How Much Do You Spend on a Typical Outfit for Your Toddler?

He's 2!!! It's not going to fit him for long. I don't even spend that much on my own things. My daughters will be 1 and 2 in November. They mostly get used clothes from Once Upon A Child or cheap outfits from Walmart. I spent $50 for my oldest's entire summer wardrobe, and because of potty training she really didn't need half of it. I'm reselling them to Once Upon A Child to buy her winter clothes.

Wow. We spend probably around $5 for a complete outfit. I'd say his entire wardrobe he wears now, cost us about $60. (For clothing.) Shoes we do spend money on, but he has ONE pair and wears them until he needs another.

I always bought used. At Goodwill toddler size jeans are about $2, a shirt is about $1.50. That was for like new brand name clothes, such as Gap, Tommy, or Gymboree. As for shoes I bought one pair of $40 Robeez slippers, and that was the only pair. It is better that children not have a hard sole at that age.

$45 for shoes is fine. In my opinion, kids need good shoes even though they grow out of them so quickly. Clothes? Not so much. We have 3 families that we are friends with that have older boys (8 between them). I get all their hand me downs. My boys have more clothes in their closets than I do right now! Of course we buy new underwear and socks. And I'm noticing that as my boys are getting older, there are more hand me down shirts than pants (boys are so rough on pants!) I think $40 is a lot for one outfit he will only wear for one season. I might spend that for a special occasion like a holiday, or if he needed a nicer outfit for a big family event.

We buy a lot of our clothes from Good Will or mom-to-mom sales or Once Upon A Child (second hand kids stores, with nice merchandise); for a shirt, maybe $2 to $5; pants $3 to $5. Undies and socks, we buy new at Walmart or Meijer or Target.

If it's a special occasion, we buy the items at Kohl's. We signed up online for their discount mailers, and in addition to the coupons, they often have in store sales and you can combine the store sales prices and the coupons for better discounts. So, at most I've spent $8 for pants, $7 for shirts, and maybe $30 for a dress up outfit.

For shoes, sometimes we buy used (Once Upon A Child) and sometimes we splurge on new (typically Target, Kohl's or Stride Rite).

Personally, I'd rather use the money to go do something fun, that will create a memory for our family, like go to the zoo or buy a membership to a kid's play place. The new cute clothes are cute, but they outgrow them so fast, and I know that I'll only keep one or two from his childhood to treasure, and I won't remember the clothes later---but I will remember the fun times. :)

If you love the name brand stuff and the new/in fashion stuff, check your area for upper end second stores, because they usually have a good selection of name-brand stuff. In our area, Once Upon A Child is the chain, but there are also individual mom & pop type places too. If you have stores like Tuesday Mornings and Play It Again Sports, check near them because the second hand places tend to locate near each other.

give me your address and all the info and I will buy your used 40 dollar outfit, cause wow, kids dont need that expensive for every outfit. You can get a NEW nice outfit for less than that if you wait for sales. You dont have to do second hand, thrifts, or garage sales to have you child look good. What you are doing is buying BRAND stuff. Gap, Gymboree, and all that. NOTHING wrong with it, but if your husband doesnt like it, and you cant afford it, there are so many other ways. By all means spend that much if you can, Its mommies like you that I can get nice clothes for second hand for mine, and I dont pay that much. I DO get my kids up to 3 nice nice nice brand new outfits for every season, where I say "I dont care what it costs" its usually for some special occasion or holiday. Other than that, its cheaper brands, and consignment, or sale sites. I was able to get my 5 year old 2 closet fulls of brand name and boutique clothes for under 100$ this year. By closets full I talking 27 outfits, including high fashion NY boutique dresses as well as jeans, and the whole works. Just by bargains, sales, and second hands in excellent shape. I do not hurt in anyway financially, but I have 3 kids, and I am not going to break the bank dressing them when one daughter grew 2 size in one year, and my son dirties and rips clothes daily.
Buy what you can afford, and dont spend beyond your means.

