Back to School

I picked up my granddaughter and took her to our local Goody's Clothing Store. With a promise of ice cream after shopping she was really good considering I think I had her try on about 50 outfits just to find 5 that fit right. She's a bit chunky in the middle and has wide shoulders so the traditional little girls sizes don't fit her any more. We did find one t-shirt dress that fit her comfortably that she loves. It's pink, of course she loves it, pink is her favorite color. Buying back to school clothes from the teen section for an almost 9 year old is like finding a needle in a hay stack. The sizes are cut to be tight fitting or they plunge to her navel on her shorter torso. This year there seemed to be more rounded necklines than in past years so those were the ones we picked to try on the most. My granddaughter has short legs so the capri styles fit her as long pants and the longer legged shorts fit her as capri's.

I love playing dress up with her and seeing her face light up with the styles she likes and the horrible grimace she makes with the ones she hates. She definitely prefers solid colors on the bottom and bright pinks and blues on top. She was really into the lace and floral this year also. In years past she only seemed to want to try on the t-shirts and didn't much care about the comfort factor, except for the bottoms. She has always hated anything tight at the waste. So many of the teen t-shirts had lovely designs with glitter and sequins but fit her skin tight. I hated having to say no to such pretty tops. We tried finding some like them in the petite women's dept. but no such luck. Nothing that was suitable for a 9 year old anyway. She was easy to steer to other clothing items though; grab a pink top, "look at this one honey". Her reply, "Oh grandma that's the one"! Yep, easy to steer her mind in another direction. They had all of the shoes on sale so I was able to get her a pair of nice Sketchers for dressier days and a pair of Nike shoes for PE. Oh, I almost forgot, she says it's called gym in her school. I even found a pair of designer blue jeans, Ashley Judd, that not only fit her waist but weren't miles too long. She didn't like that they weren't all fancy but she did admit they fit so in the cart they went.

All in all I think we did pretty good during our back to school clothes shopping adventure. We bought 2 skirts, 3 pairs slacks, 1 pair jeans, 5 tops and 1 dress. Plus the shoes and I only spent $267.00 and some change. Her dad had given me $20.00 towards her school shoes and her birthday was coming up so the Sketchers covered that gift. We shopped only from the sales racks and discount racks. Usually we have to hit the boys section because of her body shape but we didn't have to this year. My receipt said I saved $126.00. So, if you have a Goody's Clothing Store in your area and haven't done your school clothes shopping yet I would suggest you give them a look see. It was well worth it for us this year. I don't think I've ever managed a weeks clothes from one store before. And never this inexpensively.

Don't feel you have to buy only from the children's department for the huskier child. There are wonderful and suitable items to be found on the teens and adult petite discount racks for children also. Give yourself time to really look, leave the dressing room now and then to give others a chance and don't shop with a tired or hungry child and you will have a good back to school clothes shopping experience.