Worlds pickiest kid

Help!

I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size
4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to
buy.

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones
are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

The only brands she likes are Juicy Coutoure, SoLow, and Jasmine Sola. Does
anyone know of stores that sell knockoffs of this type of stuff. I just
can't see spending $75 on a t-shirt that won't last 3 washings.

Marjorie

"animzmirot" wrote:

Help!

I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size
4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to
buy.

I don't remember what kind of camp - I think you've mentioned it, but
what does the camp say she needs?

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones

I would be sure that a bathing suit is actually made for swimming, and
not just for lounging on the beach. If she's going to be doing any
diving (like races for a swim team) the suit should be one piece. A
two piece suit is to apt to come off when doing a racing dive.

are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

The only brands she likes are Juicy Coutoure, SoLow, and Jasmine Sola. Does
anyone know of stores that sell knockoffs of this type of stuff. I just
can't see spending $75 on a t-shirt that won't last 3 washings.

If I had that problem (which I never have so this is just an off the
top of my head suggestion), I'd give her a list of what she has to
have, and what you think of as a reasonable amount of money to buy it
with, and let her get on with it. Perhaps give her a list of what she
has to take, and have her write for each thing what she is spending on
it before she gets it. She may decide to use clothing she already has
for some of it, and splurge on the rest.



grandma Rosalie

"animzmirot" wrote in message
...
Help!

I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size
4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to
buy.

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too
small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones
are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

Give her shopping money. Let her figure it out. At that age I gave my
daughter a clothing budget of $100 a month. Sometimes she would splurge for
one pair of expensive jeans, and wear them over and over. Sometimes she
would hit Target for cheap shirts. This year she spent $90 on one bathing
suit, but didn't buy any others. On our beach vacation she would just wear
that one, and that was fine with her. Recently she found a dress nice
enough to wear to formal dinners on the cruise ship for $44. When I was
buying her things she had a lot of clothes she wouldn't wear. That has gone
away entirely. She has a much smaller wardrob of clothes she likes.

I agree with the clothing budget ideas alreay presented. But I also
have a suggestion to offer. If your daughter feels that she absolutely
"must" have name brands like the ones you mentioned, she might want to
try looking on eBay. There's a lot of clothing listed, much of it brand
new with tags, so it's sometimes possible to get a good deal. The one
sticking point is that you can't try the clothing on, so you need to
have a good idea ahead of time of what size you'd wear in a particular
item. The feedback section will give you a good idea of the reliability
of the individual sellers.

Good luck!

beeswing

In article ,
"animzmirot" wrote:

Help!

I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size
4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to
buy.

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones
are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

The only brands she likes are Juicy Coutoure, SoLow, and Jasmine Sola. Does
anyone know of stores that sell knockoffs of this type of stuff. I just
can't see spending $75 on a t-shirt that won't last 3 washings.

Marjorie



She's old enough to be given a budget, and then make her own choices
from there. So figure out how much $$ you are willing to spend, and
tell her she can spend it any way she wants (as long as she gets
underware) -- but that there'll be no more $$ after that. She may
decide that the Red Dot Boutique (Target) isn't such a bad idea after
all . . .)

Yes, the first time you do this she may end up with one pair of
overpriced jeans and three t-shirts, but as long as you stick to your
guns and DON'T buy her more clothes, she'll learn to make better choices.

One of my kids figured out how to make GREAT outfits out of what she
could get at Goodwill, with one or two more expensive pieces.
--
Children won't care how much you know until they know how much you care

Hey, who's driving the boat here? I have a 14 year old son, and there
is NO WAY I would take him to a pricey store, even if he begged me on
his knees. Forget it. I'm not pandering to that crap. Fads I
understand, but not the designer label uber pricey thing. He's not too
young to figure out that our family has a specific income and that has
to cover everything, including clothing for five people. He can have 5
pairs of acceptible jeans from Sears or Walmart and look okay all
school year, or he can have one pair of fancy pants from some designer
store, and be wearing holey pants by Christmas.

My parents started me on an annual allowance at 13. I had to do up a
budget that included clothing, bus fare, lunch money, allowance, school
supplies etc. Then I had to keep track of what I spent and on what in
an account book. If I ran out of money, I could "apply" for more, if I
could demonstrate that there were unanticipated expenses (such as a
school trip, or a pair of boots unexpectedly giving out). However, I
had to be able to demonstrate I was responsible with my purchases and
stayed within budget - so if there was $500 allowed for clothing for me
for the year (or whatever a reasonable figure was), and I blew it all
on one designer outfit, too bad, kiddo. I'd have been wearing it 5 days
a week, and my old stuff the other two. I was so paranoid of running
out of money, I acquired the discount store habit, and am still
allergic to inflated prices and designer labels.

Mary G.

dragonlady wrote:

In article ,
"animzmirot" wrote:

I'm trying to shop for camp for my daughter. She's almost 13, wears a size
4, is extremely opinionated about clothing, and we cannot agree on what to
buy.

