Category Archives: Thrifting

ALT SUMMIT Finale // Say Yes to Thriftin’

ALIX: We go to ALT for the camaraderie. To connect. To re-connect. To be inspired. And of course…..TO THRIFT!

DOTTIE: Hah, totally! Of course we love meeting so many new and fabulous friends, but we were SO looking forward to a morning of Thrift Goodness, which happened on the very last day.

ALIX: The lovely Liz Stanley (Say Yes to Hoboken) organized the first trip last year and it was such a great way to decompress after all the sessions and parties and hob nobbing. We knew we HAD to go again.

DOTTIE: Someone was teasing us and asked if this was a session where we learned how to thrift! Haha. Can you imagine?

ALIX: Oh that would be Tracy (shutterbean) who said that! She’s my favorite smart aleck. So nooo. We don’t learn how to thrift, we just spend the afternoon checking out a variety of shops and then having a leisurely lunch with the ladies. Liz was kind enough to drive us around in her thrift mobile. I found this fresh young fella hanging out in her back seat. Ooh lala. But on with our day….

DOTTIE: First stop: Deseret Industries. Oh my stars, I love this place. It’s a straight up thrift store (much like Goodwill) but it’s local to the area. Last year I scored the most amazing little dressies for the Peach here!

ALIX: I think this year there was even more vintage goodness to be found. I was trying like mad to figure out a way to smuggle these awesome yellow chairs into the overhead bin as carry-ons!! Oh, and what about your rockin’ plaid suitcase?

DOTTIE: YES! My eyes nearly popped out of my head when I spied not one…not two…but THREE pristine plaid gems. I managed to resist and only bought one. Hey, it was a practical purchase. To bring all of my thrifted goodies home in. Mwahahaha!!

ALIX: I think the people working there thought we were all crazy, because EVERYONE was taking pictures all along the way!

ALIX: Then we were off to Decades. I swear you walk in and trumpets and a chorus of vintage angels start calling out. This place is IT!

DOTTIE: Oh tell me about it. This place rules. It’s not a thrift store, but an amazing vintage shop filled with so many treasures, you wouldn’t believe it!


image on right:  liz stanley image below: jenny mitchell

ALIX: Everyone was racing around ooh-ing and ahhing. It’s all so beautifully organized and curated. I could have spent HOURS in there.

DOTTIE: I managed to score some lovely pieces and even some great shirts for my sweetie.

 ALIX: I had to control myself! I think I could have walked away with a zillion hand bags and at least 5 new suitcases!

DOTTIE: Let it be known you did buy a handbag. Or two! How many is that now? 42? I kid, I kid! OK, so the last spot is Abode, and its one of my favorites. It’s tiny compared to the other two but chocked full of charm!

ALIX: I *always* manage to find something awesome there—and shout out to Miriam! Our fave SLC shop proprietress!

ALIX: Nice cans, lady….

DOTTIE: Hee. These alllllmost came home with me too. You found some lovely treasures too!

ALIX: I am in love with that necklace that Jenny found for me. It’s perfection! And I loooved the dress you found tucked away in the back.

DOTTIE: One of my favorite moments? Finding that dress that was labelled “James Bond Won’t Be Able to Resist You In This!”  And the dress was a pretty but somewhat puritanical high-necked prom gown! Hah!

ALIX: Hahahaha. That was our new mantra. “Should I buy these eye glasses?” “James Bond won’t be able to resist you in them…..”


image: anna jones

DOTTIE: So then we made our way, trunk packed, to Les Madeleines. Home of the Kouign-amann. Our new addiction.

ALIX: Oh man, I’m SOO glad you insisted we get one. That was a little bite of heaven. It looked like an ordinary pastry but was the tastiest thing ever!

Some of our thriftin’ dream team: tabitha (glitter and ganache), dayle (madebysodapop) and of course our fabulous roomie Jenny (frecklewonder)!

DOTTIE: And then to add to the magic of our day….it began to snow. And when Salt Lake decides its gonna snow, they don’t mess around!

ALIX: Seriously! It was fabulous! Giant clusters of snowflakes cover everything in a blanket. Just amazing. And yes. We took 5,000 photos.

ALIX: We really found some amazing stuff. My favorite part was heading back to the hotel room and spreading out all the wonderful stuff  you and Jenny and I scored on the bed. SUCH great goodies!

DOTTIE: Only downside to thrifting? Packing it all up!!

ALIX & DOTTIE: We had an amazing time. Special thanks again to our rockin’ tour guide Liz Stanley…..and watch out Salt Lake City! We’re comin’ back for YOU!

