what to do with kids’ special outfits once they outgrow them

i’m one of those people that gets super sentimental about clothing. I can tell you the scarf + dress combo I wore to my first job interview, my first day of kindergarten dress, and exactly what colors were in the seersucker bermuda shorts that i wore on my twelfth birthday. to that point, as much as kids churn and burn through clothes, there are some pieces that are SO sentimental to me, so it makes a little bit easier to spend on kids clothing they might outgrow quickly if there’s something to do with it. here’s what I do with kids’ special outfits once they outgrow them.

i hang clothes that my kids have outgrown, but carry sentimental value, as artwork.

i have actually been doing this since before my kids were born. when I was decorating logan’s nursery, there were two blank spaces of wall on either side of her window, and instead of putting artwork up, I wanted to do something meaningful. I had joey hang some fun knobs from target in a zig zag pattern, knowing that I would have hangers and there would need to be room for clothes to hang. here are the benefits:

• it’s easy to switch out pieces as there are more and more to choose from
• it’s personal; nobody else is going to have the same ‘art’ hanging in their kids’ rooms and your kids can appreciate the clothing for the works of art they really are
• It makes me feel like I really got value out of spending a little bit more on those pieces. it’s really hard for me to justify spending a ton of money on kids’ clothes when I know they will outgrow it, but this helps make the investment ‘last’ a lot longer than if they were to get packed away in a bin with the rest of their outgrown clothes