You are right to spend $40 on a pair of shoes. ONE pair until he grows out of them. There is no point in having multiple pairs of new shoes. They grow out of them too fast. And children need new shoes to support their feet. I only used hand-me-down shoes to let my kids play in the dirt or if it was raining really bad.

I rarely bought new outfits for my kids. I didn't have to. Between hand-me-downs from my sister-in-law to the many consignment stores around, I had plenty to choose from AND to spare. I loved gently used outfits - they had been washed enough that they never faded or shrank, and I usually had primary colors, so they all mixed and matched.

Of course, what I saved in clothes, I spent in educational toys and games, especially for language help for my youngest.

The point is, your husband is right. You don't need to spend so much on clothes. Find a few consignment shops and buy there. If you don't get stains or rips on them, you can trade them in for more clothes and save even more.

Dawn

well I buy almost all clothes second hand for the little ones so I could say no more than 5 dollars.. but as cheap as I can get it.. there are a lot of second hand places, rummage sales flea markets that sell clothes in very good shape for next to nothing.. if I can do it under a dollar all the better.. =) shoes are almost always second hand as well, but will spend a good amount of money on good quality shoes especially if it's winter/fall shoes and meant to be outside in. I've spent upwards to 100 dollars on a pair of shoes, but that being said they are also a pair of shoes that both my girls have used and have even lent them out to friends (they still look practically new)..

I guess there is nothing wrong with spending that kind of money, it's your choice, I just think there is a lot of other things I would rather spend that money on knowing I can get good quality clothes for next to nothing if you are willing to look around..

Shoot, well I would say $8-$10 average on an outfit (pants and shirt) and $15 on shoes. We have three kids and they are growing fast. There is no way I could justify spending more than that on kid clothes because of the rate they grow out of the clothes and the rate that they stain (especially as a toddler) clothes.
We buy most of our kids clothing at Target, Kid to Kid (consignment shop), Kohls, JC Penney or I check out the clearance racks if I happen to be at the mall stores that run pricier.
If you can afford it and it isn't hurting your budget, then there is nothing wrong with it. Since hubby is griping, it sounds like maybe a clothing budget for everyone is in order?

I try and spend less than $15 - $20 on the whole outfit, including shoes. And I am a bargain shopper (ebay, consignment shops, thrift stores, trading clothes with friends, clearance sales), but my kids still dress really cute and in quality clothes.

Of course, everyone has differing budgets, but I get what I can afford and try to save what I can. Really though, a 2 year old doesn't need that much. You can spend a lot of money on a nice outfit that may never get worn.

Yeah, I think its too much. At 2, my children were growing like weeds, and didnt go to school, so I buy cheap.
If I buy brand name stuff for a child that small, I have to get a really good deal on it.
I usually try to spend less than $15 for an outfit and less than $20 on shoes.
If you have to have the brand name stuff, check hautelook.com or Zulily.com for great deals.
Before school started I got my kids (4&7) the latest Nikes for $60. It was buy one get one 1/2 off and I had a coupon for $10 off.
I pay retail for NOTHING!
IMO, $45 for toddler shoes is way too much.

Geez Louise, girl!! Ya made of money? $85 would suffice for a whole season (or two) in our household - for two girls!!! Rein it in, for your marriage's sake.. If he's the one floating you, and you want to keep the marriage together (for the CHILD/REN's sake!!!!!!! They need both parents!!) then get reasonable. Save that money and, say, take a family vacation with it. That is MUCH better spent dollars. Much.

Well, it's all relative to what you have in your budget to spend.

