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What did you do with your baby clothes?
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Anonymous
you missed one. 
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Anonymous
| We are so grateful for all the used clothes that were given to us. We hardly had to buy a thing. We are definitely going to give ours away, either to a charity or to a friend if we find one who needs it. We will hold on to MIL's handmade sweaters and keep them in the family. |
Anonymous
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I gave mine to a friend, and she gave them to another friend of ours, and now I think they're on the fourth baby!!! You get so many gift items with baby one and they outgrow them so quickly. I kept a few undershirts and necessities, then washed things and sent them on. My friends have loved having them, and everyone takes good enough care of them that I could have them back for another DD. It's so great to see our close friends' babies in the same outfits that we adored on our girl but that she outgrew too quickly to wear more than a few times.
I still hand down everything to friends. Only thing I don't hand down is winter boots and coats-- those go to charity. |
Anonymous
| I have two boys and am now expecting a girl. With the first, I gave away anything I didn't care for to either my church or my cleaning lady with the remainder covering about 90% of the second's wardrobe. Now that I'm expecting a girl, I'm going through the multiple bins I have and am keeping only a few pieces that are truly sentimental and giving the rest away to church or shelters. I'm hoping to have my favorite pieces made into a quilt for each boy once I find someone to do it for me! |
Anonymous
| I kept some things I really loved after #2 (different gender) and passed the others on. I was pretty ruthless though and went through them all carefully and threw away the stained things. Nothing worse than getting a bag of clothes which are all pretty icky. |
Anonymous
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My friends and I just had a clothing exchange today. We all brought clothes that are children have grown out of and took things that we needed. I ended up w/ two huge bags of clothing. We have these "clothing exchanges" twice a year.
Also, one of my friends and I exchange clothing and then give the clothes back when our kids grow out of them. It's worked out really well so far. |
Anonymous
| I have two girls and we may have another someday although who knows whether it will be a boy or a girl! My cousin just had her second - a girl, first was a boy. I stamped my name in all the baby clothes I sent her, told her I want them back, and didn't send anything I am overly attached to. That still left a lot of things for her baby to use. And my older DD (almost 4) knows that and often says that when she outgrows her clothes, they go to her baby sister, and then they go to her cousin. I think it's nice for her to see sharing in action. |
Anonymous
| I have kept every single piece of clothing that I bought for my child. I have vacuum sealed everything. There's not guarantee that the next baby will be a boy...but I just don't want to take the chance of giving everything away and I end up having another son. Baby clothes are expensive and in this economy, who wants to start over again??? Plus, I only purchase Carters and that stuff is more expensive than Walmart or Target clothes. Besides, when the new baby comes, even if it is a girl, she can wear the different newborn onesies and sleep sacks...those are a definite keeper! I can't wait to get pregnant again. |
Anonymous
| i am planning to keep for baby #2 and if i lend some out ask for them back when they are done |
Anonymous
This is really sweet. I know how you feel. What I've done to remember is to make sure to take photos of my daughter modeling her cute outfits. Its so easy to send them to the friends and family who bought her the outfits, and then I can see her in them even when she's outgrown the cute clothes. This is also a great way of keeping family in the loop who live out of town, to receive our "fashion of the week." I will warn, however, that my parents are VERY sentimental and wouldn't throw anything out. They have tons of dolls and toys from when were kids, plus every artwork we ever did, but that is 30 years ago! Those toys will not be played with again (in bad shape, or simply not safe anymore) and its kind of sad that my parents didn't pass them along to some other kiddos in the 70's that could have played with them. They have a garage, attic, and pods worth of stuff overflowing their house cause they are so sentimental. I only share this to say, be careful!, that sentimentality can get you into trouble. |
Anonymous
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Remember that you will have many years worth of clothes as your child grows, so you can't really save everything for sentimental reasons. Take pictures and save the best, most special things you love.
I recommend keeping only the really special clothes (nice dresses, suits, etc.) that mean something and that you might give your daughter/son one day for their child. I also think that if you keep maybe 3-4 special outfits from each child, those should be for ONLY that child. Maybe something she/he wore in a particularly adorable picture you took. That way the youngest still gets a few special things worn only by him/her, not hand-me-downs. I will also keep a special pair of shoes that I love, which to me are great little mementos of how small and darling the baby was once. (Sniff). I'm also keeping the medical bracelets, one little hat and tiny little t-shirt that my daughter wore in the hospital in a memory box to show how little she was. All the rest of the clothes (and there are so many!) are getting saved for #2 & #3 (hopefully), or are going to charity & friends. I got some hand-me-downs and really appreciated it, so want to do the same. |
Anonymous
| I have donated most of it to local shelters and charities. I've kept a few items that hold sentimental value. |
Anonymous
Wow. You think that giving her used clothing would "enable" her to keep having more kids? Those must be some pretty special clothes. There seems to be so much bias against large families these days, and most of you have no idea what it's like to be part of a large family. So let me enlighten you. My parents wanted a big family and had 6 kids. My mother was on the receiving end of so many condescending and judgemental comments like yours. It's true that we didn't get as much one-on-one attention as children with smaller families -- but we were loved. We didn't have the coolest clothes or toys -- but we had enough kids to play sports and imaginative games. We were the envy of all our friends. They usually ended up at our house because it was the "fun house." My siblings and I are all very close to this day and our children are best friends. And all 6 of us grew up to graduate from prestigious colleges and have meaningful careers. I'm sorry that your heart is so small that you'd begrudge hand-me-down clothes to a neighbor. Hopefully, your children are playing with the kids next door and not taking their lead from you. |
Anonymous
| I gave mine away for free on the DCUM listserv or in the local clothes drop off box at Safeway. That part isn't exciting. On the sentimental front, though, I did do something I have really enjoy. I took one special piece of clothing from each kid when she was a newborn (for DD#1 it was a sleeper; for DD#2 it was a pair of Robeez). I took them to my local frame shop and had them framed. They now hang in my bedroom along with some nice portraits of the kids and some finger painting pictures we had framed. We had the framing done at Chevy Chase Gallery on Connecticut at Nebraska and they did a fabulous job, although I expect most really good frame shops are used to working with unusual items. |
Anonymous
| Sorry, enjoyed. Spellcheck has inhibited my reread before you press submit function, apparently. |