Guest Post // Frecklewonder’s Thrifting with Kiddos

hello frendos! so i have another fantastic guest post for you from my girl Jenny. now, you know we love the vintage, recycled and thrifted here at Modern Kiddo. we get a lot of emails from people asking us for thrifting tips and so i was super thrilled when jenny offered to share some of her amazing tips and tricks. jenny visited me 6 years ago and we got to go thrifting together which was SO much fun! i consider myself a thrifting pro—but miss jenny is for sure a master! i just know you’re going to love this post. take it away lady freckle!

hiya there MODERN KIDDO readers! it’s me, jenny again! just in case you missed my vintage book guest post, I run a fun blog + shop called frecklewonder and a brand new shop for the little set called kidwonder!

I looove thrifting. as a mama of two, the “How Do You Do It?” question comes up enough that i thought it might be fun to share my own tips on Thrifting With Kids. and it just hit me, as i was thinking about all this that i’ve got a solid 9 years of this under my belt now. which is just kind of, wow. that’s A LOT of trips in the thrifts with the kids. hundreds. (thousands? oh my.) on average, i hit ‘em 4 times a week. 2 or 3 mornings will cover most of my closest shops, and then i usually treat myself to one trip in the evening, BY MYSELF. and FYI, i *never* go on the weekends. way to0 busy for my comfort level. anyhow, here’s what works for us:

1. REST. number 1 most important rule of all: make sure your kiddo is WELL RESTED. i never, EVER hit the thrift with a sleepy kid. it won’t work. you will be frustrated, your kid will be having a meltdown and people will be giving you the stink eye. you will leave with nothing but frazzled nerves, and let’s face it- that’s not what you left the house for. time your thrift runs for when your kiddo is alert and in a good mood. cause honey, thrifting does not equal stress. not in my book.

2. SNACKS. snacks are a must. if you have smaller kid who will be riding in the cart be sure to stick a little bottle of water + a cup of something to snack on into your bag before you leave the house. i always bring a cereal bar or a little cup of crackers or goldfish pretzels for dotty and it keeps her happy + gives me a chance to really comb my way through the racks. if your kiddo is too big to fit in the cart, make it a treat and pick up a couple milkshakes beforehand! henry and i used to go to this 50s diner when we’d do a weekly thrift run in a different town. he was 4 or 5 at the time, and it was easy to make the “stay where i can see you” rule, and usually he’d just toodle along with me sipping his milkshake, chatting, happy as can be. he’s almost 9 now, and he doesn’t thrift with me nearly as much as he did when he was younger (mostly because i go during school hours) and yes, occasionally he groans about “popping in” with me, BUT, he also knows that some of his best scores that he treasures most have come from thrift stores. henry knows the value in just popping in, because You Never Know What You’re Going To Find (i coined that phrase, thankyouverymuch). and one day, you just might find a HUGE bag of some kid’s entire lego collection for $1.85. and you will bow down to the thrift gods and you will get up and do The Happy Dance. which we did, and we’ve had more than our share of experiences like that, but i digress…

sometimes you have to get creative, and turn the lid of your sigg bottle into a miniature cup because you forgot the mini water bottle. and you might find yourself having to stop every 6 steps to refill said miniature cup, and you might feel like you only get to surf past a half dozen shirts before said refill, but guess what?

it works!

and your kiddo is happy!

really, really happy.

3. BOOKS. another thing i grab before we head out the door is a couple of board books. sure, by this time, with the snacks, the bottles of water, the wipes, the diapers, plus all my own personal crap, i’m starting to feel like a pack mule when i’m only leaving the house for a couple hours, but TRUST ME. these things really make for your best chance at a successful trip. but if you forget the books, don’t fret! you can always grab a book or two from the kid’s book bin, and just toss it back in when you’re done. i mean, it’s a thrift store, you know?! it’s been read before! what’s one more time?! sometimes dotty will bring along something else like a couple of buddies (stuffed animals) or recently, she’s got this leap pad alphabet caterpillar thing-a-ma-abob that she likes to bring. all of these things serve as good entertainment. and an entertained kid equals a happy kid. and a happy kid equals a happy mama. so it’s win-win.

4. BE CREATIVE. when the other tricks are all used up, do something else! if you’re shopping with a toddler, hand ‘em a shirt and say, “hey! can you practice doing these buttons for me?!”

or, “hey! wanna look in mama’s purse for something?!” lately that one gets a big YEAH! from dotty, because she is pretty obsessed with “mama soft” right now. girlfriend will sit there in a dream like state for 15 minutes, just rubbing chap stick on her lips.

