Going through kids clothes is a never-ending job and often it’s easy to think they just need more. More is not always the best option! Less can actually make them picking out their clothes and getting dressed in the morning much simpler and quicker. With all of this at home, togetherness time (aka quarantine) this is a perfect opportunity to go through kiddos clothes to see what gets worn, what gets hidden in the bottom of the drawers, what is too small and what items your kids don’t like to wear at all.
Get the Kids Involved
I would encourage including your kid(s) in the process! It not only allows them to have a say in what they prefer, it also gives them responsibility over their own clothing, which just might lead to them taking more ownership over how they are treating their clothes. Working together can be a great time to talk about what matches, what goes together, how to dress for the weather and opens the door help learning valuable life-skills.
Keys to Remember
When developing a kids capsule wardrobe basics are key! Having a couple of staple pieces can make it easy to build outfits each morning! Having solids and neutrals is also a remarkably helpful. Then choosing bottoms you may want to stick with all solids and no prints, this makes pairing with tops a breeze and removes all the guesswork. The same goes for prints you are choosing for tops, choose a print that can go with multiple bottoms so that you aren't stuck with just one outfit choice for a particular piece. Socks can go either way, I know some of my kids like to have their socks be a funky accent to every outfit and want them to stand out, while my other kids prefer all neutral socks to blend in with every outfit--there is no wrong way to do socks!
Another important key to consider is how often you do laundry. We do laundry once a week in our home so each child needs to have enough clothes for a week. A good question to ask while you're developing a capsule wardrobe for kids: When are items being placed in the laundry basket? Are they planning on wearing their pj’s multiple days in a row, and do they put clothes back in their drawers that aren’t dirty and can be worn again? Every family will have different standards, but coming up with your own system and communicating it with your kids (probably multiple times) will help decrease the laundry load and the need for more clothes over time. Perfection isn’t the goal! It’s about the process and developing standards and teaching them to your kids.
Getting Started
Copy and paste the link below to get to the PDF of our checklist: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0248/4735/1854/files/kids_capsule.pdf?v=1584996840
When filling out the checklist have kids help fill out the chart to see what they actually need and what they have too much of. Feel free to add more circles or cross off the ones you don’t need.
As you are searching for items to complete your capsule, we would love to help you! You can go online and check out our website, follow our page for when we post our monthly albums or come and visit us in person with our monthly PopUps!! Happy sorting and organizing! We would love to see your progress! Post picks and tag PopUp Kids!