She can get a job if she wants to buy those things.

*clothes

I’ve told me 12yo, she can have something like 16 tops, 7 pants, 6 pairs of shoes (a variety from dress to sneakers etc).
This is rolling with the seasons.

I told her if she wants all brand names, tees that cost $50 each, I roll that number from 16 to 3-4. She will be wearing those close weekly or more often. (Not fun.)

If she wants that variety (16 tops, meaning wearing to school every couple of weeks)… she has to mix in more generic stuff to fill out the 16. Maybe 2 brand name + 14 in a variety of cheaper/unbranded.

Once I explained it to her like this, she got it.

I do try to accommodate. I buy second hand if the items are like new, to try to make some more branded items happen.

Anonymous wrote:If you can afford it and your kid has Stopped Growing, I'd buy them the Uggs and Lulu.

The Lulu leggings and most Lulu stuff lasts forever! So IMO, the leggings you pay $$$ for still look like new 2-3 years later, after being washed each week.
So once my kid stopped growing I was willing to buy them for her.

Same with Uggs---if they will last for 2-3 seasons, I'm willing to spend. Before that, it was the Kirkland brand or something else on sale because they were not going to fit the next season.

+1

Or if it is going to be something they get a lot of use out of.

If you can afford it and your kid has Stopped Growing, I'd buy them the Uggs and Lulu.

The Lulu leggings and most Lulu stuff lasts forever! So IMO, the leggings you pay $$$ for still look like new 2-3 years later, after being washed each week.
So once my kid stopped growing I was willing to buy them for her.

Same with Uggs---if they will last for 2-3 seasons, I'm willing to spend. Before that, it was the Kirkland brand or something else on sale because they were not going to fit the next season.

Do you wear name brand stuff?

DH was at lululemon earlier this week getting some new clothes for gym and DS was with him and saw some paints that he liked so DH bought them. Yes, they are name brand item but he didn’t buy them because they were name brand.

Anonymous wrote:I guess I’m the only one (or willing to admit it, given how many brand names I see on kids). My kids are part of my family. Honestly, some of my clothes are pretty expensive. I’m buying my kids a similar level, if that’s what they want. They don’t ask for much, and we are clear that when they start earning their own money, these will be luxuries. It has not made them materialistic; they only ask for a few $$ items over the year and that’s only if I make them go shopping because they need clothes.

But the difference is that kids are growing, so their clothing is only going to fit for a short while. I have a hard time shelling out $$$ for something that won't even fit in 6 months or so.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD never cared for clothes until...this year. Now all she wants to do is shop. Problem is that she also wants expensive stuff--like Lululemon and Uggs and Aviator Nation sweats. I know this topic comes up frequently but I don't know what to do--do I let her go down this route or not? Cost is a factor though we could afford it if I could any pros to it. I can't!!!! Also, how long does this phase last?
DD is in 9th grade and goes to public.

Avaiator Nation sweats no.

Uggs & lulu birthday or christmas presents. One pair for the Lulus she wants more she can babysit or walk dogs or shovel snow.

I was the kid that never had a name brand anything it was hard.

Lots of amazon dupes of Lulu's by the way. They are pretty darn close. Same with Zella at Nordstom original Lulu designer = Zella.

Thanks for sharing, I didn't know that. I saw a cute tennis skort online at Lululemon but never made it to the store. I happened to be at Nordstrom Rack and bought a very similar Zella one for much less.

I think you need to be realistic if you are in an area/school where it is common to have these things. My DD definitely doesn’t get as much as she wants but having a few of these things to fit in is important at this age. Per my DD, a knock off would be worse than not having the item so keep that in mind. One thing we do is my DD does like thrifting so she’ll do that for other items to stretch the budget a little farther for some brand items. We’ve never seen anything like lulu at a thrift store although some things are on posh mark. Lulu also does sometimes have some items on sale so I’ve encouraged her to focus on those items.

Sorry I wasn't clear. The Zella skirt was for me. DD selects her own clothes. I let her pick the occasional pricier item but most of her stuff is from Hollister or similar. She's pretty good about not asking for too much.

Give her a budget. She’s probably not growing much anymore so it’s not like she needs to keep sizing up in her wardrobe, so buying a couple nicer pieces starts to make sense. She could always go thrift for basics

Time to get a job or work for extra chores around the house. My kids each do some house cleaning as chores, but dd does extra as "cleaning jobs". Win win for me, as they're items rom my list and I don't have a professional house cleaner at the moment. She gets $40 every two weeks for that.

DD also gets allowance, $40 a month that's for treats like Starbucks or movies.

She also babysat and got a retail job in grade 10.

One thing I did is give a back to school budget that had to cover the needs, but if she wanted to upgrade, she just paid the upgrade amount (providing the upgraded item was still practical).