Category Archives: Baby Kiddo

Things for newborns and wee ones.

Top Tips :: Finding Affordable (and CUTE!) Baby Clothing

One of our readers, papa to little Olive, reached out to us asking for some of our favorite places to find inexpensive (under $25) but cool clothes for babies.


Like anyone is going to notice what this cutie is wearing—all you can do is stare into those gorgeous eyes…

Baby clothing can definitely be expensive but there are some great options out there to keep your wee one looking as adorable as ever without you ever having to dip into your kiddo’s college fund to pay for it. We are big fans of thrifting. You can really find some great basics and, of course, our favorite vintage kiddo goodies. But if you’re looking for online shopping that is affordable as well as cute, here are some of our favorite tips:

1. Dwell Studio at Target
We’ve found surprisingly cute stuff at mainstream stores. Target is a favorite. Their Dwell Studio for Target has really great onesies and outfits that are super cheap—like two pieces for under $15!  I gotta say, I’m particularly in love with the bus t-shirts.

2. Little Miss Matched outlet!

The Little Miss Matched outlet is full of goodies that are worth snatching up when you can. They often go as low as 80% off. I so love the terrific splashes of color—most of these pieces are under $5!

3. Etsy: Baby legwarmers

A lot of parents love baby legwarmers and a little onesie for their wee ones. They give you the warmth of tights, are adorable to look at and making diaper changing easy peasy. Etsy has a slew of people making inexpensive baby leggings. Check out Piccolo Creation‘s sweet argyle friends:

We also like these striped cuties from Bella Crawlers:

And  these great butterfly ones from Eggo in the Oven. or these green cuties from BabyFrills.

4. Ebay!

Of course we love vintage but we are also very pro-cozy here at ModernKiddo. No itchy lace, no scratchy wool or polyester and nothing too binding. Heaven forbid the thing needs ironing or dry cleaning. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t great vintage items that are terrific for babies. The Peach spent a lot of her first year in very simple cotton dresses from the forties. Here she is in one of my favorites:

I think I spent $2.00 on it. Now we’re talkin’! There always seem to be a lot of girls dresses for small babies that would be terrific particularly for the summer. Of course little knitted vintage sweaters are usually so soft and often made of easy wash nylon fabric from the seventies.

Ebay listings change all the time, but look for “lots” (multiple items in one listing). Check out this group of six items with a starting bid of $3.00 from Ebay seller, Favorite Memories.  Not too shabby…


And have you seen this gorgeous lot of knitted items from Ebay seller, 9000pam with a starting bid of $4.00?  The yarn alone would have cost around $50 let along the hand knit cuteness of it all.

Those are my tips. What are your suggestions for Olive’s Dad? I was thinking about Thredup.com, but have you tried it? And of course Gilt is a great place to scoop up spendier brands at lower prices. They have some really cute stuff.

Because this little girlie deserves a wardrobe as cute as she is!

UPDATE FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY

Hi guys! Alix here chiming in too. We’ve got some amazing tips flying in. One of my faves comes from Amber, which is something I firmly believe in too. Don’t be afraid to splurge here and there but don’t be afraid to try seemingly conventional shops for cheap basics. Get leggings and onsies in bold bright colors from mainstread retailers like Old Navy, Target, American Apparel, Children’s Place etc Then splurge on really cute shoes or dressies for little girls and fun tops or even wee cardigans for boys. Also, many mainstream brands will often have sneakily cute designs. My friend Jenny/frecklewonder posted a photo of her girl Dotty in thee cutest little jammies with amazing woodland creatures that looked like they were plucked out of a vintage storybook. “WHERE did you get those???” I was expecting her to name some trendy brand but her response? “The Kohls baby shop!!! Can you believe it?” So always keep your eyes peeled, friends. Treasures lie everywhere if you are crafty!

Ok, so here are 5-10 on our Top 10 Tips!

5. HIT THE SALES!

I love to find adorable duds at slightly slightly spendier shops and then I monitor their sales. I have scooped up some fabulous goodies for Wolfie this way! Here are a few shops that have GREAT sale sections:

I think these sweet animal silkscreens from Colette Kids are really fun and bold. They have a great sale section.

These Scandanavian prints are all the rage lately, and I’m still not tired of them. Check out the sale section at the fabulous Ittikid’s online shop.

We are also big fans of Polarn O. Pyret—more for their fantastic toddler and big kid clothes, but they also have reeeally cute baby basics. Check out these cuties (currently all on sale for $20 or less) available in sizes 4-6 months and up!


