slightly OT: buying clothing presents for little girls

I have three daughters, aged nearly 7, 4 and 2, and have learned that many people love to give them clothing as gifts. I too like buying clothes for other people's kids, though find it hard to buy much for my own girls as between hand-me-downs (we get given heaps) and gifts they don't really need much.

When I give gifts I really want them to be useful and not unneeded clutter and with that in mind thought I'd put together a few tips based on my experience as to what would make a good clothing gift for little girls.

* Items that coordinate with pink are good! Khaki, brown,lime green and of course denim. A good denim pinafore or skirt can help out with wardrobe orphans. A denim jacket goes with just about anything

* rethink giving pretty summer dresses (DD#1 received 5 last summer. DD#3 has about 20 - none of which I have bought). A tunic and legging set may well be more versatile

*if you are giving them a skirt consider giving a top that will go with it as well - just like for Angie's guideline for adults

* for smaller presents the following are useful: knickers, socks, tights and leggings, mittens or gloves, sunhats (and for really little ones, bibs with good coverage)

Of course I never say these things to anyone, unless asked, and am grateful for everything we have received. But I thought it might be handy for gift givers.

Edited to add: Other mums/carers please feel free to add or disagree with these suggestions!

15 years ago

Debora

Veteran

These are excellent suggestions, Anne! Thanks for sharing! My daughter always loved to get clothes for birthdays and still does.

Mac

Thanks for this. I'm happily childless, an adoring "aunt" to many and I love buying clothes for little children - girls, especially. Your guidelines give me food for thought and I appreciate you taking the time to share them.

Louise

What a wonderful list anne, I loving giving friends kids clothes but not having kids of my own it can be tricky to think sensibly about what would be needed this has really helped x

stringy

Thank you so much for this - I'm a happily childless auntie, but I do love buying clothes for my many nieces. It's good to have some guidelines for what would actually be useful as well as cute.

Isabel

THIS IS GREAT !!!! Thank you. I literally had this conversation 15 minutes ago with my neighbor because we are going to her little girl's birthday party and I wanted to get her some spring clothing. So we decided I would get the little girl a gift card and then she could control better how to fill the holes in her wardrobe !

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

You're clever, Anne. I like your logical list.

anne

Thanks Ladies!

Glad this was of help to someone!

rute

Thanks! In fact, in my family we have only boys (my daughter is the only girl), I never know what to buy for boys.. they love cool clothes (hip hip style) eh eh

Katiepea

Very, very logical Anne!

I must admit however that because I'm a mum of 3 boys, I relish the opportunity to buy girly, girly clothes!

Katiepea, I am not sure that my suggestions precluded girly clothes.:-)

Dawn

Active Member

Thank you for this list, Anne. It's very useful as my co-worker was wondering what to give as a christening present last week and I was able to give her your advice this morning!

Anonymous

This is a really good topic. When I buy clothing for little girls or boys, I can stand and look for a long, long time. This is a good little list to keep in my purse to help me make the decisions faster.

Christie

For baby gifts, I think giving something in the size 2 range is perfect. I'm expecting my third son, and have nice baby items still, but once they fit size 2, the clothes get pretty worn.

For girls (I have one daughter), I love Lands' End/Hanna Anderssen dresses. They are so durable. My daughter has worn several dresses for 3-4 years ... they are tunics now. She is not easy on her clothes and I am not good at laundry, yet these dresses are not faded or holey. Well worth spending a few dollars more!

Cricket, I agree on the size 2 thing (I gave a baby boy such a cute little size 2 pleather jacket just yesterday)

Tanya

What a great list Anne! A couple of my friends got baby girls in this past year, so this will be very helpful when buying them presents.

Theresa

GREAT list Anne!

As someone who has 2 girls, I think this is a perfect list. We've been inundated in pretty summery dresses over the years and seriously have way more than can possibly be worn! Oh and those "fancy" dresses that we were given when the girls were born... never used

Basic pieces that can be layered are great (although my girls are tiny and don't grow too fast so we often get a whole year out of things - possibly not a great tip for faster growing kidlets).

The other thing that my girls adore and I really find useful are hair accessories - we are forever losing hair bands and breaking hair clips etc, so whenever they are given these things its very handy indeed.

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