How to dress your 'tween?

[CCCM]

I come across this question as DD, age 8, is now a 'tween. How do you dress your 'tween for evenings on the cruise? Do you tend to go more towards the classical girl dresses with white/black shoes or towards something that may be more fashionable at the time?

 

Just a note that DD does not enjoy shopping (I know I have to break her of this ;) ), so I am the one who has to determine what she wears. She never argues with what she wears, but I know my style is more classic/conservative.

 

Any thoughts feedback would be much appreciated.

[Happy ks]

My daughter is now 14, but I remember quite clearly how difficult it was to find clothes for her back then.

 

Why don't you try to first go through some clothes with her online, just to get a feel for what she likes as far as style. I know at that age, my daughter would wear the evening stuff I purchased, just because she wanted to please me, but she didn't always like my choices.

 

A great site to "look" through is www.nordstrom.com , even if you feel the prices are high for you, it's still got a great selection, so you can get a feel for what she's most attracted to before you set out shopping. I used to recommend JC Penney, but I looked and all they have is denim. It's a great time, now, to teach her about dressing for the occasion.

 

She does not have to be in dresses every night, only the (usually 2) formal nights. I would typically get my daughter one skirt and two pair of slacks, then several tops for the other nights. We would mix and match the bottoms with various tops, so I wouldn't spend a fortune on clothing that was never worn again. Although it was near impossible to get her to wear the slacks and skirt to school, she would wear the tops again with jeans.

 

Formal nights were actually easier. Girls this age do not need to be in long dresses, there are always party dresses to choose from that would be appropriate for a cruise.

 

Don't worry about the "shopping gene", it will kick in when she's about 13 or so, I'm starting to wish I could shelve my little darlins' for a few months.

[Soxfan05]

Ahhh tweens. They're a joy aren't they? I think they are all somewhat schizophrenic in their personalities and wardrobe. If you can figure out what your daughter's style is, you deserve an honorary PHD in adolescent psychology!

 

I see you live on the south shore. I'd suggest a trip to the Derby Street Shoppes. Right in that little complex, you have a great resource for clothes that range from traditional (Talbots kids) to preppy (In the Pink-with lots of Lilly Pullitzer) to trendy (Children's Place & American Eagle). DD can at least give you a good indication of what she likes as far as style.

 

My secret to getting through the shopping trip is offering an incentive stop in the Barnes and Noble or the Apple Store where my tweens like to go and listen to the latest CD's or check out the newest Ipod accessories while I grab a bit of caffeinated fuel at Starbucks. Seems to break up the shopping monotony for them and me!

[Happy ks]

Soxfan05, Oh, how I wish that would have worked for me. You don't know how many times we left the mall, no treat to be had, since the behavior would not be corrected. She was fine with that :rolleyes:

 

As much as she didn't like shopping 5 years ago, she loves it that much now. She'll even go with just me, if no girlfriends are available :) . Of course, we get the roll eyes when it's my turn to look for something. She's found the location of every couch in every store that doesn't have a good juniors department. It works, she keeps track of the bags.

[heymom32000]

Our daughter was 10 last year. For formal night I asked her if she would like to have a formal dress or just wear a church dress. My tween who is into climbing trees, playing in the woods, gymnastics, etc was all for the formal dress once I pulled a few up on ebay. There are some really "poofy" dresses on there as she called them but finally we found one she liked. She wore it to church one time after our cruise and to 2 different weddings. The rest the time she wore a skirt or casual pants to dinner. My Avatar on here shows a picture of all us dressed up. So your daughter can see what her dress looked like. Good Luck

[Cruise Arizona]

Oh the woes of a fashion concious tween. It was never a problem until this year when DD turned 8. She is so picky. She want to look like her favorite teen idol, which right now are Hanna Montana and Raven and the Cast of High School Musical.

 

Last week she imformed me that sweater vests are dorky, and that she would not be wearing the new one we just bought her!!!! Argh!!!!

