I grew up wearing hand-me-downs from my mom's best friend's girls for most of my childhood, and my most favorite thing to do was going through one of the giant bags with my mom and pick out what fit and what we liked. I had no idea it was because either I had clothes or we had the lights on. I'm actually a little sad that my two best friends' kids will be about the same age as mine, so sharing between us will be a little more difficult unless one grows faster than the others.

I'd say anything seriously worn or stained terribly isn't worth passing down, but for everything else, it's fair game. Especially for small baby things – they grow out of them SO FAST! Three wearings and done? Not worth buying new, unless it's something that might be harder to come by or on super clearance sale.

Anonymous wrote:I took hand me downs and just weeded out anything we didn't want (stained clothes, clothes with holes, things that were sized weirdly) and donated those.

+1. Same here. Though my friend gave me a huge bag of used any clothes and say to bring whatever that I didn't pick back to her. I thought it was strange since she's done with having kids and no one in her family or close friends are having kids. But I will honor that!

I was a little less interested in hand-me-downs when I had my first kid but am all over them with my second. I think FTMs sometimes want to be able to buy the adorable baby outfits and have pristine new clothes for their newborns. I don't really care with #2 and love the idea of hand-me-downs because I don't have many hand-me-down clothes from my older child until about 6 or 9 months, since he spit up horribly on everything and stained them all.

I would probably say yes to someone no matter what if offered and would sort through it and choose what I was interested in and what not. FWIW, I found free cloth diapers on a listserv before my first, and when I picked them up, the lady threw in some other things she thought I might want -- like some extra changing pads, lanolin, and a few clothes. I thought at the time it was really, really sweet, even though I didn't really like a few of the things (they weren't in great shape). I just donated them and took what I wanted to keep. I don't think anyone would feel obligated to keep the clothes and dress their kid in them when you come over or anything, so if they don't want them, they'll probably just pass them on to someone else.

I took hand me downs and just weeded out anything we didn't want (stained clothes, clothes with holes, things that were sized weirdly) and donated those.

New clothes really are wasteful - we have bins of boy and girl clothes that make the rounds between my friends, sisters, and cousins. We just throw out whatever is stained or worn out when packing it back up once it is too small. It saves so much money, which I can then spend on a few nice pieces to add in. When they are babies they go up a size so quickly! There are tons of clothes in the bins that still have tags on them because all the boys seem to go straight from 3 month clothes into 9 month.

I don't mind hand me downs, but I probably use less than 25% of what is given and donate the rest along with whatever I am donating from my own stash.

I would never say "no," but would probably not have a use for everything

Love hand-me-downs and about half of DS and DD's clothes were hand-me-downs or consignment clothes from birth to around 4yrs old. I would only reject hand-me-downs if the person wanted them back. That's just too much trouble. I definitely sort through them to pick out what I like and in all cases, whoever has given them to me has told me to just pass on/donate what I don't want. I also used to save things in good condition for our preschool's annual kids stuff sale. It got harder to get good hand-me-downs that fit the kids' preferences as they got older. And DS and DD are the same size so they can't hand-down between them.

It's been funny within my friend group to see certain clothes make the rounds. My DD was one of the oldest/largest girls. She had one really beautiful dress from Gap Kids (bought at a consignment sale), brown cotton with pink floral embroidery. She wore it for two holidays when she was around 2-3 yrs old and it's been through at least 5 other little girls I know. DD's in elementary school and still passes on outgrown dresses to her BFF who is a couple sizes smaller than her.

Buying all new clothes seems wasteful both of money and natural resources. I shop at consignment stores myself for professional clothes.

Anonymous wrote:I'm of the opinion that accepting and wanting hand me downs for your children is a very American thing. One American friend of mine brought over a huge bag of hand me downs to her Indian friend's home. The Indian friend, who was from an affluent family, was completely offended, got angry with my American friend, and told her, "Pick up that bag of old clothes and get it out of my house." My American friend left sobbing. I think lots of people who don't accept hand me downs are people from certain cultures where that's frowned upon.

It must be DCUM, there's someone else bashing and making generalizations about Indian people. Give it up, bitch.

Anonymous wrote:I hate hand me downs. I do not want someone's used clothes for myself or my child even if it is in great condition. Of course, I would probably nicely accept them because I would feel bad and then donate them

If you're not going to use them, then please don't take them and donate them, that's AWFUL. That's terrible - I'm sure people have other friends that would happily take them.

Yes, absolutely!!! We're just now at the end of 3 years of clothes a friend gave me before she moved away and I am seriously bummed that we have to go out and buy clothes now -- such a huge time and money saver!

Love hand me downs and Once Upon a Child. Better for the planet, and more money to save for college.

Anonymous wrote:I hate hand me downs. I do not want someone's used clothes for myself or my child even if it is in great condition. Of course, I would probably nicely accept them because I would feel bad and then donate them

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hate hand me downs. I do not want someone's used clothes for myself or my child even if it is in great condition. Of course, I would probably nicely accept them because I would feel bad and then donate them

Every clothing item your baby wears is brand new?

Yes, it is. It is not expensive at all though, mainly target. I just do not feel comfortable putting someone elses socks or shirts on my child. I do not look down on anyone that likes or needs handmedowns, but they just aren't for me

What do you do with all the clothes after your kids grow out of them. You can hardly consign Target clothes.

For 18m+ I like them, but for baby stuff not so much.

If they are in like new condition, brand not important sure. But, I usually buy way in advanced on clearance so we have the next size or few sizes up. The stuff we got was terrible, really old, really worn, etc so I ended up donating most of it. Most people didn't ask, they just left it for us on the porch as we did a last minute adoption. The thought was nice but the stuff was terrible. If it had been in good condition or wearable, I would have used it. We got a few handy down things usable as my kid got older but I think everyone knows my kid is well outfitted.