Choosing Furniture

In choosing furniture, you’ll want to choose cleverly, many items can grow with your baby, that means less money spent in purchasing replacements such as cribs, when there are cribs available that will convert to a toddler bed. Other items may be a changing table with diaper pail, possibly a bath tub, definitely a stroller and a playpen. You will also need a car seat and maybe a baby monitor.

Accessories

You’ll need something to cloth your baby in and if you don’t know the gender yet, you can get clothes that will work regardless of the gender. You’ll want blankets, socks, mitts and general comfy clothing. You will also need car items such as diapers, wipes, ointments, shampoo and a baby body wash. You may want to take a quiet moment and write down everything you think you need in preparation for the arrival, then cross out the things you already have through gifts and purchases. What you have left will be your shopping list.

Go Green

If that’s not enough to float your boat, you can also go green and get soy clothing and soy blankets in a myriad of colors, sometimes all on the same piece of material. Clothing and blankets for baby made out of organic soy are becoming very popular.

Colors

Also coming back in style are the loud and vibrant colors of the sixties. You will have no problem misplacing your child if you dress him or her in the color schemes of the day. Psychedelic children’s clothing can be seen blaring out from computer screens and store windows. Already there are multi colored children in strollers and trotting along side the family, bright oranges, blues and greens swirling around one another in a Crayola nightmare.

The Sixties

The sixties are coming back strongly right now in every facet of fashion. Some children’s clothes have printed themes on them that is very reminiscent of flower children and love struck hippies. Flowers seem to be very popular in clothes this year, for young and old alike. Don’t get me wrong, all of the traditional colors and designs are still out there, you can still find them if you look, you will just have to look around more vibrant colors of the day.

We are currently offering 10% off any clothing purchases of $125 or more.  Simply enter 10OFF at checkout! 

Sulaika Zarrouk and Lily Rafii, the design duo behind Felix Rey handbags, joined forces in March, 2001 to design accessories for the smart and stylish girl-about-town, one who longs for colorful bags that add the perfect finishing touch to any outfit and excessive collection of shoes. Lily and Sulaika know all too well from personal experience that their customer had probably gone a tad over-budget on one too many Manicures and Manolos so the pair set out to offer affordable luxury in their handbag collection.

Prior to the launch of Felix Rey, Lily, a Georgetown graduate, worked at Morgan Stanley gaining a crash course in finance. After graduating from NYU and FIT, Sulaika landed a job in Collection Design at Donna Karan. In 2001, Lily took a dramatic turn from finance and joined Sulaika to create Felix Rey. Their feminine and flirty designs quickly gained a cult following, flying off the shelves as soon as they landed at Bergdorf Goodman, Takashimaya, Neiman Marcus, Henri Bendel and Kitson, to name a few. Felix Rey accessories take a fresh and feminine approach to vintage inspiration, including touches such as bows, ruffles and hearts. The bags are in a class of their own – it’s no wonder that the collection has been touted as “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” meets “Sex and the City.” It is perfectly suited for the modern girl with a whimsical flair for style.

In just five years, the company has become hugely successful, scoring coveted placement on Sex and the City and gaining loyal customers in celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Simpson, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. Style-making celebrities aren’t the only people who have taken notice of their darling bags. Luca Orlandi personally commissioned Lily and Sulaika to design bags for his clothing line Luca Luca. They also do private label for the trendy boutique Scoop.

Not content to rest on their laurels, the pair continues to arm themselves with experience to keep their hold on fashion success in a fickle industry. Last fall, Lily enrolled in the executive MBA program at Columbia. Judging by their consistent progress and growth, the best is yet to come for Felix Rey. A steady rise to fashion triumph with staying power was, after all, their careful business plan.

Cynthia Vincent, Twelfth Street Baby designer, has succeeded in creating a line that is both adorable yet chic.¬† Here is a perfect example of a designer who has done extremely well in the fashion world with woman’s wear.¬† And now she is transending into the ever growing designer children’s market.¬† You will find many of the same patterns and fabrics from the Twelfth Street woman’s line tastefully and appropriately carried into the baby and girl line.

Her dresses have the cutest of details. A favorite of mine is the Bubble Dress!  Its adorable.  She also has her Bow Dress that has simple, chic lines.  Her flutter sleeve dress is super adorable on any size.  She also has super warm and luxurious cashmere blend leggings with matching cardigans.  I could go on and on!  To view and shop the amazing Twelfth Street Baby line go to www.totsnstyle.com

 
 

But for my daughter, the question of classic vs. trendy posed a dilemma for me. Do I want to dress her up with the cutest trends around or do I want to stick with modern classics? I always say that she will probably end up being at the opposite side of the spectrum and love denim and t-shirts! I am totally willing to accept whatever she chooses to become. But for these few precious unopinionated months or years of early childhood, I’ll have the privilege to set her looks.

I came up with the following conclusions:

1) Trendy clothes are super adorable on children as long as they are tasteful.

2) Classic styles and brands of clothes are nice to have for those formal times such as weddings, portraits, graduations, etc…

3) Trendy clothes in classic colors make for a great clean, modern look.

Whatever style or look you choose for your child, let it be a tasteful expression of who your child is!

However, not every parent is jumping on this band wagon. In our family outings, I still see children dressed in p.j.’s or t-shirts that are witty yet sloppy. I always look to the parents to see how they are dressed. It’s usually the same. Most of the style stems from the parents. Children in more ways than one are a direct reflection of their mommy and daddy.

With this being said, I don’t think the “mini me” idea is so bad. We all know families that always look put together. Why not create that culture with your own children? I am not saying that appearance is the most important issue in a kid’s life. But appearance speaks for itself. What’s wrong with dressing the part? Your child will grow and learn to take pride in how they look and will in turn pass this to their children.