I’ve loved dressing my boys through the years (Anton’s cowboy boots, be still my heart!), but there are so many things in the “girls’ sections,” too. Any kid can wear anything, of course, and I thought I’d share a few finds…
P.S. Anton’s week of outfits, and how to talk to little girls.
(Top photo from H&M.)
Note: If you buy something through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission, at no cost to you. We recommend only products we genuinely like. Thank you so much.
Help! My children are getting to the ages (10 years old) where many of the local kids’ clothes shops/brands we like don’t stock their sizes. I am struggling to find sustainable brands that use natural fabrics like cotton and wool (to lessen the microplastics that get dumped in our water supply when clothes are washed) for clothes for bigger kids and teens. I would really welcome suggestions!
Boden has the best kids stuff!! And always the best raincoats (for grownups too!)
Love reading the comments and finding new to me clothing shops.
I do have to comment I am annoyed the jeans in the boys section at Target are cheaper than the jeans in the girls section. My daughter doesn’t like skinny jeans which are all the jeans in the girls section. The jeans in the boys section are much more comfy to her.
We get most of the clothes for our baby at consignment stores and DANG it bugs me how gendered the sections are! I feel like the “boy” section is more or less gender neutral but the “girl” section is full of bows and frills and ruffles. I would 100% shop in either section for colors and patterns, but have zero interest in bows and ruffles for either a boy or a girl. Love the brands that feel much more inclusive.
I just found out I’m pregnant after two chemical pregnancies and a year of trying, and looking at all these clothes made me even more excited to welcome a our little one into our lives – I am so excited for all stages from newborn to school age to teenager – even having adult kids in the future!
Congratulations!!!
Thank you, Emily!
Cute clothes! I am struggling to find the perfect winter coat for my 3 year old daughter. We live in Seattle and I’d like it to do double duty–waterproof and cozy. Any recommendations?
Me too!! Three year old in Portland. Am thinking of heading to one of the kid consignment shops because surely some mom has already figured this out and then hopefully grown out of theirs.
I was so sad that Hanna Andersson got rid of their size 160. We’ve been buying from them for over twenty years, and my youngest daughter had just reached that size. We would have enjoyed another year or two of their clothes. She still misses their yoga pants. We’ve yet to find their equal.
Check out Thimble Collection – it’s handsewn in USA by working moms! Great quality and styles for boys and girls and great zipper one pieces for babies – my go to gift!
http://www.thimblecollection.com
(Just a fan! and I think the mission would resonate with Cup of Jo’ers!)
I love shopping in the girls section for my 4-year old boy. Girls get all the best colors and fun prints. Boy clothes are all blue, gray and green. Though sometimes I’m like “why do 4T t-shirts need to be flared, it’s not like little girls have hips!” The striped shirts and the overalls are on my fall shopping list now.
Omg this is me!! My son was always mis-gendered as a baby and I found it laughable – just because he wore bright colors (like yellow?!) everyone assumed he was a girl! Thankfully COJ’s obsession with Primary has made it easy to find bright things for him to wear, and now, ironically, I’m having the same thing happen to my daughter wearing his hand-me-downs, because she’s not covered in pink & ruffles. *shrug*
My mom got the dog dress for my daughter June for her 5th birthday last April and she absolutely adores it. An all time favorite ! We live in France and everyone comments on how cute it is.
Mini mioche has the best gender-neutral stuff for kids! So soft, and hand-me-down quality. (Also, female-founded and run with ethical and sustainable practices!)
Not affiliated, just love what they do!
I intentionally buy my kiddo’s clothes only from sellers that don’t have “boys” and “girls” sections — the idea that we start telling babies and toddlers and children that some clothes are made for boys and others for girls really breaks my heart. My kiddo is REALLY loving Primary’s many rainbow options (even rainbow undies!). We are also huge fans of Red Caribou — we have clothes that we bought when she was 12 months and they were still holding up great when she was 3! I also love Nui Organics and Chasing Windmills for long lasting wool clothes (unfortunately my kiddo has a strong preference for very brightly colored clothes, so these are usually base layers under more vibrant clothes)!
oh if we could just use European sizing in centimeters and organize our kids’ sections by size instead of girl/boy style. How glorious it would be to just say to my 8 year old who refuses to wear anything I pick: “There’s the 130 section, anything there will fit you.”
Long gone are the days my four year old daughter lets me pick out her clothes. She’s developed her own signature style over the past year and a half: a tulle skirt (she has six of them) and a shirt in the same color. It’s very monotone, which I think is very chic of her. Sometimes I feel bummed when I see all the cute choices in stores -sometimes I even buy them for her but they all go unworn in her closet – but then I hear all the compliments she gets from her teachers and friends. Yesterday, at pickup, one of the dad’s told me that “Abby’s outfits are a frequent conversation at our house. My wife wants to have another baby in hopes it’s a girl so she can dress her like Abby!” So while I don’t get to dress her up like I want, I’m thankful to have such a confident daughter who knows what she likes and won’t compromise on her self expression!
CoJ hivemind: I need masks recommendations for toddlers! My kid is 2.5 years old and just started a co-op preschool where he needs to mask a couple hours a week. He has a few homemade accordion style masks from his grandma’s friend (that he likes and wears with no complaint), but we need to add to our collection since he’ll be wearing them more. Most of my searches have kids sizes but not toddlers, and when I look at the dimensions, they seem like they’d fit me (finding masks as a smaller-faced woman has been a whole other adventure)! Thanks!
