Cheap and cheerful sundresses for little ones

In this baby bargainista post, Jenny shares tips for buying sundresses for little girls.

With the hot weather comes my annual search for inexpensive,
yet pretty summer sundresses for our girls. Our oldest is 5 and is deeply into wearing dresses – the frillier, the better – but they don’t always stand up well to her active, still rough-and-tumble lifestyle.

For special occasions, I splurged on a couple of beautiful dresses from Happy Wear. I love their cheerful, colorful designs and the dresses are very well-constructed in such a way that they can be easily adjusted to fit as your child grows through the season, with double-snaps at the shoulders and drawstring waists. Best of all, they are durable, and I’ve bought from them every year so I have a growing collection ready to pass along to Daughter #2! (As I tell my husband, it’s not really splurging, it’s an investment!)

But these gorgeous dresses likely wouldn’t survive a kindergarten birthday party unstained, so I also visited our local Winners and picked up a couple of marked-down frilly dresses. They’re fancy enough to keep Daughter #1 happy, but at $15-20, they’re cheap enough that I won’t mind the occasional cupcake stain.

And for school and active summer holidays, I always swear by Joe Fresh and H&M. Very simple, light cotton dresses can be found for $6-$12 at either store, and their A-line construction, while not fancy or fitted, is perfect for staying comfy and cool on hot summer days.
Top 3 tips:
1. At Joe Fresh and at Winners, stock moves quickly, so when you see something in the right size, buy it – it might not be there next week!
2. If you’re not sure about size with Joe Fresh, because they’re located in the supermarket it’s often easier to buy a couple of sizes and try them on the kids at home, then return them during your next grocery run (rather than try to wrangle cranky kids plus a full shopping cart into the fitting room!).

3. At H&M, lines at the checkout can often stretch around the store. Bring a friend to wait in line while you browse, or better yet, if the line is more than 6 people long, do a little browsing for yourself – you might find that the line has shrunk significantly when you are done (and you might discover a few bargains for yourself!).

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Jean Yee visits The Clothing Show

Since winning tickets to The Clothing Show, Jean Yee and I have been having a lot of email conversations. She was nice enough to share her experience. Hope you’ll enjoy her guest post as much as I did.

What a wonderful weekend of shopping we had at The Clothing Show! Thank you again for holding the free tickets to the show contest. My niece and I attended Saturday and Sunday. We felt a special going up to the guest counter to pick up our tickets and have them look up our names on the guest list.

Our shopping agenda was to find accessories for my niece’s prom dress. This included shoes, jewellery and purse. After that, whatever money was left over was a “free for all, buy what you want.” This was the first time my niece attended The Clothing Show. She is has talent for art illustration, so this was the perfect event for her to be this weekend.

We watched one of the runway shows to get an idea of what some of the vendors were selling and how some pieces can be worn. Yes, some of the ensembles were strictly for the runway (a bit risque for streetwear by certain standards!), but they did provide inspiration for adapting it to ones own style. And some of the other ensembles were perfect for an event or day wear.

There were ample bargain boxes at vendors' booths to rummage through – we found a lined vest in the $5.00 box, a hooded mohair sweater for $10.00 and some frilly dresses for $15.00. All from vendors selling new stock. In the vintage section, we found a patent black leather clutch for $9.00 and a pink/black bustier for $18.00. Some vendors were selling all their wares, every piece for a flat price of $10.00; everything in their booth! We wondered if we should go beyond budget and buy as much as we could. Experience told us, to stay within budget and stick to the shopping plan. Breathe. Plan the shopping, shop the plan.

Sunday afternoon, we found deeper discounts as vendors wanted to move their stock and I couldn't pass up two Indian 100% silk shawls for $5.00 each. The DIY nail art booth was really different – they were 'rubber stamping' various designs on our fingernails (from lace patterns, to flower designs) that mimics the designs of salon nail art.

One of the advantages of shopping local and small business, is sharing one on one conversations with the owners and designers. I find that part of the shopping experience at this event is getting to know the vendors; what inspires and motivates them. Some showed me their favourite pieces and why/how they made them, found them etc. We had a most inspiring conversation with Glen Anthony, one of the artists creating a Marvel comic mural that was to be auctioned off when he completed it.

At the end of the weekend, we found all the items my niece needed for her prom (and a couple of things myself!), under budget,so we were able to splurge on a couple of extras! Did we enjoy it? Absolutely! We were impressed and inspired by the artistic talent we saw and got our dose of nostalgia browsing and buying in the vintage section. Would be go again? In a heartbeat! Once we save up our money...

Thanks again for the tickets and for making our weekend a memorable one (I can't wait to see the prom photos!)

Did you go to The Clothing Show? What did you think?

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Sex and The City 2 - Toronto Premiere

Kudos to the gals at Veritas for inviting me to the SATC2 premier last night. I hope they’ll understand that sometimes things come up at the last-minute and I wasn’t able to attend. Fortunately, my colleague Aly Robb stepped up to the plate. I hope you’ll enjoy her guest review. In addition to being an account exec on High Road’s digital team, Aly’s is an avid lover of dance, shrimp cocktail and Bill Murray.

“Do you want to go to the Sex and the—” I don’t think I let the oh-so-lovely Bargainista finish her sentence, inviting me to attend an advanced screening to Sex and the City 2 last night, before I eagerly replied “Yes, Yes, YES!” The clothes, the shoes, the men – how can a girl refuse? Accompanied by my best gal-pal, I headed off to the screening sponsored by Trojan and Nair, excited to get my Sex and the City fill a little earlier than anticipated.

I arrived a full hour and a half before the movie was scheduled to start as I was instructed to do, thinking that I would be at the front of the line, but I misjudged the die-hard Toronto SATC fans, and found myself among a large crowd of party dresses (should have re-thought my jeans) and stilettos (should have re-thought my flip flops).

As we arrived, we were greeted by organizers adorned with pink boas and the Trojan Man, a bare-chested gladiator hunk you could get your picture taken with. Although it was a long wait until the movie actually started, we were entertained with Sex and the City trivia and prize packs that would make any girl blush.

As the lights dimmed and the movie began, our great MC reminded the crowd that it was a girls night out – and we should all embrace the girliness within us as we watch... and embrace it, I did...

I laughed, I squealed, I cheered, I even got a little choked up – I won’t lie, I LOVED the movie. It was like being reunited with four long-time friends, and for just over two hours, I got to live the life of Sex and the City.

As the night sadly ended and I walked away with my Sex and the City gift bags (filled with sweet Nair and Trojan swag), I felt a little more glamorous... even in my flip-flops!

Are you planning on seeing SATC2? If so, share your thoughts and leave a comment.

I won’t accept money for writing reviews. Period.

Working on both sides of the blogger relations’ equation full-time for the past year or so has really been an eye opener as far as the challenges facing bloggers, brands and the agencies that represent the latter.

Over the past few months in particular, I’ve been exposed to a few situations where the concept of paid reviews and/or pay-to-post has been the subject of discussion. It’s something that I grapple with frequently and when it comes to how I govern my own blog and my relationships with agencies, brands and retailers, I’ve drawn a clear line as far where my comfort level and leanings lie.

Read more...