 

My tween has an unusual figure, A big tummy but skinny everywhere else. Jeans and pants don't really fit her, so we do a lot of skorts, capris, and dresses, and a few long skirts.

 

We were at Dillards yesterday looking at the 75% off items for her, And thankfully she still like the prim and proper little girl dresses for "informal" and "formal". Its her casual stuff that drives me nuts....she wants all the hip-hop looks.

 

For the next cruise she has two "flower girl" type dresses for formal, plus one kind of glittery number, that is modest, but looks a bit like a disco dress.(It is actually sized as an adult 3, but I can't imagine anyone over 4 1/2 feet actually being skinny enough to fit in this dress unless it was maybe nicole ritchie) For informal she has Church or Easter type dresses.

[Soxfan05]

Soxfan05, Oh, how I wish that would have worked for me. You don't know how many times we left the mall, no treat to be had, since the behavior would not be corrected. She was fine with that :rolleyes:

 

As much as she didn't like shopping 5 years ago, she loves it that much now. She'll even go with just me, if no girlfriends are available :) . Of course, we get the roll eyes when it's my turn to look for something. She's found the location of every couch in every store that doesn't have a good juniors department. It works, she keeps track of the bags.

 

Believe me Kathy, it doesn't always work. :D Sometimes, rather than Starbucks, we grab dinner and I have a big glass of Merlot instead.

 

Today however, was a wonderful shopping day and my boys are ready for back to school- with only one minor glitch in the outing. They did however make up for it when they shouted out "Look Angelina Jolie!" while pointing at me as I was trying on sweater and then by trying to talk me into "treating myself" to a bottle of Narciso Rodriguez perfume a sales girl was demonstrating at Macy's. Smart boys.

 

I'll have to remember to scout out couches for them next time. I'd love to have bag watchers!

[RoofingPrincess]

Wow, tweens have gotten younger. I'd always thought of them as "double-digits but not 13 yet". 8 years old is still a girl, please don't dress them as miniature teenagers! They have their whole set of teenage years to wear those awful teenage clothes. I just cringe when I see younger girls in the midriff-baring tops, slinky dresses, etc, etc.

[betanden]

It is so great to hear that my 9 is not the only one who does not like to go shopping! She too has an odd shaped body bigger tummy than anything else.(waiting for growth spurt hopefully). We are going to the mall tomorrow to look to see what she likes. I am planning early so we can get things right for her maybe will need a little tailoring. I will try nordstroms and the reward afterwards. Thanks for the suggestions. Hopefully they will work for us. :D

[Cruise Arizona]

I've also had pretty good luck this year at Walmart. We picked up a few back to school things there. They have some cute dresses that look like a plaid skirt, white woven shirt with a knit over it, but is is all one piece, and that works really well for DD with her tummy. Also they had several styles of gouchos at Walmart, which works well for DD, since I can buy the size to fit her waist and don't have to worry about them being too long.

 

Most of the clothes at Walmart are relatively modest, where as the ones at Dillards were a bit more on the trendy/flash side (too teenish???). We did find some really cute, and pretty good quality summer stuff on sale at Dillards though.

 

I will have to compare the wear and tear on the Walmart clothes vs the Dillards. intuitively I would think he Dillards stuff will wear a little longer than the Walmart stuff, but she's growing so fast that is not really a big deal.

[CCCM]

Thank you to everyone for the feedback! So glad to know I am not the only one. Just to make folks laugh, DS and neices met us at Disney for a day earlier in month, neice is 14 and dresses goth, DD was in amazement and awe of her. Looks like we shouldn't plan another trip until that phase ends, don't need any ideas.

 

roofingprincess - Sounds like you and I are alot alike. DMIL (rest in peace) and DSIL were buying her clothes as you mention. Leather pants at 4, half shirts at 3. Just not my taste in clothing. She never wore one of those items (sad to see the waste in money). We don't even do two piece swimsuits in our family.

