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Rachel May
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I got up from my "break" and realized that it was snowing! Winter has snuck up on us here, and we are ill prepared. The kids are wearing 3 year old rain boots with holes and fleece jackets. It's still an effort to convince them that Tevas are not going to cut it in the fall weather. I can make them wear the right clothes, but I don't know what to buy! Does anyone have suggestions? We have pants and long sleeve shirts and socks. I'm mostly concerned about coats now.
I don't know how heavy of a coat the kids need or where to get them. The things I've seen online are over $100 each, and I need 5! Can anyone recommend a site, coat, local store where I can find appropriate coats without going broke? We live just south of Washington DC on the MD side (I believe on the map it's listed as the 8th concentric circle of Hell  ).
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Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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JennGM
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Rachel May wrote:
I got up from my "break" and realized that it was snowing! Winter has snuck up on us here, and we are ill prepared. The kids are wearing 3 year old rain boots with holes and fleece jackets. It's still an effort to convince them that Tevas are not going to cut it in the fall weather. I can make them wear the right clothes, but I don't know what to buy! Does anyone have suggestions? We have pants and long sleeve shirts and socks. I'm mostly concerned about coats now.
I don't know how heavy of a coat the kids need or where to get them. The things I've seen online are over $100 each, and I need 5! Can anyone recommend a site, coat, local store where I can find appropriate coats without going broke? We live just south of Washington DC on the MD side (I believe on the map it's listed as the 8th concentric circle of Hell ). |
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Oh, you are hilarious! Are you feeling blue in this area? We had "weather shock" when we moved here from Shreveport, LA in 1986 (before that was Houston!). My mom was the same way...we used to put plastic bags over our tennis shoes IF we had any kind of winter precipitation. And that was a big IF. I used a trenchcoat with a thin zip out lining for my winter coat down there and found it EXTREMELY inadequate for up here. Now, it's not as cold as the real north, but cold for a Southerner's blood!
At that time the Sears catalog was still around and she bought snow boots and snow pants for the family (I have six siblings). To this day there are a few of those snowboots that show up in use!
I'm still learning as far as children's clothes go. If you have several, it's an investment to pass along the line! Some of my friends and relatives swear by Lands' End and LL Bean for winter gear. I think the prices are pretty good.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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guitarnan
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Try Lands End's clearance/overstocks pages; these items go fast, though! In MD, sometimes Rugged Wearhouse has coats at good prices (they get overstocks from a lot of name brand manufacturers, then cut the labels out and discount them). Buy a little on the large side and you'll probably be able to use them next winter, too! (Dd, age 7, is using her coat for the third year in a row...) Kohl's generally has good sale prices, too.
I used to live in Anne Arundel County and am really hoping we're moving back there next summer...
Hope this helps...I'll post again if I recall any other good places!
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Nancy in MD. Mom of ds (24) & dd (18); 31-year Navy wife, move coordinator and keeper of home fires. Writer and dance mom.
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Taffy
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Rachel,
We live in southern Saskatchewan, Canada and it is curently -20 degrees Celcius (about -3 degrees Farenheit). Dressing for cold weather is second nature for us.
I usually will shop for outerwear at Wal-Mart or Sears but needed a new one for this year. I found one that's warm and presentable and in great condition at the second hand store (Value Village - not sure if they have American locations).
The kids all have outer-wear from Wal-Mart. They're generally not too expensive in-store (don't know about online). Last year I purchased a good quality jacket for my two-year old for about $40 Can.
Good luck!
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Susan
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kingvozzo
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We just moved to Connecticut from Texas, and none of my 3 kids had a decent winter coat, snow pants, or boots to play in. I guess that if I started with one, and then added as each child came along, I wouldn't feel like it would break the bank to outfit them all to play in the snow  . We're already on our second snowfall. I had to go get 2 pairs of snowboots today, because my 3 yo dd was in rainboots in the snow yesterday and cried all the way home from sledding.
