Exactly how much does this hat cost?

When the girls were younger, I was selective about when and how often I purchased their clothes from Gymboree.  Gymboree was at the high end of what I was willing to pay for kids' clothing and I would limit my shopping to sales and specials.  In my opinion, everyday clothing for kids doesn't need to include $40+ dresses.  I have three I'm buying for at the same time so $40 x 3=$120.  That's an easy way to rack up a big bill and I would like to, I don't know, retire someday.  (Crazy thought.)  Also, it's a fact that kids trash clothes.  When I was little, we had school clothes, which we promptly changed out of and replaced with play clothes when we walked in the door after school.  Our school system now requests that kids wear play clothes.

I'm guessing at some point Gymboree made a conscious decision to become more budget friendly because the pricing, in the way of sales, these past few years has definitely been more reasonable and having the outlet stores interchangeable with the regular stores is a huge money saver.  I sometimes can't believe how much I can buy for so little.

I received an email at the end of last week announcing that all regular priced merchandise would be 40% off at the outlet store over the weekend.  In addition, you could stack your Gymbucks.  I headed over there Sunday morning, hoping to pick up some more pants for the girls.  Unfortunately, I noticed right away that the clothing hadn't really turned over from when I was there a month ago BUT they had winter holiday clothes out.  What?  It's still September.  Holiday clothes are the bane of my existence.  I typically wait until November when I'm finally in the mindset for holiday clothes and by then, they're all gone.  Crazy stuff!

The girls can usually get away with wearing the same dress for two years and for this upcoming holiday season, Allie and Anna are all set with last year's dresses.  Emily, however, needs a new dress as last year, she wore her dress from the year before and it was tight.  At the store, I picked out a bunch of clothes, debated on the holiday shoes, and finally decided to check out thinking that I would burn through all my Gymbucks.

Here's what I purchased for a grand total of $51:

• Fancy, red holiday dress
• White, faux fur wrap/jacket to accompany holiday dress because IT'S TOO COLD FOR SHORT SLEEVES IN DECEMBER - seriously, is this a marketing scam so that we are forced to also dish out more $ for fancy sweaters?
• 3 pairs of leggings
• 1 pair of skinny jeans
• White cloche hat 
• Blue knit beanie cap

Total non-sale cost of above items:  $185

I saved approximately 72%.

Allie loves hats and I was thinking of her when I picked those out.  Much to my surprise, I still had Gymbucks left over so I called Rich, who was at home with the kids, to check on shoe sizes.  I attempted to explain the cloche hat (I ended up texting a picture) and asked if all three would want one.

Rich:  "Exactly how much does this hat cost?"

Me:  "Ummmmm . . . let me check the receipt . . .  five seventy-five."

A few minutes later, he texted back. "Allie said yes.  Anna and Em said no."

Just what I thought.

This year, for the first time, the girls will get to experience Boston Ballet's Nutcracker.  I thank my sister-in-law for bringing it up early this year.  I always wait until the last minute (the need to be in the holiday spirit thing) to think about it and by then, tickets are hard to come by or $$$.  The girls are super excited, especially at the prospect of dressing up in their holiday clothes and hanging out with their cousins for the day.  I think it's going to be a super fun outing and a great tie-in to their ballet classes.