How to put together spring family outfits (like a boss)

It’s that time of year again, when flowers start popping and wallets start dropping some serious cash. There’s spring parties, weddings, graduations, Easter, vacations, and of course the beloved (and dreaded if you’re the one doing the shopping) spring family photos.

It can be overwhelming to figure out how to have the time and stamina and endurance to pull together special spring outfits for a child. Things get more complicated if you’re wanting to dress and match two or more children of different ages. And then more so if there are different genders. And then if you are trying to coordinate with the parents it gets so much worse that many throw their hands up, buy the first thing that sparks joy, and move on with their lives, right? Well, let me help you with that!

Why is matching a thing?

Matching outfits are on the rise, and just the other day I passed a display at a department store advertising “Mommy & Me Styles” available inside. The Atlantic had a piece last spring about the history matching family fashion.

“Twinning” for sisters has been popular for centuries! The matchy-matchy trend started in the early 20th centuring and really picked up popularity between the 40s-60s, in “time periods when there is more cultural emphasis on the family and the mother-daughter relationship.” So today with more hands-on dads and a wider range of diverse families, “‘daddy, mommy, all my siblings, and me’ might be the new ‘mommy-and-me.’”

And hey retailers, just for the record, some #boymoms (this one!) like to coordinate or even match their teeny boys. I am thrilled to put my boys in tiny adorable outfits for as long as I can, and so sue me if I want to at least coordinate with them for special events. The days of endless basketball shorts and soccer jerseys are coming like #winteriscoming, and I will accept that eventuality when it happens. BUT NOT TODAY, SATAN! Luckily, many retailers have picked up on the trend for coordinated family outfits and try to help a poor mama out.

How to find kids spring party outfits

Some online stores have seasonal sections in the navigation that group most of their party-ready attire together.

For the spring, for instance, Children’s Place has “Easter Dress Up,” and they even have Big Sis & Lil Sis and a Big Bro & Lil Bro plus family matching!

Gap has “Spring Party Shop” and Janie & Jack has Easter Party!. Both Gap and the Janie & Jack sites make it super easy to shop for particular sizes and items, which is so helpful when shopping last-minute.

Gymboree (may it rest in peace) was one of my favorite go-tos for sibling matching and holiday outfits. Sighhhhhhh.

In the off-season of spring/fall/winter holiday shopping, look for “Outfits” or “Outfit shop,” to help you put it together. But some sites are more difficult to navigate than others and sometimes awesome items get missed in the special section grouping, so if you’re not quite satisfied I’d check out the individual categories, too.

Helpful sites

Children’s Place– creating outfits, siblings 12 months-5

Janie & Jack– creating outfits, siblings 0-5

Gap– creating outfits, matching 12 months-5

Target– creating outfits, matching 12 months-5

Carters– pre-created outfits, creating outfits, siblings 0-14+

Oshkosh– pre-created outfits, creating outfits, siblings 0-14+

Macy’s– pre-assembled outfit and family outfits, siblings 0-14+

Harder to navigate/ limited choices

Old Navy– some outfit help, matching 12 months-5

JCrew– some outfit help, 2+ (no sizes for babies)

Hanna Anderson– some outfit help, matching 0-adult

Mini Boden– limited options, matching ages 0+, 

Tea Collection– limited options, matching ages 0+

How to pull together coordinated family outfits

Though it might seem that the people who send you Christmas cards or the Instagram celebs you love to hate are just naturally gifted at finding coordinating family outfits, they aren’t! It takes work and time. If you break down the task into hunt, gather, and decide, you can reasonably figure it all out.

Set the stage

First, I would consult the source of what you’re doing. What is the event? Will you be inside/outside and what’s the weather like? Are there particular activities (such as an egg hunt) for the day? If you have a photographer, ask if they have any images of the location or the studio. And your photographer will likely have recommendations of preferred color and style choices and maybe even some Pinterest boards. Check out my spring outfits for toddler boys board!

Check your wardrobe first

Next, check your closet for things that fit YOU well. If you don’t have anything that will work, pick the color that you’d like to wear and search for that first. And check Pinterest boards! I find that kids and babies look cute in almost anything you put them in. But moms, well, most of us aren’t models and only look our best in certain shapes, colors and fabrics, so find an item for your outfit (it could even be your boots!) that brings you joy and then build outward from there. I will say it can be helpful to do this after a little bit of window-shopping of kids clothes first, so you have an idea of what colors/patterns are popular right now in case you’d like to incorporate them into the family ensemble. 