The solution for us was a combination of our really generous neighbor, my mother giving my 2yo ds his coat and snowpants for his bday, Goodwill, and Once Upon A Child. I don't know if you have that chain where you are, but it's a children's resale shop. I have gotten some incredible deals there 
Our Goodwill stores are very nice too. I was able to get a pair of Lands End boots for my 7 yos for $3!! And snowpants for $3.50.
Wal-Mart and Target do have some very nice coats, snowpants and boots for pretty good prices. I would have shopped there if I couldn't get it all at the resale stores.
It sure is different dressing kids for the cold, that's for sure!
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Noreen
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Sarah
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Sierra Trading Post-online? (I definately need to sit down and figure how to do that "link" thing-I've put it off too long!) 
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Karen E.
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Sarah wrote:
| Sierra Trading Post-online? (I definately need to sit down and figure how to do that "link" thing-I've put it off too long!) |
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It took me awhile to figure out the link thing, too.
When you're ready to add a link, just click on the icon above with the earth and the "link" symbol. It will bring up a window into which you can type the words that you want to be a link. For example, you'd type Sierra Trading Post in the blank. Then, click ok. Another box will pop up, asking for the actual url. In that you'd type http://www.sierratradingpost.com Then click okay again, and the words, in link form, will be added to your message.
Now, I just hope I explained that correctly.
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Karen E.
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Rachel May
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Karen,
I think you explained the link very well. One secret is that the URLs from places like amazon can be tediously long so if you right click and copy it, you can right click and paste it where the prompt for the url goes.
OK, I'm going to do a little strategizing right now. I hate to do anything in a rush, but we have this White House tour on Thurs and we have to walk from the Metro to the White House. I think we can tough it out with what we have for coats, but I'm going to have to buy boots tomorrow.
Everyone, thanks for all the ideas. I'm going to check out prices at the online site, figure out what stores we can reasonably hit tomorrow. Luckily my sister has snow pants for us. All we have to do is drive to Mass. Sadly, I think she has boots too, but I don't think we'll be able to wait for those.
Jenn, you and I must have come from the same family. I have also had baggies for my shoes when a sibling got the one pair of rainboots owned by the family (Southern California). My mom still wears my Big Bird snow hat (that would be a red hat with Big Bird's head coming out of the top like Athena from Zeus's skull) from when I was in the third grade.
I have to say I like winter much better than fall here, but if we were back in Hawaii my kids would still be wearing the clothes I bought them 18 months ago and sledding down a muddy hill in cardboard boxes with the other 65 (literally) children in our cluster of 14 houses. It's always hard to move and not having any local friends has made me a bit of a grump!
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Rachel
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kingvozzo
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jenngm67 wrote:
| My mom was the same way...we used to put plastic bags over our tennis shoes IF we had any kind of winter precipitation. |
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My mother was just telling me tonight to put plastic sandwich bags on the kids' hands under their mittens to help keep their hands dry!
I guess neccessity really is the mother of invention! 
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Mary Chris
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There is a LL Bean store just around the beltway at Tysons Corner. My dh and kiddos went there on Sunday to buy a new coat for ds8. I really like their wildcat jacket. It has a zip out fleece liner and then the outer jacket for 69.00. I know 5 is a lot. We buy the jackets big and make sure we can hand them down. We have one LLBean jacket that went through all 3 kiddos. I am only replacing it because I really like the fleece liners. Try WalMart for snow pants. Also most consignment stores have them. Does Bolling have a thrift store? I know Ft. Belvoir has a good one.
FYI when we went to the White House we parked in the Ronald Reagan building the White House Visitor Center is pretty close to there. We are going to the National Gallery of Art on Friday, it would have been fun to meet up in DC.
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Sarah
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www.sierratradingpost.com Did I do it? 
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Mary G
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 Sarah
You sure did do it right -- you can type anything in the first box that comes up -- and just make sure you have the whole URL (including the http:// part) in the second box and you're good to go.
