We’re lucky here on the West Coast, for many reasons. At this time of the year, back-to-school shopping is not entirely necessary. Summer lasts well into October. Some days are blazing hot. Other days, we wake up to a hint of crisp fall air that then melts into a summer sorbet of sneakingly hot air. Rough, I know!
Late August rolled around this year, and I hadn’t yet thought to start shopping for the kids; which is why I was so excited to get an email from the marketing team from the Manhattan Village Mall asking me to be a part of their generous Back to School Shopping Challenge. I was one of three bloggers chosen along with South Bay Sparkle & Thoughts of a Mommy – to spend $100.00 on two outfits for my two kids anywhere within the mall. The photos of each outfit are now posted on the Manhattan Village Mall Facebook page. Please take a moment, if you would, to click on the “Vote for Me” icon on the right if you like the outfits we’ve chosen.
There are a few great spots to shop for kids in the Manhattan Village Mall – Gap Kids, Macys, Gymboree, & Jani & Jack. The kids are 7 now, so we headed to Gymboree. I love their clothing, but I was worried that I might not be able to put together two outfits for under $100.00. Turns out I was worried without a good reason to be worried. (Isn’t that the way it usually works out?) Gymboree had some incredible options, and in fact, by taking advantage of the sales, I was able to score not just one outfit per child, but TWO! (Woo- hoo!)
For the first outfit for Ryann, we chose an adorable white Cape Cod t-shirt ($9.99 originally, marked down to $7.99) with a pink ruffled Lobster skort ($11.99 sale priced at $9.59) that came with a matching blue and white belt.
Nate’s a simple kid. He loves to be comfy. Here’s the first outfit we chose for him:
The striped polo was initially $10.99, but was on sale for $8.79. (Unreal, right? And their clothing quality is great!) The classic blue shorts were a cool $14.99, lowered to $11.99. He wore this outfit today for the his first day of school, with his hair super-spiked. He rocked it!
The girls at the Gymboree counter helped me add up our pickings, and I realized we still had a good amount of money to spend, so we added a bonus outfit for each kidlet:
How about that Lobster outfit on Ryann? Two words: ah-mazing. I love it. Totally reminds me of my East Coast preppie days. Ry’s shirt was $12.99, but it was marked down to $10.39. The denim skirt, which also features a cute pink lobster on the lower right corner, was $18.99, sale priced at $15.99. I couldn’t resist the matching lobster headband, which was $2.29, marked down from $2.99.
And Nate? He scored. He loved the blue football tee, which was originally priced at $11.99, but then reduced to $9.59. The comfy pants (which will happily replace the pants he’s been wearing despite the fact they are four inches too short) were also a steal: $17.99 marked down to $14.39.
Sa-weet!
In addition, we were treated like royalty and were gifted with many goodies from Govida, Aerosoles, Viki Cafe, The Corner Bakery, Armani 55, Pacific Theatres, Lady Foot Locker, Tommy Bahama, Williams Sonoma and Open Sesame.
Many thanks to the Manhattan Village marketing team for including me in this fantastic challenge. I hope you will take a moment to vote for our outfits by clicking on the “Vote for Me” icon on the right.
* I was not compensated for this post. I was given a $100.00 Manhattan Village gift card to shop for the clothing, along with a wonderful gift bag from some of the other merchants from Manhattan Village.
