Baby bedding bargains at Pottery Barn Kids

In this week’s baby bargainista column, I’d like to welcome Rebecca Atkinson who recently announced she’s expecting her first child later this year. She and her husband have already been doing a lot of shopping and thinking about what they’ll need when baby Atkinson comes along. Rebecca will be filling in while Jenny takes some time off to be with her newborn and pre-schooler.

My husband and I went to the United States (read: Buffalo) over the holidays to take advantage of the post-Xmas sales and avoid some of the crowds. For those who don’t know, December 26, known as Boxing Day here in Canada, is not a holiday in the U.S. so generally speaking you get the same post-holiday sales you do in Canada, without such large crowds.

Number-one thing on our list was looking for ideas and perhaps deals on baby things. While it’s still pretty early (I’m just entering my second trimester), this being our first baby we’re rather excited. We haven’t started decorating the nursery (read former games/storage/linen-closet room), but we’ve - ok, mainly I’ve - spent time in the room thinking about colour schemes and furniture placement.

Not knowing if it’s a boy or a girl yet, the plan was to go with some sort of green and yellow theme.

First stop was the outlet mall where we found a few great deals on sleepers and Onesies ($6 or less), then we were off to Walden Galleria in Buffalo. Wandering around the mall we spotted Pottery Barn Kids and figured that we’d head in to get some ideas that I, the bargain shopper in our house, could then figure out how to recreate for less.

After oohing, awwing and gasping over prices, my husband pointed to one small area in the corner of the store marked “Clearance.” We looked at each other and thought, why not? You never know.

If there’s one thing Pottery Barn Kids does well, it’s mark items down when on clearance. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we discovered that amongst the items on sale was a crib set, including three crib sheets, a quilt and crib bumper originally priced for $290 US total, marked down to $70 US.

Likely it was the last of some discontinued line, but we didn’t care. We felt like we'd won the lottery. For bargain hunters, saving more than 75% in Pottery Barn was the deal of the century.

The next question was, did we like it? Would it go with the colours we’d chosen? Upon closer inspection, not only did it go with our theme, it seemed made for it. Little green, yellow, orange and blue polka dots with a scattering of animals around. That cinched it, without a doubt. I had to have it. Luckily we both agreed.

As we walked out of the store, still giddy over our purchase, I looked at my husband and asked him what would we have done if it hadn’t matched our design ideas? His response: “Change the paint colour.” I had to admit he had a point...

Lessons learned from our U.S. shopping trip:
1. Be open to letting deals drive your design/paint colours. Paint is (generally) cheaper than most of the accesories that you have to buy for a (baby’s) room.

2. Shop early and often. Start browsing from the get go and when you spot a deal, jump on it.

3. You can have designer names for less, you just have to look and be open to change.

It’s nearly Halloween – do you have your kids’ costumes ready?

In this week’s baby bargainista column, Jenny talks about Halloween costumes for little ones.

I have a confession. I find it almost painful spending a lot of money on Halloween costumes, especially for kids. Perhaps it’s a result of my upbringing; my mom sewed my costumes herself by adapting old clothes from her “scrap bag”, then after my brother was born and her time was shorter, she invited me to raid her closet and dress up as either a gypsy or a hippie. This was just fine with me and I would have been happy bringing up my little girl in the same low-key tradition.

But, I married into a family for whom Halloween is a major holiday, one of the tentpole events of the year. No expense is spared on décor, costumes, elaborate parties… They even buy different costumes every year for their cats as well as their kids. (I wish I were making this up.) When I suggested the hippie/gypsy option to my husband he recoiled in horror as if I’d just suggested we forgo gifts at Christmas.

So, I’ve learned to seek out inexpensive, yet impressive kids’ costumes. Happily, there are lots of sources, and the more last-minute your shopping, the better the bargains!

If your little ones aren’t too fussy about what they want to dress up as, and will be happy choosing from an assortment rather than seeking out a specific superhero or TV character, then I highly recommend a last-minute visit to Pottery Barn Kids. They offer a wide assortment of high-quality costumes, and the week before Halloween the prices are often slashed by half. Last year we picked up an elaborate dragon costume for our girl for $40, half the original price.

Another good option is Winners; the selection is a bit limited but the costumes available are generally very good quality (especially the adult ones, which come with their own zip-up garment bags) and you can’t beat the low prices. However, they only allow returns up until the 31st .

For a wider selection I recommend Wal-Mart – they have rows upon rows of costumes for adults and kids, plus accessories for DIYers. Be aware of sizes though – some of the costumes labeled size 2-4 are actually meant to fit a 1 or 2-year-old, and the adult costumes labeled “fits up to size 12” are snug on my size-4 sister-in-law. Also be aware that if anything doesn’t fit or suit, they also only allow returns up until the 31st.

As for me, I’ll be making my usual last-minute dash to Value Village. They have tons of Halloween costumes, both ready-made and ready to be built from what’s on offer. It’s amazing what you can cobble together from what’s on offer with no sewing required!

What about you -- any tips on where last-minute bargain-hunters can find Halloween inspiration?