For me, my DD has two or three decent pairs of sneakers, two pairs of dress shoes, and two pairs of sandals (one with closed toes to wear to school). Oh, and her water shoes. So each of those probably cost me between $2.50 (yay clearance) to $25. Her clothes are also often bought on sale. She gets a fancy dress for Christmas and Easter, each probably $25-30. The outfit she's wearing today has $1 socks, leggings from an outfit I bought in the UK, but the whole thing was 15 pounds (I think) so you do the math, the longsleeved shirt was $5 or less from Children's Place clearance and the Oshkosh jumper was a find from my mom who likely got it from the thrift store (Oshkosh is a brand I look for used because they hold up really well). Since kids grow so fast, I rarely spend much more than $25 on anything for her since she'll just outgrow it in a few months. I bought her jacket big enough to wear for 2 winters. When she is older, I might spend more because it will last longer, but buy fewer things overall. But does she have too many clothes? Probably.

Since your DH is not on the same page, I'd think about what you buy, why you buy it and if there's another way to get what you want for a different price - resale, a clearance rack, a site like Totsy or Zuilly. Even shoes like Stride Rite can often be found on sale for less than $40. And ask him why he's concerned - is it that you don't have the budget? Is it that he doesn't see why you should buy the $40 outfit for 2 months of wear? Do you buy a lot of things or do you get a lot of use out of the things you buy? What if you agreed on a clothing budget and he didn't quibble the price per outfit as long as you didn't exceed the budget?

You also said "youngest". So is the motivation related to him being the baby? Is he your last baby? Sometimes the things we do have emotional motivation we don't immediately realize. I found myself buying for DD because I missed out on that experience with the sks. It's still novel to me to be able to buy more than socks and gym clothes for a kid. And she's my only "baby". So that's why I ask - is this your emotional response? And if so, is there another way to deal with it? I've actually been working on taking inventory so between myself, my mom and my sister (who has a son but gets her buying girlie things fix through her goddaughter), DD is stocked with what she *needs* vs having clothes she won't get as much use out of. A $6 pair of pants she doesn't use is $6 wasted.

I buy most everything on sale or clearance. I don't spend more than $10 on a shirt, and even $10 makes me stop. I will spend more on jeans if I didn't do a good job stocking up on clearance the year prior. I've paid $8 and change on good jeans. The shirts I can usually find for $2 or $3 on clearance. What I do is shop for clothes for his next size. This winter, I will stock up on tanks, shorts, etc...for his next size or two, depending on how much they dropped the price. I do this for every season. Shoes I try to buy at discount stores but I usually end up paying full price and spending max of about $50. But I would say they usually run me $35 or so. I have purchased shoes for his next size if they are a really good deal. If there is a special occasion coming up, then $40 for an outfit sounds about right.

It depends on the purpose for the outfit. There is no way I would spend $40.00 for a play outfit because those just get stained and worn out quickly. I would say most of my daughter's outfits are around $20-$30 but I look for them to go on sale and can usually get them for $15.00.

Shoes can be anything from cheap $5.00 sandals to $60.00 boots.

I am picky about my clothing and my children's, and that is too much imo. Hubby is right - at 2, they couldn't care less what they are wearing and they will stain it no later than the second wear. You can dress them super cute for less. Wait until they are 13 and really care about brand names - then spend the money!

I buy great shoes for my kids, stride rite, etc and I find them for less than $30 brand new online. I do not think $40 is overboard, but if your hubby would like you to try to spend less, spend $25 and you will get the same quality. Then, you can show him you recognized his concern.

As far as an outfit, it depends what it is for. If I am purchasing play clothes and things to wear to day care, I will get them online at Old Navy or Children's Place. I will spend about $25 for an outfit, ie pants, shirt, socks. So again, I think you can cut the cost of your outfits as well. Even $20 total saved is a difference.

Do this for your hubby....then, the next time you have a concern about money or anything for that matter, pay attention and make sure he addresses your concerns. Give and take!

ETA: I just got a pair of barely used stride rites on ebay for $12 plus $4 shipping, and a pair of brand new champions for $8 plus shipping. They are both excellent shoes and will be too small in 2 months!

Yep, I NEVER spent that much on an outfit, not even for my 5 year old.
A typical play outfit is probably around $15. She think her most expensive outfit is a Hanna Anderson dress that cost $25 on sale at the outlet store.

