Have you had those times, where you have to get yourself and your kids ready and out the door and it seems like everyone needs your attention, so you can't get yourself ready??? Or you stare at your own closet and you can't remember what you wore last Sunday and you always wear the same shirt with the same jeans and you forget that that shirt could actually be worn with a skirt or slacks?
That happens every Sunday morning for us! Yes, we should probably get up earlier or go to a different mass time, but we usually just run around throwing clothes and scrambling to get ready. The boys are easy, pants and a polo or button down and call it good.
It's my three girls that have become more creative with how they dress and they definitely have their likes/dislikes and opinions. What my oldest use to wear, the younger ones don't like and on and on. I'm all for their individuality and being creative when it comes to wearing what they like. But when it's crunch time and they walk down with an outfit on and I just have to say "no, you can't wear that." Go Change!!! We end up running out the door late and of course there are tears and " I don't have anything to wear" comes out. So I came up with a solution......
Shopping the girls' closet!!! I told the girls we are going to shop their closet because I know they have clothes. It was so much fun and the girls loved coming up with outfits and being creative with what they picked out. And it is mom approved, WIN!!! They ended up saying, "we actually have a lot of outfits" and "I don't think I will ever be able to wear all these outfits."
How we did it! So we actually started by taking ALL of their clothes out of the closet and they each seperated it by item type. Shirts (long and short sleeve and tanks), pants, skirts, cardigans, vests, and jackets.
Once they had their piles we started with Ava, Olivia and Alana watched and chimed in with ideas. We started with a pair of pants and how many shirts could be worn with it, can you add a cardigan, vest or jacket? Different bottoms and added the tops that could be worn with it. They also started adding in accessories like scarves and jewelry! It really helped them visualize that it's ok to wear one pair of pants with differnt top combinations to create so many different looks.
So with each look we snapped a picture:) I created a lookbook with all the different outfit combinations for each of the three girls. I had went to Target and found a binder like this one, page protectors, and tab dividers. I printed off a fun fashion image for the front and then printed off all of the outfits they came up with. So they now have a binder with all the outfits they can wear and it's seperated for each girl.
I highly recommend doing this!!! It was a great bonding experience, they were able to get creative and see that it's ok to wear clothes different ways! This could even be a good option for toddlers that like to pick out all their clothes, but they might not always match. But you still want them to learn to be creative and independent. Make a lookbook and let them pick out the outfits that are "mom approved" Hopefully our Sunday's will run a little more smoothly for now!! And I must say I'm so glad they wear uniforms to school:)