Decide how you’re going to shop

If you like to shop in store, good for you! I love shopping in store by myself, but with kiddos needing naps and toys and endless snacks and only lasting about 20 minutes, it’s hard to do that planning and matching and size hunting in person. If you can shop in person, then you save yourself a lot of the hassle and the waiting of shipping and returning things. But I would look online ahead of time to save yourself some hassle and heartbreak. If you’re like me and shop online for a lot of things, I have some tips.

When to shop

Start shopping at least a month before your event, if you can. If you start shopping too early, you will likely miss out on the “new” styles stores tend to release about 4-6 weeks before a holiday. If you have found your items and think a sale might be coming, keep them in your cart so you can quickly check out when the sale rolls around. But beware, certain retailers can sell out of sizes quickly so don’t get stuck missing something because you waited too long!

Build a style board

When it comes to planning a family ensemble, it can really be a bear. And if you’re extremely visual like me, you need to SEE IT ALL TOGETHER. So to make that possible, I make my own DIY style boards.

My inspiration to do these has come from the style boards of the now-defunct Polyvore as well as the ancient days of using Pagemaker to layout newpaper and yearbook pages in high school. A styleboard helps me streamline my fashion conquests by getting it onto one page to see what works.

Essentially, you open a blank document in Microsoft Word, Pages, or Adobe. Then take screen shots of items you like and are trying to see how they would look together. Insert them onto the page. Insert images of your family or of the location. Use the arrange function to move images forward and backward, group them together when you’ve made an outfit, and then assemble outfits together as you put them together. All the while, keep a mental note of where each item is from and the price tag. When I found the shirts I wanted for the boys this year, I wasn’t willing to pay top dollar for the matching basic shorts so I went online and found them cheaper at another store!

Ask for help/second opinions

This is where I really get fussy and ask for second and third and fourth opinions (thanks fashionista neighbor friend/mom/sister/anyone-who-makes-eye-contact-me-while-I’m-in-the-throes-of-this-project). In all fairness to myself, I believe I have inherited outfit-indecisiveness from my mother. Though I’m not colorblind, I feel like I have a hard time with shade matching or understanding complimentary colors. If someone has a name for this, please share! I want a label for this annoying problem. But I digress. So in my opinion, take a screen shot of your board and send to auntie or grandma and see what they think. My husband is getting tired of me pinging him at all hours for these kinds of questions so I’m giving him a break. 🙂 However, when his clothes get involved, then by golly I’d better clear all options with him first!

How to “try before you buy”

Online shopping is incredibly convenient, but it can get very complicated to track your spending and returning when you’re amassing clothing for several people. Because free shipping can take forever (and free returns can take even longer), it’s helpful to have a plan ahead of time for how to approach buying the items when you’re literally trying things on for size.

Option 1: Use a credit card: This is straightforward so long as you make your decisions within a couple weeks and return anything that doesn’t work immediately to avoid the costs rolling over into your next credit card statement.

Option 2: Finely tune what you want to buy and use cash/checking. While this is the lowest-hassle from the budgeting side, it can get complicated when your items don’t work out as planned. Then you might need to wait for a return to clear before making a new purchase, etc., and find yourself in a stressful time crunch.

Option 3: Set aside a certain amount of money in a checking account you don’t use much. That way, you don’t tie up needed funds for the rest of life (that you probably should be attending to instead of color-coordinating photo outfits, but c’est la vie!) And then you don’t have to worry about credit card fees if it takes you a few weeks to try it and keep or return it.

We put a designated amount in my personal checking account that I can use to buy things like this when I’m not sure what will work but need to make quick decisions. Then once all the buying and returning is done, I reimburse that account from my main checking account and that’s the “amount I spent.” There might be more high-tech or efficient ways of doing this, so if you have ideas I’d love to hear your method to the madness!

Make everyone try it on

Yes, even you, dad. DO IT NOW. Then you can see any issues that might surprise you (like a damaged item) or the fact that your child can’t walk in their new fancy shoes.

While trying on, you may notice that someone’s pants are slightly too big and need a belt or that two things don’t match quite like you thought they did. Or that your dress is see-through. Or it could remind you (like it did for me this year) that you need some additional accessory. Like I completely forgot that since we’ll spend our Easter in the midwest this year, I’ll need to bring a cardigan for the potentially-chilly weather.

This year I got the boys in their outfits and then realized they needed a final touch. A bowtie! So with the yellow shirts, a chambray bowtie and chambray kicks are the ticket. Now, time to find dad something to wear. 😉

I wish you good fortune in your quest ahead. Go forth and sparkle in your lovely spring outfits!