SEATTLE — Stylist Darcy Camden from Styled Seattle shares five tips on how to successfully navigate back-to-school shopping with kids of any age.
1. Release the idea of getting everything in one day. The epic all-day back-to-school shopping trip is unnecessary and painful. Gen-Xers and Millenials did this growing up (and usually hated it!), because we didn’t have online shopping, but teens today have so much more access. It’s much easier to shop throughout the year. Break the cycle! You do not need to have an entire new wardrobe in place before the first day of school.
2. Have a goals conversation before you go shopping. It’s important to sit down with your kid and ask them what’s important, what’s cool, what’s not cool, what do they want and share the things that are most important to you (price, quality, durability, style). Your shared mission should be to find items that meet everyone’s goals. Your teen wants Doc Martens, but you have a certain budget? Work together to find them on sale.
3. Try a Scouting Session. Whenever I’m doing a big styling project, I do a Scouting Session before I start pulling clothing. I just pop into the stores to see what they have. It’s interesting to see things in person, look at which stores are having sales, see how things are running size-wise. It’s usually 1-2 hours of looking without any pressure to buy. Maybe try on a few things to see how they fit so you can make sure, when they do buy, that they’re getting the right size. (Note: This is especially important for teens who are moving out of kid sizes and starting to explore the juniors and adult section).
4. Apply "Scale of 1-10” method. Sometimes teens are hard to read. They don’t give a ton of info. They say they like something, but are they really going to wear it? Ask them to rate things on a scale of 1-10. Don’t buy anything under an 8.
5. First, tell me what you DO like. When your teen is trying on outfits, you will inevitably find things they don’t like or you don’t agree on. Rather than rip that outfit off without even talking about it beyond a quick “I hate it!,” take a beat, and learn from it. Tell me at least one thing you DO like about it, and then tell me everything you don’t. Not only does this give you a lot of helpful information and some ideas about what to try next, it helps keep the whole shopping mission feeling positive.
Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest at 11 a.m. weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.com. Contact New Day.
