Mommy’s Little Shopping Secret

I shop for my kids twice a year.

It’s true. I don’t shop sales.  I don’t stop and pick up a little something for them when I’m at the mall (what mall?) or Target.  I don’t panic when the weather changes and they have nothing in the closet that fits.  I simply bundle the kids up and go out to shop for them twice a year while they play on the playground with Dad.

Where do we go for this one-stop shopping, WITH a playground?

We go to Prime Outlets in Hagerstown, MD!  This outlet mall has everything — Carter’s for babies, Gap Kids, Gymboree, Child’s Place … and dozens of stores for Mom and Dad too.  Everything is much less expensive than at the mall, and if we time it right, entire stores are often 50% off the outlet prices too!

We have a system.  Everyone shops in the first store together, then Dad takes the kids to the playground while Mommy shops Carter’s, then we alternate for as long as my preschooler can stand it.  Today, he played on the playground for hours — and absolutely loved every minute of it.  He ran with the big kids, played house with the little kids, zoomed around like an airplane with the boys, and went down the slide with the girls.  He had a wonderful, wonderful time.  Little Bear, my baby, sat and played with the wood chips on the ground — and what baby doesn’t love him a good wood chip?  Daddy and I took turns playing and shopping, leaving the bags with the one on playground duty.

And I did all the fall/winter shopping for the boys — shirts, pants, jammies, jackets, socks, shoes, and underwear.  All top-quality, true-to-size, and 50% off.  Widget isn’t exactly toilet-trained yet, but I know he will be soon, and at $2 a pair for fire truck underpants, how could I pass them up? 

Hey, a mom can dream, can’t she?

This post also posted at DC Metro Moms, one of my new favorite sites!

Little Bear, stylin’ in Mom’s chemo cap at the playground