Do You Give Your Kids Your Hand Me down Clothes?

Depends on the item. If it's a sweater or shirt that's pretty standard, sure. A t-shirt is a t-shirt. But if it's trendy....eh, maybe Freecycle to someone else who can use it now.

I also trade clothes with friends and family for myself and the kids.

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my friends mom had abox of stuffed saved from the 70's and i remember being so jealous. I would save only the things that ARE trendy because it ussually repeats every 20 years. Plain t-shirts and pants I would say if they cant wear them to bed now as nigthgowns (my daughters wears my shirts as nightgowns sometimes) then I'd J. donate or sell

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Only t-shirts and sweatshirts that are fairly small that I used to be able to wear, but no longer - and they are "girly" t-shirts for either local sports teams, or places we vacation at frequently, so they are something my daughter would probably wear at some point anyway. But there is a 35 year difference between us, so I can't imagine she's going to be interested in anything more than that!

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We do and have done it. The problem is, some of the items are 'dated' with brands or logos that aren't 'in style' right now. But sure, if you can save some cash, why not.
Make sure the kids are ok with it, the last thing you want is the kiddos at school feeling insecure about what they are wearing, or feeling out of place. I know that isn't what school is supposed to be about... but we all want our kids to fit in.

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If I had a girl, then yes, I 'd say a few things... As a kid, I was given hand me downs and we shopped at thrift shops all the time. it was rare for me to get new clothes. I didn't mind it so much in that at the time it was all I knew.. so why not save a few things and if they don't want them, you could donate them..

good luck

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Do you want to save them so you don't have to buy more...or for sentimental reasons? I can't see saving clothes for years to give to my 2 yo. Do you really have that much storage? I kept a couple things from my teen years...like my embrodoried blue jean jacket, my boyfriends jacket, an Indian looking shirt...but that was it.

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As a teenager, I found some blouses and a dress in my grandmother's closet and they became my favorite clothes. These were things she'd saved but no longer wore, styles from the 40's! They were beyond cool and I would have saved them for my girls but I wore them out myself. So yeah, if you have some classic clothes in good condition, save them for you your kids. You never know, they may become your kids' or grandkids' new favorites.

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R. - well I doubt seriously Greg and Nick are gonna want MY clothes!!
Elayne and I were never the same size so now that she's an adult and on her own in St. Louis - nope - no hand me downs there.

Greg is already getting some of the T-Shirts that Bob doesn't wear any more - kind of a huge mommy moment...

I would save it and let them decide....I wish I would've saved some of my clothes from the 80's and 90's that are making a come-back! :)

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Hi, R.:
Ask your children what they think.
Just a thought.
D.

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Is it called hand me down if she steals them out of my closet and leaves for school before I notice? If the answer is yes then yes I do!

My favorite is she doesn't take them but swap clothes. So I had a really nice pair of yoga pants with the SLU logo on them. They were replaced with a ratty old pair of sweat pants that I believe had the Cor Jesu logo on them when they were purchased. She said I should be proud of her high school and she would do the same with my university.

Errrrr....

The logic didn't hold on most of the tops she grabbed, though if you need a good paint shirt I can hook ya up!

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My kids wore hand me downs. I had one pair of pants for about an 18 month old that all eight of them wore, but that was the only thing that lasted through all 8 of them. We swapped clothes (hand me downs) with other friends that had kids just younger than ours. We in turn got clothes from others that were outgrown by their kids that ours could wear.

It worked well all the way around. I didn't wear any of my dad's clothes because he was an avid smoker until just before he died of cigarettes (cancer). All his clothes smelled of smoke even after I washed and soaked and washed and soaked and repeated the process some more.

Good luck to you and yours.

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I have a lot of things saved for my DD.
I used to be little and cute and hip! ;)
I don't know if it's worth it or not...but when I was a young girl hitting my teens, I know I wished my mom had saved some of her stuff for me.
So w/ that in mind-I save it.

I have some T-shirts of DH's saved too.

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I love the fact that I have two boys close in age! The younger one wears almost all of his brother's old clothes! They were born in different seasons though, so a few things don't work, and I usually see some cute stuff that I want to buy the younger one, but it's been a wonderful cost-saving blessing -especially with basics like jeans, coats, pajamas, casual shirts, etc. I don't do many hand-me-down shoes. I think the kids need their own shoes because they "wear" differently. Most of my oldest's shoes are trashed anyway by the time he outgrows them, but there are a few pairs who have made it to the youngest. Right now he's enjoying these awesome light-up firetruck shoes his oldest brother didn't get to wear for very long.

As far as from others -my friends are LUCKING OUT! I didn't have friends with boys anywhere close to mine when I had my children. However, since having them, my best friend has had a boy who is 1.5 years behind my youngest, and another good friend who lives across the street just had a boy a year ago and then another best friend had a little boy this summer -so they're passing them along. We've decided to write the companies that make the items that survive 5 boys in the end!

Obviously I won't be saving any of my clothes for my boys (although the youngest has quite an affinity for my heels and lipstick -so you never know;-)

There are a few items we may save of my husband's -leather bomber, old concert t-shirts (I actually may save a few of mine since they're unisex to see if my boys want them later) -that type of thing.

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I have some stuff that I have given to my step daughter (she is 13) from my thinner days. She likes to wear her dads old t-shirts to bed so he will pass some of them to her.

My daughter is 5 and it would be years before she fits into anything that I wear now or have worn. I figure by the time she can wear it they will be out of style.

