Buying Winter Gear for Next Season

Now is the perfect time to buy stuff. I shop at land's end.com. I find we can get two years out of most of their stuff because they have "extenders" in them. I do wait buy shoes in the fall.

I always buy my winter gear in the summer. www.backcountry.com is my favorite place. They also have an outlet. I think right now they are having a sell. Anyway, I usually buy 1 to 2 sizes bigger. I bought some North Face pants when my daughter wasn't even two and they have lasted now 3 seasons. Boots and shoes are really hard for me to guess so I usually buy them 2 sizes too big, but I have never been able to use the same boots for two seasons. Bummer! Good luck!

Winter gear is one of the few things we don't buy this far in advance, other than easy things like hats or gloves. Sizing for coats, snow pants and boots has shown to be too unpredictable with our boys and their growth.

REI has just started their winter sale...they have great winter gear for toddlers. We are about to hit their sale to find stuff for our daughter for next year.

I went to the Outlets this weekend. I stopped in Columbia and found waterproof winter gloves for me - for 50% off...I also bought another pair of gloves for my youngest son...again for 50% off. I found a winter jacket for me that was 80% off..

Go to your outlets...you should find winter stuff on sale!

don't forget to buy bigger NOT what size he is wearing now.

I buy the next size up in winter jackets and snow pants if I see them on clearance this time of year. Boots are too hard to guess the size in advance.

Sometimes I see them on clearance at Target right now. But, more often, I get this stuff on the clearance rack at my local second-hand kids store (Once Upon a Child) for almost nothing.

Well, my boys get hand-me-downs. If it doesn't wear out by the time it hits my youngest, that is.

Some people are just plain rude here. It's not about predicting. It's about knowing your child. If you want to buy gloves on sale NOW for next winter? Go for it. I would buy a size up and heck, if the sale is really good? I would buy a couple pairs and a couple of sizes. If they don't fit next winter? Sell them on ebay or donate them to charity. Don't let rude people stop you from saving money now.

Is there a Kid to Kid near you? Ours has the snow suit overalls in just about every size, in black.

Here is there domain, I am not sure if they will deal with shipping.http://kidtokid.com/connect-with-us/

Boys are usually a little later in their growth spurts. I would take a look at his average growth per year and expect that to be the same for now.

I don't bother trying to predict sizes a year away. That will be WASTED money if you guess wrong. You can save as much with a good sale and a coupon in season.

Okay, if he's regular in growth then he'll likely be in a 5/6-6/7 next fall and winter. I'd bet his shoe size doesn't go up several sizes but if I found a snow boot that was awesome in a 12 I'd buy it and make sure I put in the top of the winter box so it got out and in use very early on.

Clothes can be a little big. Adjustable waists are a miracle that some mom invented. I love that person...lol.

They can be rolled up a time or two or hemmed up by hand.

Shirt sleeves can be turned up too. Today's fashions can go for much more than one season too. I have clothes that have been passed down from kid to kid and they wear them just find. I have clothes washed and folded up in a storage closet that go all the way up to boys 10/12 and girls 16 and some women's smalls. She will eventually grow through them.

When I start weeding out heavy winter gear I'll do it like this.

This garment still fits well now. I'll keep it just in case he doesn't grow out of it. Plus he can start cool weather in it. Like long sleeve tee's. They can wear them when it starts getting to the lowest 60's and in the 50's.

Then if his coat is okay I'll keep it to start cooler weather in too. You don't have to toss/give away everything right now. You can store it under his bed and go through it next fall. Also keeping the clothes you buy in advance in the same place is handy. He'll probably grow a bit over the winter months too. So having a couple of sizes that he can start the season in, wear all season, and stuff he can grow into if fine. Just keep it organized and not where he can get at it all at once.

Honestly, I'd look at consignment shops, both now and next fall when you'll have a better idea of what his size is/will be. You can get some real deals on things that are barely worn or even still have tags on them.

I bought a lot of used clothing (consignment, resale, even yard sales! - why not??) but I did buy new shoes and had them fit properly by a trained salesperson. I had better luck with good shoes than with the cheap substitutes.

KMart still has stuff online.

For my 10 year old I got a great coat at the childrens place. For my 2 1/2 year old I wait and buy at a mom 2 mom sale or fall garage sale since I don't know how much she will grow.

With my kids they generally wore size 3 when they were three, size 4 when they were four, size 5 when they were five etc. My older son is on the smaller side and my younger son is on the bigger side, but they both tended to gain one size a year. For winter outerwear and boots I like to buy on the big side, they usually wear a size bigger than their clothes and shoes, so there is room for extra layers and thick wool socks. I buy as much used stuff as I can. I get much higher quality at a much lower price.