We'll make a tech-head out of you yet!
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MaryG
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Mary G
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Sarah -- Sierra Online is awesome! Thanks for this link -- it's so much easier to "armchair" shop than bundle up the babies and try to bring them in....
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MaryG
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Rachel May
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Mary G. wrote:
| Sarah -- Sierra Online is awesome! Thanks for this link -- it's so much easier to "armchair" shop than bundle up the babies and try to bring them in.... |
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That is the darn truth! I did it both ways. I found coats for 4 of them for $65 each at Sierra Trading Post. Then today I drug them out to find boots. We tried the Base Exchange, Walmart, Kohls, Hechts and every other tiny store in the mall. In the end Payless had rainboots for $12 which we are going to make do with until I can pick up the box from my sister or convince her to mail it.
My FIL left a message while we were out that he Fed Exed a box of long johns, hats, mittens and sweaters that will arrive tomorrow. God Bless him.
I did find a Value Village and saw some thrift shops near Andrews so I'm going to check those out on Friday when I'm back that way *alone* for an OB appt.
Now, recommendations on what I should wear on my feet for church and also for daily snow play? You guys have come up with some great ideas! And I will probably use the plastic baggy trick too. 
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Rachel
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Sarah
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Mary G. wrote:
We'll make a tech-head out of you yet! |
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Awesome!
Okay, I wear high black or brown leather boots that are kind of dressy, but have a semi-lug sole with a dress in the winter. Again, I think Sierra Trading Post. I found some, but somehow I messed up the link-I have a crying child in my arms and can't concentrate. Check their site
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ShawnaB
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I never leave the house, so I consider myself the Queen of Armchair shoppers! We live in the boonies...an hour from the closest Target...so trekking our with 5,2 and 2 babes is low on the fun meter. The UPS man considers us job security!
I shopped for snow gear this year on Ebay. I found awesome deals...Gap snowpants for $10, a snowcoat for dd $4, and Children's Place bibs for dd for $10. All used but excellent condition. They have lots of boots too.
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Mary G
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ShawnaB wrote:
I never leave the house, so I consider myself the Queen of Armchair shoppers! We live in the boonies...an hour from the closest Target...so trekking our with 5,2 and 2 babes is low on the fun meter. The UPS man considers us job security!
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Yep, UPS loves us and knows us personally! Also our librarian has a shelf just for our reserved books!
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MaryG
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Tina P.
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I like L. L. Bean for children's coats. They even have reflective triangles on the back and somewhere on the sleeves. Besides this, they come out clean from the wash *every* time, their stuffing doesn't get all out of whack, and they're priced competitively. If this doesn't hook you, there's free shipping for a limited time.
God bless,
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Tina, wife to one and mom to 9 + 3 in heaven
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Donna Marie
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Tina P. wrote:
I like L. L. Bean for children's coats. They even have reflective triangles on the back and somewhere on the sleeves. Besides this, they come out clean from the wash *every* time, their stuffing doesn't get all out of whack, and they're priced competitively. If this doesn't hook you, there's free shipping for a limited time.
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I will second this...using LL bean has saved us over and over....we can pass down coats (even with boys) from person to person and they still look great. I had a terrible time getting stains out of other coats from the kids just going from the house to the car and brushing up against it...sheesh...I do not have this problem with the LL Bean coats. Their zippers work well too. I just got a snowsuit for my 11 mo old from Sears and the zipper broke the FIRST day! I have tried others and I just find that I am just throwing my money away when I don't go the Bean route. Watch ebay or their sales for next year!
God Bless!
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Donna Marie from NJ
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~Rachel~
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Our librarian can always tell our reserved books too...
we have found Walmart to be a lifesaver... they also do shopping online wich is very reasonable.
Shop around online first, then pick your best deals out
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~Rachel~
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Winter Coats