I do spend a pretty penny on shoes, I usually buy two pairs and each pair usually runs $40. No sneakers though, high quality leather shoes that last though the entire year (at 5 they don't grow that fast anymore).

I shop sales at outlet stores for nicer things, H&M, Target and Amazon for shoes.

If you can afford it, I say spend however much you want. But if your hubby is complaining my guess would be you can't or at least that you could do better things with the money. IMO it really isn't worth to spend a fortune on toddler clothes, unless you plan on having more kids and hoping to pass those clothes down.
Once your child gets a little older, he will be a lot harder on his clothes and buying some items of better quality will be worth it (pants, for us leggings, shoes and outwear are some items that I spend more money on) and he won't outgrow them as fast any more.
Good luck.

I do mix and match pieces with no frills. For our needs the quality of Target, Marshalls and Ross with occasional final discount pieces at Gap suffice. I have never done outfits even for occasions. I don't see the point with a toddler since he grows way too fast and is messy. I shop with the aim of spending about $15 max for the top and bottom. I spend about $20 on his shoes. For the most part our son is inside barefoot so I don't see the point in spending a bunch on his shoes. I have tried the consignment shops and thrift stores but don't have much luck. This approach works for our lifestyle and our budget. Good luck.

$45 for shoes sounds about right. I couldn't stand cheap shoes on growing feet. But $40 for every outfit? That does seem high. Most of my toddler pieces were of the mix and match variety, I usually got tops and bottoms (tees, shorts, leggings/pants) for around $10-12 each. Jeans were usually more, like $20, and of course jackets and sweaters/sweatshirts were a little more as well, though I was pretty good about shopping the sales. I mostly shopped at JC Penney, Target, Old Navy, Children's Place and Gymboree.
I also shopped consignment which was always a really good deal, especially for dressy clothes. I hated paying full price for things that were only worn once or twice!

Depends on how much disposable income you have and what your priorities are. If you have the money and it makes you happy... go for it.

Personally, I spent about $15 - $20 on an outfit for my girls when they were two. I'd shop sales and get pieces for $5 or $7 from decent stores/brands (Lands End, Naartjie, Tea Collection, etc.). I'm not a fan of the clothes quality at Walmart, Target, or Kohls, so I was willing to work a bit harder to get better brands - but I still couldn't see spending $20 per shirt for a child who's going to outgrow it in 6 months. I'd rather spend that money on something else, like books or high quality toys.

As for sneakers... yes, I did spend $45 or $50 per pair from Stride Rite because it seemed worth it to me. But my kids only had one pair at a time.

I would also think you spend too much money. My boys are rough on their clothes and shoes. They out grow everything within a season so I personally don't see the point in spending too much. Their shoes, target Walmart or Kmart usually about 15. And they last just about 3-4 months which is fine because they usually are ready for the next size up. As far as clothes, I hit up as many kid consignment sales as possible, you can find great stuff at these. I also buy a lot of their clothes at target (5-10 per piece unless you find stuff on clearance which I alway look through for stuff for next year). They seem to last through both boys and sometimes are still good enough to send to my sisters for their kids after.
Because, I am frugal with clothes I let them be boys in them. Want to slide down the muddy hill in the back, sure. Want to make mud pies, absolutely! Run around the woods like crazy people, ok by me, just take off your clothes and shoes in the laundry room before you come in the house.
I hope that if you are spending that much your donating the clothes after. If they are too destroyed before he outgrows them, well, you might want to find some cheaper options. Otherwise your spending too much for too short a time IMO. Good Luck!

Depends on where I'm getting the clothes from. I can easily spend $4-$5 on pants or a shirt from Target, but if I find a really cute outfit at Gymboree, I wait until it's on sale and use a coupon but it's still at least 2x that price. Shoes anywhere from $15-$30 but I try to stick with around $25.