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones
are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

The only brands she likes are Juicy Coutoure, SoLow, and Jasmine Sola. Does
anyone know of stores that sell knockoffs of this type of stuff. I just
can't see spending $75 on a t-shirt that won't last 3 washings.

Marjorie

She's old enough to be given a budget, and then make her own choices
from there. So figure out how much $$ you are willing to spend, and
tell her she can spend it any way she wants (as long as she gets
underware) -- but that there'll be no more $$ after that. She may
decide that the Red Dot Boutique (Target) isn't such a bad idea after
all . . .)

Yes, the first time you do this she may end up with one pair of
overpriced jeans and three t-shirts, but as long as you stick to your
guns and DON'T buy her more clothes, she'll learn to make better choices.

This was my mom's problem. I was given a budget at 12. My mom was a
real bargain hunter, and I hated to shop. So she dragged me to the
store and said "You have to have a winter coat". And then I bought
one (which was a good coat and I liked it and wore it for many years
-she'd advance the money because it was more than my budget for that
month).

Her real problem though was that I would cheerfully wear rags as long
as I didn't have to shop. My mom would find something that was a
bargain, and say - do you want this. And I would say, "Not if I have
to buy it with my money." And it would be such a good deal that she
would cave and buy it for me.

Also she'd realize that I had no underwear or something and she'd buy
that. I ended up with almost my whole allowance for the year (minus
the winter coat money) in the savings bank.

My sister had the opposite problem - she was never happy with what she
bought when she got it home, and she didn't like to sew (I did), and
she needed things to fit perfectly (I didn't). So she was always
overdrawn on her allowance.

One of my kids figured out how to make GREAT outfits out of what she
could get at Goodwill, with one or two more expensive pieces.

In spite of the fact that it didn't work well for us, I think the
allowance deal especially just for this particular camp, is a good
idea.

grandma Rosalie

In article ,
animzmirot wrote:

I would like suggestions of web sites that carry hip, well made clothing.
She WILL NOT wear anything from The Gap, Old Navy, Limited Too (too small),
LLBean, Lands End, Abercrombie, or HollisterCo. She only wants to wear
clothing from National Jean Company or Jasmine Sola. We went to National
Jean Co this afternoon and the average price of a pair of jeans was over
$200. We didn't get anything. She likes the bathing suits at Victoria's
Secret, but all the sale ones are backordered and the regular prices ones
are just too darn expensive. She also won't consider shopping at Target,
Macy's or Nordstrom. I'm going insane.

I don't know anything about good stores/sites to shop at, but I will
make a generic suggestion: give her a reasonable budget and let her
make her own choices. My brothers and I all started buying our own
clothes in 7th grade, and it is a great antidote to brand-name
snobbiness. Since she will need a certain number of shorts, shirts,
jeans, etc. for camp, require that she show you her "plan" for acquiring
all those items within her budget before she gets access to the cash.
When it is "her" problem, she will probably find places to buy acceptable
knock-offs, consignment stores that offer slightly-used pieces of the
brans she likes for much less, find a way to earn a little more money,
or become a little less picky. Then, if she wants to allocate a huge
portion of her budget to one single overpriced pair of jeans, while
economizing on other items, you stand back and let her, even if you
disagree with her priorities. A lifetime of good money habits can
be learned through an exercise like this. Eventually, rather than just
giving her a lump sum for camp or the start of school, you can give
her a monthly allowance and have her save for those heavy-purchase
times of year. Again, you can require her to show you her plans until
she gets good at it.

--Robyn

..

"beeswing" wrote in message
oups.com...
I agree with the clothing budget ideas alreay presented. But I also
have a suggestion to offer. If your daughter feels that she absolutely
"must" have name brands like the ones you mentioned, she might want to
try looking on eBay. There's a lot of clothing listed, much of it brand
new with tags, so it's sometimes possible to get a good deal. The one
sticking point is that you can't try the clothing on, so you need to
have a good idea ahead of time of what size you'd wear in a particular
item. The feedback section will give you a good idea of the reliability
of the individual sellers.

Don't forget flea markets, garage sales and the local thrift shop. Sometimes
you can get really good deals. Plus she can learn to watch the newspaper for
sales.

Jeff

Good luck!

beeswing

"Cathy Kearns" wrote in message
m...
(...)

Give her shopping money. Let her figure it out. At that age I gave my
daughter a clothing budget of $100 a month. Sometimes she would splurge
for
one pair of expensive jeans, and wear them over and over. Sometimes she
would hit Target for cheap shirts. This year she spent $90 on one bathing
suit, but didn't buy any others. On our beach vacation she would just
wear
that one, and that was fine with her. Recently she found a dress nice
enough to wear to formal dinners on the cruise ship for $44. When I was
buying her things she had a lot of clothes she wouldn't wear. That has
gone
away entirely. She has a much smaller wardrob of clothes she likes.

I like this idea. She will learn the value of money and not to waste it.

Jeff