/marketing. and the parents who give in to the trampy styles for pre-teens. it doesn't have to be that way, ya know?

ok, jumping off my soap box now...

jenny said...

I am definitely having the same issues except for my 10 year old she is nearly in MY size which makes it even more challenging. Especially in the shoe department.

Just catching up....your pillows are awesome. So cute!! You are one sewing woman. How do you do it??

Kelly said...

I've been trying to find Brynlee some church clothes. She's 11. And there seems to be no happy medium between dressing like a preschooler and dressing like a prostitute. I spent way too long at the mall yesterday trying to find something halfway appropriate, and I was ready to scream by the time I was done. I was with my friend Emily, whose daughter is 4, and it totally freaked her out. She said, "We need to learn to sew!" So true.