Shopping for kids can be hard, as they can be finicky and throw tantrums when they don’t get what they want. For new parents especially, shopping is a challenge. If you’re looking to buy summer clothes for your kids and want to get your shopping done right the first time, read on for the best tips.

You Can Go Without Them

Though you may think that you need to drag your kids along every time you shop for clothes, they don’t actually need to try every piece of clothing. Instead, you can forego dealing with crying, screaming, and a constant stream of questions by leaving them with their grandparents or shopping while they are at summer camp. Furthermore, many store employees are very familiar with children’s sizes and can point you to the most popular, durable, and comfortable outfits without having to compare sizes to your child.

Learn About Sizes

Most of the time, knowing your child’s age is enough to figure out their size, since many clothes are sized according to that number. However, it’s also helpful to know their height and weight. Estimating a child’s size is common practice, and their clothes usually fit larger to accommodate room for growth. You should also remember that when shopping online, utilizing the sizing chart attached to every item will help you avoid buying improperly fitting clothes.

A Few of Their Favorite Things

When shopping for babies, you don’t have to worry about whether they like princesses, rainbows, or dragons. Just choose an outfit that is easy to clean in case of messes.

On the other hand, when shopping for toddlers and young children, you’re dealing with kids whose opinions change constantly. Keep tabs on their favorite movies, books, and songs, and buy items in line with those themes. If your kids are just too picky, you can stick with simple favorites like colors or animals. To help you figure out some of the things they love, and keep them busy for a while, you can bring along coloring books and tablets filled with their favorite games.

How To Shop Summer Clothes For Kids

Buy in Bulk

Though you have to make wholesale purchases, buying at least two complete sets of clothes can be immensely helpful in the long run. Not only can you return one if your child absolutely hates it, you can mix and match pieces to create several unique outfits.

Put Their Name On It

Since kids tend to lose things, putting their initials or their full name on the tags of their clothes will reduce the chances of weekly trips to the store. Sending your kids to a sleep-away camp compounds the chances that they will misplace their clothing. Help them differentiate what’s theirs by tagging everything—even socks!

For a truly unique way of labeling their clothes, try monogramming. Everything from hats to shirts to monogrammed bathing suits for toddlers will help keep your kids out of trouble.

Always Time to Shop

For the first 12 years of their lives, kids tend to outgrow their clothes relatively quickly. It may seem like every few weeks it’s time to get a new set of clothes. Since you’ll be needing to shop for your kids pretty frequently, keep these tips in mind—at least until they can buy their own clothes.