5. HAVE FUN. really! don’t be afraid to be silly. you can pretty much count on a thrift store to have some rockin’ tunes (oldies, crazy country, classic rock) and guess what? we dance like no one’s watching. we sing like no one’s listening. we make funny faces. we talk. we laugh. we just have a good time.

and in the end, isn’t that what it’s all about? :)

so there you have it. simple stuff, really. but i find that it works for me every time. give it a try. and HAPPY THRIFTING! xo Jenny

Thanks Jenny! Fabulous as always. Hey, if you have a moment to spare, won’t you please swing on by Circle of Friends 25 Top Kids Style Blogs and give a little thumbs up to Modern Kiddo? Frecklewonder is nominated as well as a bunch of other fab blogs. No registration required, just a click! You can vote once a day til May 9. Thank you sooo much! Click here to vote!

ALT Summit Recap Finale :: Thrifting in Salt Lake City

[cue music: THE FINAL COUNTDOWN, Europe]

OK people. This is it. The final bit of ALT goodness. The conference was over but we still had one last day of fun planned. Liz Stanley (of Say YES to Hoboken) had organized a grand day of thrifting. She put together an awesome tour that included a straight up thrift store, a glammy vintage shop and a kitschy cool retro store. There were about 12 of us, piled into a handful of cars and giddy with excitement. I mean honestly, what better way to end our conference weekend than with some thriftin’??

We began at the Deseret Industries (the “D.I”, doncha know). We ALL found awesome goodies. Raina found some records with the BEST cover art.

(As an aside, Raina is someone we met when we took Holly Becker‘s amazing Blogging Your Way e-course a few years ago. The class is really fantastic, I highly recommend it! It was so fun meeting Raina in person!)

I found some fabulous vintage children’s books and a couple of excellent hawaiian dresses (one more 60s one more 70s). I can’t wait to rock ’em at Tiki Oasis this summer! Did I mention they were $3 and $6? Aw yeah! This ain’t California baby….and the price is nice out here.

With a belt I think this dressie will be super cute, come summer.

This is Dani, our fabulous driver and co-tour guide. She was so darn cute!

After the D.I we went to heaven, er, I mean Decades. People, this place was CHOCK-A-BLOCK full of vintagy goodness. Like, amazing dresses, purses, shirts….and really really good prices. I totally loved it and can’t wait to go back.

Pilgrim bought an AMAZE-balls mod, green leather jacket and some colorful tops and dresses. Dottie scored some really super cool dresses too and even bought a few shirts for her hubs!

I was kind of overwhelmed…I wanted one of everything, but I showed remarkable restraint. After walking around with an armful of goodies, I only bought a Vera floral shirt for me and a cowboy shirt for Greg.

I spied this amazing polka dot, silk dress and nearly fell over it was so good….like it belonged in the Kate Spade boutique. Alas it was too small for me. *sniff* The lovely Liz discovered it too and scooped it up. She is going to look so dang cute in it, I’m insanely jealous!


(I snagged that bottom photo from Liz just so you could see how dreamy her dressie is!)

As we made our way to a little French cafe for lunch, pretty snowflakes began to fall. It was a magical little touch—and Miss Pilgrim was adorably thrilled by the snow!


Nope. It doesn’t snow in Australia!

Our next stop was a shop called Abode. Decades was genius, but I think we actually had the most fun at this one….it was more put together than a thrift store, but just rumpled enough that you could dig around for treasures. The woman who owned it was really lovely and even gave us a little discount. They had a fantastic kid’s section here! I bought a lovely vintage cocktail ring and two Dream Pets…

My favorite discovery were these wacky, ugly fabulous powder pink eye glasses. They had lenses in them that were like coke bottle bottoms! I was stumbling around the shop with them on….

After buying our goodies, we went outside to wait for the rest of the gals to finish their shopping. Pilgrim and I were in love with this turquoise wall!

Dottie made out like a bandit, finding great stuff in every shop! Here is a super sweet little nightie she scored!

Yo, F washing! hyuck hyuck….

Presenting….the NEW Girls with Glasses!! haha. And for the record, I can’t see a damn thing outta these babies.

After Abode we went to one last D.I. thrift store. For some reason I didn’t find a thing in there but Miss Dottie? Whoooo lawdy! She hit the mother lode!!! She found SO many awesome little goodies for the Peach!! This little gingham number was my favorite!

Hee hee. So good huh! She already shared some of her sweet vintage kiddo haul earlier this week! I’m soo dying to see the little Peach sportin’ these goodies! We had such a fantastic time. Thank you again to Miss Liz for organizing such a cool outting!

So that was the end of our amazing trip to Salt Lake City. Boy did we have fun. And all I can say is next year? YOU BETTER JOIN US!