Good for you! I’m sure your child will be every bit as darling and comfortable in Goodwill clothes as Baby Gap togs - maybe even more so, as they’ll have been washed to greater softness :-)

My daughter (now 16) was the first grandchild for both sets of grandparents, and they were all primed and waiting to shower her with consumer goods. She didn’t get to wear half the clothes they bought for her, but I was seldom able to return them to stores. I was, however, able to do a brisk business with the kids’ consignment stores that were all over the place at the time. It didn’t help so much with cash, but I didn’t have to buy a thing for her to wear (even after the initial gifts died down) for several years. I had plenty of extras to gift to others, as well.

My husband’s parents were absolutely incensed when they learned that their precious was wearing used clothes! I grew up wearing perfectly good hand-me-downs, as did the rest of my siblings, courtesy of an incredible network of cousins. I’d never considered that any child would live life without them! What a silly notion! One might as well assume that baby beds, strollers, cloth diapers, and all the rest must also be bought new for every child! (And of course, that’s what they thought and did.)

My nephew, born 3 years ago, got everything new all over again - much of it from BabyGap or similar sources. My sister and brother-in-law, while BIL has countless nieces and nephews, definitely didn’t go the hand-me-down or Goodwill route. The twins my brother and his wife had earlier this year have the same, but I didn’t really expect anything different there.

FWIW, my girl is still happiest when I give her money and set her free in thrift stores, rather than shopping for clothing in “normal” stores. She learned very early on that she can get far more clothing for the same amount of money in such stores, and she can get pieces that better suit her very personal sense of style. Anything she outgrows is given to others or (very occasionally) goes back to the thrift store.

Oh! If you haven’t already done so, join a gifting group in your area. They’re marvelous for exchanging all manner of used but useful things - not just kids’ clothing, but adult clothing, furniture, books, all manner of household goods, tools, CDs/DVDs, computers, bikes, you name it! You should be able to find one listed at Freesharing or Sharing Is Giving. Most people have heard of FreeCycle, and many of the local groups are just fine, but I can’t recommend that organization in good faith right now because of the corruption at its core.

Namaste,
Cyn

Today the Apple iPhone is premiering like the second coming fergoshsakes with people clamoring and media whirlwinds that are modeling ‘gotta have it’ values to kids…

Even if you believe in the values of the company as the one blogger above said, (I echo same) the whole concept of perspective needs to come into play (e.g. Apple iPhone=$500, UN World Food Programme=$34 to feed a child for a year!!)

I just blogged about this on Shaping Youth “Apple iPhone Hype Seeds Kids Consumerism.”
http://www.shapingyouth.org/blog/?p=515 because I feel it’s monkey see-monkey do out there…If we as parents are so gonzo about the latest toy in media-hyped ‘must have mode’ what do we expect from our kids?