6. THREADLESS KIDS
I looove their shirts and onesies. They are playful and whimsical. Sometimes a little more on the hipstery side but always quirky and fun. If you are lucky enough to live in Wicker Park, Chicago you can hit their actual store front, but for the rest of us we’ll have to shop online at Threadless Kids. Best of all they have fantastic sales and all onesies, tees and hoodsies (a onesie with a hood, doncha know!) are only $9 clams.


7. eBay Japanese Leggings

Ebay seller BabyGearStation carries these super adorable Japanese baby leggings with sassy bums. They’re only $3.99 a pop! Crazy cute….

I’m sure there are many many more places to get cheap goodies….we’ll keep doing these posts as tips roll in!

Oh and one last thing…when you feel like a splurge. How cute are these adorable onesies from  Jasper Wren? I love the fairytale kinder vibe of these Black Forest cuties, but the octopus with the ‘stash is my favorite!



HAPPY HUNTING!

It’s time again for Widdle Wednesdays

Aww, we love our Wednesday celebration of all things teensy. I’m just gonna jump right in and take a lil look see at what we have today!

The bioME 5 Animal Alphabet Project was created by two architectural designers who loved animals, children and the process of learning and discovery. Each onesie has a cute animal graphic with a matching alphabet letter. Made with 100% certified organic cotton. Get yours from bioME5.

“My Milkshax brings all the babes in the yard…..” Cutie cute graphic onses from Milkshax!

Growing up in the 70s and 80s, personalized goodies were al the rage. But lemme tell you, they never had anything with Alexandra written on them. I was so sad. Etsy seller Jig solves this problem with these really cute customized onesies—any name you like is matched up with a fun graphic. Pretty perfect if you ask me!

You just gotta check out these rad little Vans style skater socks from Trumpette! They’re famous for their little mary jane socks, but how fun is this new spin? Available from Black Wagon.

These little t-strap mock shoesies are sweet to the max. And also from Black Wagon.

Graphic design mama Efi latief started Tomat when her baby girl was born and the result is really fab. I think these pink and blue onesies with Fisher Price record players on them are so sweet.

This little retro heart cap from Scandanavian Baby is soooo adorable! I also love the Many Clouds onesie from green cotton.

Tell me that you arent’t flipping over these sweet lil leggings!! They each have an image on the bum and are sure to be cuddley soft. From sweet shop Kawaii Kids. They have the most brilliant collection of goodies over there. Trust me, you’ll be seeing more of ’em around here.

I love this little sunsuit from Kit and Lili. The colors are adorable as all get out!

And finally, let’s get really girlie. Black Wagon has this adorable Audrey onesie. I get a little tired with the [HAH! I just realized I never finished that sentence because, I FELL ASLEEP WHILE TYPING. Man.). Well what I was going to say was I get a little tired of overly hipster screen prints, but this one is just a fun, sweet take on that. She’s ubiquitous, but who doesn’t love them some Audrey??

And finally, this little onesie is pram and proper! And so appropriate given Dottie’s stroller post, eh? Pick one of these from Eight3one.

I hope you liked this little bebe round up. Do you have any favorite baby brands? What are your top recommendations?
Bring ’em on! OH, and don’t forget to enter our cute Giveaway from Kristin Loffer  Theiss of KLT Works! It’s a good one—check it out over here.

Oh baby, it’s Wednesday.

Being the mom of a spunky 5 year old, I don’t often get to look at the baby section. Dottie and I were chatting the other day and I mentioned I felt like I was neglecting our teeny readers. Wouldn’t it be fun to have a day focused just on the bebes? And that’s when Dottie came up with the most genius name ever. So I’m ever so pleased to introduce a new feature over here at Modern Kiddo:

Aw yeah! Yup, today we’ll be talking all things baby. I’ve rounded up a collection of super cutie things for you that can’t help but make ya smile. I love bright, bold colors, so that’s what made me extra happy on this fine spring day. For example, look at this amazingly cute combo from Kit+Lili, available at artebebe:

The black polka dots give it just a little bit of edge and that red frock is adorable. I also love these little graphic prints. True the owl is a bit ubiquitous, but this is a pretty sweet version:

One of the cutest brands for little boys is Mini Boden. They do an amazing job of creating fun clothing for boys. Of course their little girl’s clothing ain’t too shabby either. I warn you, you’ll be sucked into their crazy cute world….


Houston, we have cuteness. I really loved the 70s photo-realistic silkscreen on these groovy onesies, available at Retro Baby. Wolfie would have loved the rocket launch (kind of reminds me of the old skool “I want my MTV” promo!) and little kahuna’s everywhere will love the surf romper, when they hit the beach this summer:

OK, why is it that little things are just so much cuter?? Check out these insane little booties….red, wingtip, FABULOSITY Currently on sale from Jacadi.