We also buy a lot of hand me downs and get them from family. So while I spent $350 on clothes for my daughter for Kindergarten this year, I have spent less than 1/4 of that on my son because he's A. Not in school and B. Gets hand me downs so he doesn't need much new!

My hubby would probably not agree with how much I spend on the kids eithier...good thing I handle the finances. LOL

i buy all my kids a new article of clothing every time we go into a store! and ive got 4! I dont think the amount you say you spend is too much at all. too often I see parents walking around looking fresh, and their kids wearing light up shoes.LOL (NEVER) Unless this is hurting your family financially, I say lets play dress up! Ive also read the other answers,stains???Really??? spending more-take better care. my 10 yr old gets dirtier than the 2 babies(1&2yrs) no stains and recycle...craigslist,ebay etc. keep the condition like new and make back half your money!!!

For my 3 year old, I won't spend more than $15-$20 on a dress unless it's a specialty dress. Pants: $15-$20, Shirts: $15 max. Most of my daughter's clothes are Old Navy, Gap, or JCPenney. I get really great deals. Sneakers, I spend a lot, good shoes are key. My 7 month old twins, I get outfits at Carters for $8-$12. We also splurge and get each kid one trendy outfit. Each boy got a Polo outfit that were $40 each. We haven't found anything for my daughter yet. However, we got them the Polo outfit with gift cards that were given to us. $40 an outfit for a 2 year old sounds extreme to me. I'm assuming that he has at least 5 outfits. That's $200 on kids clothes that he will wear maybe a few months. Hey, if you have the money and you want to do it, do it. But obviously your husband is concerned about how much you are spending, so maybe you should rethink your budget on clothes, especially since it sounds like you have other kids you are shopping for too.

I will spend up to $30-$40 for tennis shoes for our son because he has wide feet that don't fit into everything. Otherwise it's around $15 for a pair of shoes tops (a lot of times it's less). At 2 yrs old I wouldn't spend more than $5 on a top or bottom. There are too many cute things with good deals out there so you don't need too. I do get them xmas and easter outfits. Even then I only spend $20-25 an outfit. The only things I can think of that I have paid full price for are the cute xmas and easter dresses for our daughter and we buy those at Costco so full price but a great deal. $16 for a beautifully made dress. You should save your money for when they get older. They are 4 & 6 now and the big expense is jeans/shorts. I try to find great deals and coupons (Kohls, JCP). The 6 yr olds jeans average $15 on sale now. Hers are around $10. If you want cute brand name stuff check their clearance or consignment shops.

Shoes- yes, 40ish.
An "everyday" outfit-15-20ish..
A special outfit for the evening for an event- up to 50ish...
PS. I don't buy consignment, but you can find plenty of cute clothes at Target for cheap. I get my son cute polo type shirts there for about 8-9. Shorts like 12-14. $40.00 for an outfit is a lot :)

I couldn't even imagine spending that much on one outfit. They grow out of them so fast! We shop at thrift stores, so maybe $5.00 to $7.00 per outfit. If we buy new we shop the clearance rack, never pay full price. My girls are usually dressed really cute too. For shoes we do Payless Shoes, usually with the buy one get one half, and spend less than $30.00 for two pairs of shoes. You could definitely save the money you're spending for something else. Even if I had the money I wouldn't spend that much.

I don't spend that much on one outfit for my kids. I just spend around
40-45 dollars at kohls(online) for 2 shirts for my son,2 pack of leggings for my girls and 2 shirts(one for each) for about that much. And save 15% off that order. Got good deals!!! The way I look at it kids around that age grow so much. Everyone is different,but I would rather not spend that much on a outfit. Shoes is another story. We did walmart tennis shoes last year for my daughters for school and a few months later they were tearing up. This year we did shoe carvial and spend about 70 dollars on three pair of tennis shoes(a pair for each kid). Name brand at that matter. So far they holding up.

