a spontaneous holiday, and the great shopping victories of a young mother.

Yesterday I got a special treat: Ryan took the day off. We thought about just laying low, but then decided to take a drive in the Santa Cruz mountains, and do a little bit of strolling through one of our favorite towns. It was great. Even the weather cooperated; the sun was actually shining for one of the first days in over a month.

Of course, the highlight of my day was scoring big at BabyGap. You ever feel like somehow you’re just clueless about how to find good stuff at great prices? I feel like that an awful lot of the time. Somehow I’m just never in the right place at the right time. But not yesterday! Long story short, I found racks of pants marked down to $7-10. Good pants, too, like this and this. Those awesome prices, combined with two gift certificates, meant that I walked away with four pairs of pants and a wool, fleece-lined hooded sweater and only paid $17. I was psyched.

And I learned the hard way this past holiday season that no matter the price, if I see little boy dress pants in black or gray, buy them. My little man wore brown to the Candlelight Service, and jeans with his Christmas sweater, because I had naively thought I would get dress pants on sale after Thanksgiving. By the time I was ready to shell out full price for a pair, there were none to be found. None. Brietta encouraged me to just start a collection and to buy on sight. And so in the last two weeks I’ve grabbed a pair of gray flannel dress pants in a size 2, and those black ones in size 3. Next Christmas, you better believe it, my son is going to be dressed appropriately.

Of course, none of that helps me with Easter, which is now approaching. *sigh* I’ll be on track one of these days.

5 Comments a spontaneous holiday, and the great shopping victories of a young mother.

  1. Stacie

    Oh the pants lesson is a hard one…

    This Christmas I too had reached that willing-to-pay-full-price desperation, but there were none… anywhere. (It only gets harder when they are in 3T-5T!) So that was a big score indeed!

    Oh, I have the cutest little seersucker suit here… baby gap, but I’m thinking your little man has already outgrown it. (18-24 jacket and 12-18 pants and white/yellow/blue argyle sweater vest.) I got a big score myself last summer when I found seersucker jackets, navy bottoms, sweater vests, ties, and matching socks for under $40 for both boys! I like shopping, but not at the last minute for holiday outfits!

    Reply
  2. Katie

    Those were fantastic deals!!! I’m impressed!

    I walked past a Janie and Jack store yesterday – from which I’m certain I will never buy anything. But, the point is :-), they had little seersucker suits and I’m dying to have matching seersucker suits for my boys for Easter some year… oh do I want them!!!

    Girls are easy… there’s about a bazillion dresses to choose from for every season and holiday.

    But trying to match the boys AND the girls… tough. I have yet to find a store that always has such outfits, besides Gymboree and Janie and Jack. Those are a liiiiittle pricey :-)

    Reply
  3. Danica

    @ Katie:

    Keep an eye out, thought, for Janie and Jack’s semi-annual clearance. I just bought Jameson a birthday outfit for next year for $15 (the pants were only $5!!!), plus dress pants ($8), and gifts for new babies for $5. WOW.

    Reply
  4. Katie

    Wow!! I did not know they had a clearance like that, that’s amazing. Good to know :-)

    My favorite buys were getting Isaac, Liam, and my brother-in-law Jeff (Lol.. I knew how much he liked these shirts and it was great to see the look on his face!) these brushed (like sueded) cotton long sleeve shirts from old navy for $3.75 a piece!

    Until today… where I found girls’ shirts for $1.00 at walmart! So.. Giovanna and Nora each got a few new shirts which was good, because they’re both growing like crazy! I can’t figure out how to get them to stop :-)

    Reply
  5. Lisa

    When I visited my sister-in-law in Buffalo a few years back, I went out shopping for an afternoon by myself. I came home with bags upon bags of GapKids clothes for my three older kids. I paid less than $100 for about $600 worth of clothes. I single-handedly outfitted my oldest daughter for that entire next year (clothes that are still mint and being passed on to Emily). I miss those days of champion deals. It’s sad when I was just thinking yesterday, “Maybe we can plan to do a Lake George or Lake Placid weekend this spring.” Of course my reason for choosing these destinations has only to do with the Gap outlets! Very sad.
    Guess what else? Colby is wearing boys 12 slim. Is that insane?

    Reply

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