One of the contest ideas suggested during the Friday Fiver was some back to school shopping giveaways. That reminded me that Matthew is starting Kindergarten in just five short weeks, which then made me cry. Once I was done crying I realized that I need to think about some back to school shopping of my own.
Those of you that know me know that I can be cheap. I hate to pay full price for anything and if the option exists to save money on something and get virtually the same product for less money (this is my sneaky way to save for pedicures) ;)
Several years ago I discovered Once Upon a Child. Once Upon a Child is a second-hand store featuring kids' clothes and toys. I've been going there for the basics of my kids' wardrobe for as long as I can remember. I love to buy things there that are classics and don't change much and good brands that tend to wear very well (like pants, jeans, shorts).
Since Once Upon a Child only buys/sells really good brands (Gap, Gymboree, The Children's Place, Polo, etc) the quality of the clothes is always excellent. And they don't buy/sell anything that is not in perfect condition (I saw them refuse a fitted sheet today because it was wrinkled. I wanted to ask who ON EARTH can get a fitted sheet not to wrinkle?) But I digress.
I decided to make a trip there today to pick up some pants and jeans for Matthew for school. I decided that I'd buy him all of his pants from OUAC and then take him to the outlets to get shirts and shoes. For boys clothes, at least, I don't find pants to be very different from year to year and they never seem to show much "personality", that's where shirts come in. So I'll let Mattew pick his shirts and shoes when we go shopping together.
While I was at OUAC I thought there might be other Pittsburgh Moms and Dads out there that have a similiar philosophy and would like to save some money on school shopping (or just fall shopping if your kids aren't in school yet), so I picked up two $25 gift cards to give away.
I'll run the contest from now through August 10 and draw two winners then. Each winner will win a $25 gift card to Once Upon a Child that can be used at any of their three locations in the Pittsburgh area (Wexford, Monroeville, Robinson)
To enter, tell me what store brand you like the most.
Here's my haul from today. One pair of snow bib pants, one jacket, two sweatshirts, one pair of dress shoes, one dress shirt, three pairs of sweat pants, three pairs of jeans, four pairs of khaki pants, one pair brown pants, one pair navy pants and one swimsuit. They're mostly all Gap, Nike, Gymboree and The Children's Place (my personal favorites)
That's 19 total items, 12 pairs of pants! - My total was $120
Posted
Jul 25 2010, 10:16 PM
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