I just bought my daughter super cute pink cords with hearts on the knees at H&M for $10. THey also had a cute sweater that matched perfectly for $17. I also got her some hair clips for $3. Her shoes are usually around $30 (but I haven't needed to get her any this school year yet). So, $30 not including shoes. I was also able to get my son some cords for $10 and a nice sweater also for $10. So, only $20 for him :)
$85 for only 1 outfit does seem like a lot to me. Where do you shop?

I can't go to Goodwill or 2nd hand shops. Not because I'm stuck up or too good to shop there, it just brings back terrible memories of my childhood.

BUT I try not to spend more than $15-$20 per outfit. I typically buy clearance and can get very nice outfits for a total of $6-$10. Last year Target had girl jeans on clearance for $2.98. So I bought two different sizes for my girls. I love when Old Navy has their jeans for $10, so I got my boy those.

I just got my girls the Target brand Duo Dry Max athletic outfits. I got them for next summer and only paid $12 an outfit rather than the $24 when it's regular priced.

I save the $40 outfits for special outings.

As for shoes, yes I do spend money on good shoes like $50ish but they also have their $3 play gym shoes.

wow i always went to consignment sales and bought used. sometimes i;d but a dress or two on clearance but thats it. shoes i did the same with the occassional cheap clearance shoe and my daughter always gets compliments on how she dresses (her ideas, not mine)
money doesnt = fashionable
you can buy used and save tons and they still look new

At 2, it ran the gambit. I was in love with naturino shoes - yes they are pricey, but I didn't care. So we'd spend about $60 on shoes every 6 months or so.
Outfits ran from play clothes $8 to $10 an outfit at Target to $60 for a jon-jon from orient expressed or Kelly's kids. so no, if you have the $$ to spend why not? (side note - when I had #2 all the nicer clothes held up so well we used them again, but I was back buying $8 -10 play clothes because they fell apart - so if you are planning on having more, the investment is worth it!).

Wow. I would agree with your hubby. I don't spend near as much as you for one outfit. I do buy clothing "lots" so I get several outfits at a time for 50-60 dollars. Kids outgrow clothes so fast that I just can't justify spending that much on one outfit.

Probably less than $20 on top and bottoms. For a special occasion it could be $40. Shoes are usually around $20

I spend anywhere from $30 to $50 on my toddler's shoes. I always buy the same brand but sometimes there is a sale going on, sometimes I pay full price. These shoes are good for his active feet, and he never wears anything else.
About clothes, I rarely buy used clothes. I was amongst the first to have a baby , so could not borrow from friends as well. All his clothes are new. I try to buy cheaper ones - around $10-$20 for a pant or a shirt. But yes I have spent more on his outfits as well. Esp winter clothing. When he was a baby , I spent more than what I spend now as a toddler. These days I buy at walmart , marshalls etc where they have good quality clothes (well they outgrow out of it so soon , great quality clothes, though nice are not necessary for regular use). I touch and make sure the clothes are soft and comfortable for him to wear.

I can usually find good sneakers online for my boys for around 35.00. I like to buy decent ones so that they last.

For clothes, I shop at Gap, Old Navy, Outlets or from Land's End ONLY when they're having a good sale. I spend between 5-15 for a top and between 10-20 for a pair of pants. I have two boys so I know my younger one will eventually end up wearing it too. I have been given a ton of hand me downs from family and friends which has been great, so I really don't need to buy much.

I don't shop at consignment stores, just have never had any luck with them.
For me, spending 40.00 for an outfit would be a lot, but I guess that depends on where you like to shop.

I never skimp on good quality shoes, so average $50 per pair is what I spend, but I only get 2-3 pairs for the season. On clothes, I only spend $10-15 dollars per outfit, and sometimes less! The seasons come out in the stores so early, that, everything is always on clearance by the time you actually need it. I love to shop Gap, Janie and Jack, etc..and I always get great deals! I will also shop Walmart for preschool clothes, because they get ruined! I know it's fun to buy the most current clothes, but if you wait a month, you'll save a bunch. You're boy will still look cute and your hubby will be happier. Win-win! Lol...