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Our 2 youngest kids, 9 and 10 1/2 wear both of our old T shirts as night shirts and love to wear our hoodies. My older to daughters do wear some of my clothes, but I never "saved" anything in particular for them. I actually WISH that I saved all of my clothes from middle and high school for the girls now, because they are starting to be back in style again, and my daughters would both LOVE them all. They see them in photos, and tell me how lucky I was to have had such awesome clothes! I never thought I was lucky at the time, lol. I have saved clothes from the older 2 girls for the younger 2 kids, even with the huge age difference. (they are 8 to 10 years apart minimum) If there is a dress or outfit that I like a lot, I usually save it so that my other kids have the choice to wear it when they fit into it. My shoes, boots, and sneakers are all up for grabs by the older 2 girls because they have the same size feet as me now. (they have for years) When I go looking for a pair of shoes and can't find them, I know that one of them have confisgated them and I can find them in their rooms. :)
My hubby has a really nice Patriots winter coat, and although he rarely wears it because we moved to Florida, I am sure that our 10 yr old son will wear it as soon as he can manage to fit into it even a little! (he is a huge Patriots fan too) He has already "stolen" my Patriots cap, fleece hoodie, Tshirts, and PJ pants which he rolls up so he won't trip over them. I don't mind, I know where they all live if I want them back.....................

We have a few football jerseys that I can fit into that he'd be able to wear if he wanted to. I tkae pretty good careof things so they should be fine when he fits into them.

Last Sunday we went to a hockey game and caught a t-shirt. It was an adult XL and he INSISTED on wearing it. Nothing cuter than a 4 1/2 year old boy wearing a HUGE shirt tied off like a little girl from the 80s! He rocked it.

Now it's washed/shrunked and being used as a "pillowcase" for the time being.

Jeans and tops rarely go out of style unless they are jeans that have flowers on the pockets or emblems on them. If they are a basic denim jean then by all means save them. They will eventually be worn again. Chances are that the girls will not like the styles of clothes if you have office wear or other more formal wear. I think casual wear is perfectly fine to share. If they have the same style as you then do it.

I know of a young lady who at about 13-14 discovered jackets. She loved wearing them with jeans, skirts, over dresses, etc...she was hardly ever seen without a blazer or jacket of some kind. She developed a very classical style of dress and it fit her body style. She looked very mature and professional in every situation. She would be one to wear your office/church style clothes. Another friend has a girl who only wears ruffles and twirl skirts, at almost 9.

Knowing their style and adjusting for a bit of maturity should tell you what to keep and asking them if they want it beforehand, you should be able to cull out some things to donate or share with a friend.

My son is the "big cousin" right now, so he's the one handing down the clothes.
Personally, unless it's something of sentimental value (personalized sports jersey of my husband's, for example) I wouldn't keep things for "years" in case, someday, my kid "could" wear it.

I do hand me down from other children, but do not save any of my own clothing. By the time my daughter is a teen, I'll be happy to share what I have (I always borrowed stuff from my Mom) but am pretty big on "if I don't wear it for a year I get rid of it".

J.

Yes. My shoes and shirts that she can wear. She loves them. I used to have a leather jacket I found in my grandma's closet that belong to my grandpa, that was really nice.

I haven't passed down any clothes to my kids, but I do hand them down to my mom, and she to me.

No, I don't save things for the kids. Really, I have things from 5 years ago that I didn't donate because I thought they were classic or that they would fit again (or that I'd need suits for something after my office went casual) and many of them were a waste of perfectly good clothing. They got worse for the wear in storage (invisible stains can become really noticeable with time) and by the time I realized that I was ready to donate them, many had to go in the trash which is a shame because during those 5 years, someone else could have been wearing those clothes.

I save clothes from one child to another and now that the two oldest are teenagers if my husband or I have something that doesn't fit or isn't our style we'll offer it to the older kids before donating it but I have no illusions that what, say, my husband is wearing now would ever be something that one of our little boys would like later. Clothes are rarely so classic that they survive generations - get rid of the clutter and donate them to people who can wear them now.

Absolutely. My kids have gotten most of their clothes from friends who had babies, so far. My oldest is now 6 so we dont get too many hand me downs for that age, but if i see nice stuff at a garage sale, i buy it. Im sure there will be a time when they dont want recycled clothes, but for now, i take advantage of it. It has saved me thousands and they have had really nice name brand clothes.

Eh, by the time my daughter can fit into my clothes, they wont be in style. But her baby sister is 6 years behind her, and you bet your butt she will get her hand me downs. I wish I would have known I was going to have another baby, because I only started saving them when my daughter was 5. The rest I gave away. :( Ugh, so much clothes!!

Well, I take that back, I will save my designer jeans for her, because I wouldnt get rid of them anyways, and I guess I will just see how she feels about them. But, if it works for everyone, I would def do it!

My oldest and I share clothes all the time and I give her things that I'm over or that seem too young for me to wear anymore.
Not sure about saving for long periods of time though. I would not worry about saving anything for a boy, he probably won't be as into clothes anyway and boys styles seem to change more over time.
I'd stick with a small amount of really classic stuff, coats, sweaters, things that don't go out of style ever and are fairly expensive to buy.

I love to get hand me downs for my kids. But they are 14 and 11 and they are very picky. They used to wear hand me downs when they were little. Their clothes that they can not wear go to my niece and nephew.