 

I guess I was more looking more towards the poofy, frilly classical girl dresses vs. a girls LBD type of thing. Poofy vs. straight. I am all over ebay right now and will present her with a few options. Does anyone else have the issue of the favorite color changing every two days. Schizophrenic is correct in the clothing style.

 

soxfan - I was at Derby St. yesterday. I am there for White's and Whole Foods usually. I think I might also try Rugged Bear (going to Strawberry Fair for breakfast today) and present shopping for next weekend. Your boys haven't started school yet? We started on Wednesday. :D

 

cruisearizona - landsend.com plus sizes.....love them! We also have a belly, but normal elsewhere. We just went through growth spurt (2 inches this summer). Now belly is building back up. I haven't found other plus sizes that work on her. So it tends to be knit, or it comes from landsend. I constantly am on the lookout in their overstock area.

 

heymom - like the dress.

 

I will post back later with a couple of items that she likes....again thank you all for your feedback!!

[Happy ks]

Wow, tweens have gotten younger. I'd always thought of them as "double-digits but not 13 yet". 8 years old is still a girl, please don't dress them as miniature teenagers! They have their whole set of teenage years to wear those awful teenage clothes. I just cringe when I see younger girls in the midriff-baring tops, slinky dresses, etc, etc.

 

 

I agree with you, 8 is awfully young to be considered a tween, my daughter was in the 2nd grade when she turned 8. She really didn't start acting like a "tween" until the 5th grade. But, if you try shopping for kids, you will understand the OPs point, the available styles for that age group are far different than for little girls sizes.

 

Thank goodness midriff baring tops are now out of fashion! If you see young women wearing them, they are left over from a couple of years ago. I don't see them at all any more when we shop in the juniors stores or departments. Not very many people looked good in them.

 

Now the look is long and layered, my daughter wears 2 or 3 tops at a time, some hanging out below the other. Not for me, but I'm not a teen and I'm very glad she missed the midriff baring trend.

[Payd]

roofingprincess - Sounds like you and I are alot alike. DMIL (rest in peace) and DSIL were buying her clothes as you mention. Leather pants at 4, half shirts at 3. Just not my taste in clothing. She never wore one of those items (sad to see the waste in money). We don't even do two piece swimsuits in our family.

 

What a relief - I was hoping you were planning to dress her as a beautiful 8 year old rather than a teenager. Oh my when did 8 become a tween??:eek:

I always thought it was twelve but almost a teen!

[CCCM]

The reward: Breakfast at Strawberry Fair (apple pancakes with pecan butter) and sausage (had to throw either sausage or bacon or it was no deal). Of course reward was before the store.

 

The store: Rugged Bear (clearance racks on the second floor).

 

Dress 1: http://www.ruggedbear-online.com/gipiprchtied.html

 

Her face lit up as we tried it on and especially when I tied the bow in the back. We compromised on the dress 2, same style but yellow with blue/purple flowers on it. Both will go with her white shoes (trying to not let feet grow for six weeks).

 

Tween is what the other moms call their age. I had thought that 8 was a little girl, until a couple of them told me otherwise. At 8 (third grade) we are just starting to like music and tv movies. She loves the originals of Freaky Friday, Swiss Family Robinson and Parent Trap. She also loves Cheetah Girls, Raven and High School Musical. She wants to dress a little more like a teenager from the stuff she tries on at her friends houses when they are playing. It kills me because one of her friends just got a little bra for her birthday.

 

Layered look is definitely in. That is what we got for school. Two shirts identical but one will go on top of the other. I am taking last years pants, cutting them into capris and adding ribbons on the bottom that match a couple of shirts she has. She is very happy about that. Also, those tie belts that are popular, well we raided DHs ties and I am going to make her two belts (got some D rings and brought out the sewing machine).

 

Thank you all for your help.