For you rock-n-roll parents out there, take a look at these two goodies from Psycho Baby. Who says babies can’t wear black?? I also like their playful take on the skullie motif!

If you’re a crafty type you can make these gorgeous little shoes yourself. Just check out the tutorial from the crafty geniuses at  Sew, Mama, Sew!

See Kai Run has amazing shoes and these little golden t-straps would be adorable on your little miss:

These Scandanavian prints are all the rage lately, and I’m still not tired of them. Find these and even more psychidelic awesomeness at Ittikid’s online shop.

Some of these items are a bit more spendy, but the awesome news is that these days you don’t have to spend a fortune on . Now you can scoop up totally brilliant prints for as low as $6 at your friendly neighborhood Teerjit. Look at that adorable bicycle Pedal Power shirt!

OK OK, that’s just my fancy name for Target (makes it sound like some hot Euro brand, haha). I’m loving all the fun graphic prints they have been featuring lately. We’re also big fans of Small Paul by Paul Frank, and their Paul Frank for Target is crazy affordable and cute as can be.

These Dwell Studio for Target picks also are amazing and look like they cost much more than $9.99-$12.99, lemme tell ya.

And of course, how could we neglect to give a tip of the hat to the line that is allll the rage, Liberty of London at Target?? The pieces are all extremely cute and have great detailing on them. This little romper even comes with a wee sun hat. And those sandals (while not Liberty) are a steal at only $10!

That’s all for this edition of Widdle Wednesdays. What do you guys think? More baby? Shall we celebrate the tiny treasures every Wednesday? I’m up for it if you are! Shoot, I don’t even have a baby, and all these things still make me smile.

Say Yes to Vintage Baby Sweaters

If you ever followed me on my other blog, Good Crafternoon, you probably know about my love/hate relationship with knitting. I love to knit and have been doing so for more than twenty years, but my arms can’t take it anymore. I found this out just when I became pregnant which was a real heart-breaker since I dreamed about the many darling sweaters I would knit my little baby. So, what’s a knitaholic to do when pregnant for the first time and not allowed to knit?

Buy vintage knitted sweaters, like this festive little ruffly bit of goodness modeled by the Peach:


Ebay used to be loaded with these one of a kind knitted goodies and they are usually in great shape and so inexpensive for the quality and unique style.  Fortunately instead of slogging it out on eBay, you can save yourself some sanity and check out one of my favorite Etsy shops–babyhank, run by the very clever Liz Stanley from say YES! to Hoboken (a wonderful and highly addicted blog BTW) with incredibly well priced and lovingly curated pieces of children’s vintage clothing. Including these gorgeous sweaters.  Alix featured her yesterday with this button cute sneakers.

I’m in love with this one. The pocket detail is just amazing, don’t you think?

OH and look at this white wee baby sweater with the blue trimming!

But check out this rocking horse sweater set! The detail on those pants along is so divine! And how crazy clever is that–a zipper in the back. AND a hood!   That will keep the sweater on–pure vintage genius!

You should stroll on over to babyhank on Etsy and definitely drop by Say Yes to Hoboken!  We heart Liz and we think you will too! Did you know she’s a finalist in the Handmade Olympics? Mmmhhmm…that’s how snazzy she is.

Knitting Nights

Brrrr!!!! All of that snow that has been falling over the past couple of weeks has made many knitting mamas pull out their needles and crank out some warm and cozy hats for their little ones.

Even celebs love to show off their babies in hand knit hats. Check out the celebtot cuteness of Bronx Wentz, Olive Baron Cohen and Zuma Rossdale.

(Credit: INF (2); Gotcha Images/Splash News Online)

How stinky cute are these little kids?  The great thing about this trend is that for the crafty Moms out there, it is an easy trend train to catch.

Here are some great hat patterns that would be perfect to knit one night while watching your Netflix movies after the wee ones have drifted off to Slumberland!  Please note that all the patterns I’ve featured are free—and super cute to boot!

Wouldn’t this Knitty pattern, Baby Tart be perfect for your little cutie PIE? Sorry—I couldn’t help myself…

Or what about Evelyn Uyemura from Lost the Thread’s Green Leaf baby hat? So simple, yet so stunning!

I don’t know about you, but my Peach loves to pull her hats off, so this Aviatrix hat by Justine Turner is stunning and includes a very clever and comfy strap.  You can download this sassy pattern on her Website Just Jussi.  I would knit it in the softest green and add a fun ladybug button for kicks!

Anyone else have some cool free knitting patterns? Share!