We bought masks for my 3 year old from Amazon and they fit really well. He will wear them as long as needed. The name of the Amazon seller was “HOPE LOVE SHINE store” and the listing title is “Kids Face Mask Reusable Washable comfortable breathable Big Pack Of 5 Toddler Cute Cool covers Boy Girl Superhero bat Cloth Mask 2-layer Face Mask Pediatric Gaiter For Kids(5 Pcs)” (Rolls off the tongue, lol.)
$16 for 5 masks, and I feel they’ve been worth it. Other parents constantly tell me how shocked they are that he will wear a mask for so long, but it’s just because these are nice & soft & small enough for his face. Washable & supposedly made in the states.
Hi Amber, the best-fitting masks I’ve found for my three-year-old are the kid-size masks from this Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/littleflowerfabric
I tie a knot in each of the ear loops to shorten them a bit, but they’re super soft and conform nicely to kids’ faces without slipping or excess fabric. (And maybe the big-kid ones would work for you, since they’re in between kid and adult size? I wear the adult size ones and love them.)
The Crayola school mask pack ones are great for smaller toddlers! My 3 year old has been wearing them full time at daycare with no complaints – and they come 5 to a machine washable bag that you can just throw in the wash at the end of the week, which I love.
I’ve spent my 3 year old son’s college savings testing out masks and I have to echo the other recommendation for the crayola school pack. Only ones that stay on his face, and they have double layers which I like.
Seconded the rec for the Little Flower Fabric store on Etsy. I honesty think I first heard about them from the comment section here (…not surprising…) and their masks are MY absolute favorite and fit my 3 year old like a dream. I’ve also gifted them to a million friends (and teachers at her school!) and everyone raves about them.
Crayola! They are the only masks that fit my 2 year old’s little face, and as a bonus they are all different colors so she can pick which color she wants to wear each day (I tell myself this will make her more likely to keep it on, but she’s 2, so probably not).
Thank you all for these suggestions! Will look into them. And lol, C… I think I spent my retirement savings looking for masks that will fit my own face at the start of the pandemic. I have a hilarious pic of me in a “small adult” mask that fully covers my face, over my eyebrows!
We swear by ones that are hand made by a local company here in portland called Dana Herbert accessories. They are so easy for my 3.5 year old to wear (he’s been wearing them comfortably since he was 2.5 because omg this pandemic has been going on that long) and they have tons of fun patterns. They have the little bendy metal piece at the nose that makes it easy to get it to fit.
Vistaprint kids masts have been perfect. My daughter is a petite toddler with small face and it was difficult to find the perfect mask. She only wears vistaprint now and keeps them on at school. They have filters, are layered, adjustable ear straps, cute prints, and have held up washing!
I want that raincoat!
I’d wear flowers and multi and I’m 36!
But honestly, we get so many hand me downs from our friends, I’m a terrible shopper and aside from the obligatory pink/dress/glitter era from year 2-4, my girls are happy with what we get. Playgrounds would get extra stressful (at least for me) if their clothes were as lovely as these :)
I hated half the hand-me-downs I got when I was growing up but now seeing how rough kids are, how fast they grow, I completely understand lol.
Same! Between mud and peanut butter, my 2.5 year old needs like 3 outfit changes a day. And they just grow out of clothes so fast! So happy to have lots of slightly older friends for hand me downs, but even if we didn’t, I’d try to find a kids consignment/thrift store for most of his wardrobe, minus a few nicer things for like, family photos. And to K’s point, I feel like there will definitely come an age where he wants to choose and not be into the hand me downs, so I’m taking advantage while I can. Is my kid always dressed cute? Nope. Do the mudpit in our yard, the other 2 year olds at the playground, or the construction trucks down the street care? Nope!
Okayyyy but the collared shirt makes me think of only one thing:
I DON’T WANNA BE A PIRATE!
Haha but really these are all so chic.and adorable. The little green dress!!
omg – every time i put on a puffy white shirt, that is my refrain! I DON’T WANNA BE A PIRATE! hahaha thank you for making me laugh this morning
Bought the multi raincoat a month ago! SO GOOD in person.
If only the dog dress were in adult sizes!
the dog dress does come in women’s sizes!!!!!!
If only the dog dress came in cats AND adult sizes …
And it comes in cats and adult sizes!
I don’t have kids so I haven’t been in the children’s section of a store for ages. But I was listening to a podcast recently and they were talking about the boys and girls sections of clothing stores and how there may be a need to rethink what those are called and how they are stocked given gender fluidity these days as well as the anything goes mindset when it comes to how we dress. Really interesting to think about how things evolve. Just some food for thought.
And maybe they have already changed and I’m just late to the game : )
I was thinking about this the other day as I was shopping for my daughter in Old Navy. While there are still girl/boy sections, I noticed there wasn’t a totally clear separation between the two. It is totally refreshing to see this evolution happening, and I love how it’s causing me rethink the clothing I buy for my child!
I would wear…all of these if they came in adult sizes.
I thought the same thing!
Same! My shopping in the kid’s department stops at shoes (I always get my Converse in kid sizes).
The dog print dress comes in adult sizes!
Same!!! Especially the green dress and color blocked rain coat!
Honestly, I’d wear everything here. Adorable!
I'm sick at home today, so let's talk about something fun.
You can start mid-afternoon and sit down to a warm loaf by dinnertime.
What do you like to pack? Here are my 10 trusty pieces...
I tried everything before I finally figured this out.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
306 COMMENTS