dressing growing kids on a budget (and giveaway!)

I distinctly remember getting clothing as baby gifts when Julia was first born and thinking, "wow this 6-9 month outfit will NEVER fit her!" as I watched my scrunched up little newborn practically swim in even her tiniest outfits. And we all know how that ends - of course the outfit eventually fit her and of course she eventually outgrew it and needed new clothes that fit. In fact, I mentioned to Simon just yesterday that Bosco was toddling around in a size 2T sweatshirt that we bought for Julia on a first anniversary getaway when I was still pregnant. It really does feel like just yesterday that we carefully selected the sweatshirt and now our 5th child wears it on the regular. It's one of the oldest clichés in the book but they do grow so fast!

Sometimes I'm caught off guard by their growth spurts and realize in a panic that Sebastian has absolutely no school pants that don't qualify as capris after a particularly aggressive growth spurt or the only shoes that fit Theo are of the most dressy variety and I'm so grateful budget-friendly thredUP exists. I'm a long (long!!) time fan of thredUP and they continue to exceed my expectations with their quality and the variety of their inventory.

Theo: in a (brand new with tags!) Gymboree tee and Oshkosh pants
Phoebe: wearing a Bonpoint dress and (brand new!) Old Navy booties
Julia: in a dress from Gap
Sebastian: in a J.Crew button up and Tucker and Tate pants

In the sad event that you're unfamiliar with thredUP, allow me to introduce you to the huge online store that buys and sells high quality women's and children's clothing. They make it super easy to shop for higher end fashion for up to 90% off the retail price. thredUP always triple inspects their clothing and makes notes of any minor defects in the listing (although many are still brand new with tags or like new) so there are no surprises and you know what your getting when that polkadot box arrives on your doorstep ...

... fine! polkadot box or three. As mentioned, thredUP also buys your gently used clothing by sending a Clean Out Kit complete with prepaid mailing label that you fill up, send back, and wait to hear back how much thredUP credit or cash they'll give you in return.

I was SO excited to find a Bonpoint dress for Phoebe because she's going through a, "dresses only please and thank you" phase so it's nice to find brands that can withstand wash after wash after wash and this particular dress retails for $136 and came in perfect condition for $40. The boys are particularly rough on their pants so I'm always so happy to find quality brands for a fraction of the price. Sebastian's pants retails for $51 and I paid $15 for them in still like new condition.

I'm slowly learning to, "buy ahead" and keep an eye out for shoes a size or two bigger than what the older kids are wearing so I'm ready for the growth spurts that seem to come out of the blue and don't have to run out and pay more than I'd like for a particular pair they need for school etc. thredUP makes that so easy with their user-friendly app that displays new arrivals on a daily basis so I always have a relatively good handle on their inventory.

Bosco is pretty much set with hand-me-downs but is lacking a bit in the warm weather department since the older boys spent much of their toddlerhoods in St. Louis and a lot of their clothing is cold-weather-friendly department. It's been fun to fill in the gaps with thredUP ...

Bosco is in Oshkosh overalls and a Baby Gap shirt
I'm wearing an ASOS top + maternity denim

For my past few pregnancies I've found the bulk of my maternity clothing on thredUP and have discovered the little trick to look for dresses in their petite section to wear as tunics (see above) and a lot of their tunics are fairly maternity friendly. There was a particular maternity shirt that Target sold a couple years back that I loved but couldn't find in my size before they sold out and were discontinued forever but was able to find three a couple months later on thredUP. My excitement was borderline embarrassing over that discovery.

While thredUP has a wonderful website, I do 100% of my shopping through their app because it's so easy to navigate, perform specific searches, check out, and request a clean out bag.

don't think for a second that Phoebe didn't break through that barricade in .00002 seconds flat. I know you never underestimate her though.

After buying all of the outfits pictured (and more!) I noticed on my invoice that I'd saved a total of $454.17 (and spent about 1/4 of that) which is why I'm a thredUP fan for life.

If you've never had the pleasure of shopping at thredUP the first 100 people to use the discount code: PATTON40 will get 40% off their first order!

And! thredUP is generously giving one lucky Camp reader a $250 thredUP credit to spend how they please! To enter please go visit thredUP, and leave a comment back here with the link to an item that caught your eye! Make sure your email is in the comment so we can contact you if you're the lucky winner.


Thank you for playing and reading! And a big thank you to thredUP for sponsoring this post!