Dress Your Kid Like a Celebrity…Or Die Trying

I love to look at pictures of celebrity babies and see what stylish
ensembles they are wearing. It provides inspiration to a small-town
girl who wants her kid to look cute. I wish I had the money they had to
spend on those cute clothes, but I am a woman working on a Goodwill
budget so those items have to come second-hand or have to be invented
by me.

Here are a few ideas for dressing your kids like stylish
stars.. or at least getting them to the fashionable point where they
don't stand out.

- I love iron-on transfers. I scored a great
deal at Michael's where I got some really cute iron-on transfers for my
son to be placed on t-shirts. The black t-shirt was $2.50 at the craft
store and the iron-on was $1.00. Super cool, "Rock Star" t-shirt cost
me $3.50. If you have a knack for design, you could actually design the
transfer yourself and then get the transfer paper from the craft store.
Same idea, except an "original" that no celebrity baby will ever have.

The
t-shirt pictured here was a hit with my son and his mom & dad. He
said he can't be a rock star until he is ten or a hundred though. At
least he can look like one in the meantime.

- Check your thrift
stores and try and buy when they run sales on specific items. I keep a
closet of clothes that actually don't fit our son…just yet. Look for
basic items that will never go out of style and start stocking up for
the years ahead. Make sure to thoroughly check the items before
purchasing them though. Items that are donated could be donated for a
reason. Check under the arms of shirts, the seams on the item, the
knees of the pants, the bottoms of the pants, make sure the zippers
zip, and buttons and clasps are intact. Nothing is more disappointing
than bringing home a "deal" and then finding out is, in fact, a dud.

-
Make old items new again by embellishing them. Boys jeans can be
quickly converted into a little girl pair with a cute heart applique or
a little beading or pink buttons sewn on the pockets. A little boys
shirt can be made into a girls shirt with a sweet pink shirt underneath
it. Try to think outside of the box.

- Work out a deal with
friends. I have a great friend who shares her bounty of clothes with me
before taking them to resale. I am able to get quality name-brand
clothing without having to hunt for it. She sells it to me dirt-cheap
and she avoids the consignment shops while I avoid the hassle of
running from store to store. Don't hesitate to ask if one of your
girlfriends has children that are bigger than yours what they do with
their clothing. You might be surprised that they just donate the items
and would be willing to pass them off to you or could sell them to you.

-
Outlet shop, but make sure it really is an outlet. Have you ever been
to an outlet store that had the same or higher prices than the regular
store? I have and what a disappointment that is. Know what regular
pricing is versus the factory store before doing your shopping.

-
Shop the end of seasons, but hold out until the bitter end for the
really good deals. At the end of the season, I purchase winter coats
for the following year. I never fail to have an amazing jacket for our
son, but rarely do I pay more than twenty dollars for it. Check stores
that you don't normally shop and hit the clearance section to get a
quality jacket for a fraction of the price.

- Garage sales are
great for scoring cute clothes for your children. We hit the garage
sales all summer and stock up on clothing for our kids. No one knows
that the Baby Gap shirt my daughter wore once was purchased in a garage.

How do you make your kid look like a star? Any tips to share with our readers?

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 12:00 pm and is filed under Family.