What did you do with your baby’s clothes once they’d grown out of them? Here’s some ideas in case you don’t know what to do with them!
1. Keep them for baby no.2 and/or sentimental reasons – I’ve kept a few bags of my favourite items for baby no.2 – and if we don’t have baby no.2 then I will probably keep most of them for sentimental purposes – will be funny to look at them in a few years time when baby W is all grown-up! I haven’t kept all of baby W’s clothes as we don’t have the space, and some were so cheap we will just top-up for baby no.2
2. Turn your favourite items into a keepsake – we haven’t done this yet but we will at some point as I love the idea- you can turn their favourite babygrows into a keepsake – like a lion or elephant! They cost £25 and the same lady also does blankets (from £60) and cushions (£35)
Check them out for yourself: http://www.babythreadskeepsakes.co.uk/ (Photos are taken from their website)
I’ve also seen yummy crafty mummies change babygrows into bunting – I love this idea too but I am not crafty so luckily – I’m sure you could pay someone to do it for you 🙂
3. Pass them on to family/friends – we were lucky to benefit from lots of hand-me-downs, I haven’t really had anyone to pass mine on to apart from a couple of nice items I’ve given to colleagues…. if you have anyone to pass yours on to, you’ll be saving them a potential small fortune 🙂
4. Donate them to your local maternity ward – when I was wondering what to do with the load of newborn/0-3 month babygrows and hats we had, colleague and fellow blogger Emily suggested this idea to me. As her twins had spent some time in special care, she’d unfortunately seen other babies who didn’t have anything to wear 😦 I’ve also heard that, in special care, the hospital supplies the clothes (maybe due to infection risk??), either way when I donated a couple of bags worth, they were delighted to receive them 🙂
5. Donate them to a ‘mother and baby’ hostel – another way I tried to help mummies in need in the area was by donating a load of our 3-9 month old clothes to a local hostel, along with some of my clothes and some nappies we’d grown out of. Again, they were really thankful as a lot of these women are young mums who have had really tough lives…. so maybe see if there’s one in your local area you can donate to?
6. Donate them to schemes like NCT – some NCT groups run a ‘baby bundle’ scheme where they give mums in need a pack of baby clothes made up from donations. High street store JoJo MamanLeBeBe were doing something similar with Barnado’s but I think that scheme is finished now.
7. Donate them to a charity shop – if numbers 4-6 are too much hassle but you still want to pass them on to someone who’s more in need then you, then dropping them off at a charity shop makes for an easy option! Some will even pick them up from your house (watch out for bogus charities doing that though!) Again, I’m sure charities will be very thankful for your donations, but I preferred doing 4/5/6 so I knew they were going directly to someone in need, whereas a lot of charity shop goodies are snaffled up by pro-eBay sellers and sold on. (Still great for the charity of course!)
8. Sell them! Now, I haven’t tried this – way too much effort for me as most of the stuff that could have raised a few quid I’ve saved (see #1) but obviously if you want to make some money (or recoup the money you spent!!) then there are loads of ways of doing this like selling them individually or in bundles on eBay, local Facebook buying and selling groups, NCT nearly new sales, car boot sales etc.
One of my favourite bloggers, Tinyfootsteps, wrote some tips for selling baby clothes that you might find handy 🙂
9. Exchange them for H&M vouchers! Apart from all the charitable donations, this has to be my favourite tip… if you take a shopping bag’s worth of clothes into H&M, they will give you a £5 voucher to spend in-store! If you read my tips for new parents, you’ll know that rain gets out stains – but for the ripped/stained/bobbly-beyond repair stuff that would be no good for tips 1-8 above, then take them to H&M!
They don’t check what’s in the bag, and even if they did I don’t think they’d care – whatever can’t be donated or re-used is recycled – read more about it here – I think it’s an excellent scheme as I hate the thought of any clothes (especially baby clothes!) ending up in landfill!
And I guess that was the aim of this post – I hate the thought of this stuff going to landfill, especially when there are probably some women in your area who would really appreciate your help! I hope this has inspired you to make a difference – if you found it useful, please share it on Facebook/Twitter, thanks!
Linking up with #KCACOLS
yummyblogger.com 
Great ideas. I’m keeping all of Aria’s stuff at the moment, it is going into a box along with my maternity clothing in readiness for baby number two. If baby number two is a boy or big (most of the stuff that I’ve put away so far is tiny baby) then I’ll be car booting it. Or at least that is the plan if I can find the time/energy/babysitter when I have baby number two!
I love H&M for getting rid of old clothes, and yes they do take stained, ripped, damaged clothes too which is great!
I find just drying clothes outside even when it isn’t raining gets rid of stains, I’ve had quite a few things come out of the washing machine still stained, put them on the washing line and the stain disappears, crazy!
Leanne – A Slice of My Life Wales
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You sounds like you’ve got it all planned out too – I kept all my maternity clothes too… fingers crossed I will get to wear them again 🙂
I know – the rain/washing line thing, when I told people it was rain that had it, I got corrected – apparently it’s the UV in daylight that does it – random eh, annoys me a bit that a washing machine worth a few hundred quid doesn’t get stains out but mother nature does haha! x x
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Thank you sooo much for this, I’m obsessed with shopping for my daughter and have maybe 20 boxes of clothes at 18 months in. I know that sounds bad but can’t help it. Need to get donating!
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Hi, glad I could help – wow, that’s a lot of clothes but I know what you mean, it’s hard to get rid of them – if my other half asked me to get rid of all the favourite/sentimental ones I’ve kept I would be gutted! xx
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Loved this post. I did a number of NCT sales and also bought and sold on e bay.
But this has to be one of my favourite thing to do with old clothes. Bunting! Made by a friend out of baby2’s first few outfits 🙂 https://instagram.com/p/2szY43CaQL/
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Reblogged this on Bauble Keepsakes and commented:
What do you do with old baby clothes? Some great ideas from YummyBlogger
♥
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A great post. I usually sell on my girls clothes or give them away to charity or friends
#KCACOLS
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Thank you! Thanks for calling by xx
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Some great ideas – as a NICU nurse I can say that we are always grateful to receive baby clothes as we often do have babies who have nothing. I also love the idea of donating to the mother and baby shelter. I am planning on getting both the kids a bear/lion/horse or something made up of a my favourite baby grows, they are such a cute keepsake #kcacols
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I think I’ll treat us to a keepsake this time around too, as I could use both of their first clothes (and some will have been worn by both!). It’s so, so sad that in your job you see babies who go home to nothing… It breaks my heart 😦 xxx
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I didn’t know H&M did that!!! I have a bag of old favourites that I need to make into something to keep – a quilt I think would be lovely 🙂 Thanks for linking up with #KCACOLS and hope to see you next week!
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Yeah I think they still do, great isn’t it! I think once baby 2 is a few months old I might treat ourselves to a quilt/teddy… It will then be made of both the boys’ first clothes 😍 xx
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I have bags and bags of the things, got rid of all the girl’s stuff now just waiting for someone to have a boy! Maybe I’ll see if the local women’s refuge needs them, good call. #KCACOLS
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Glad I could be of help 🙂 thanks for calling by xx
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After kiddie no.3 many clothes are struggling to be passed on.. Have tagged for later!! #KCACOLS
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Fab, glad it was useful for you! Xx
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Great post! We’ve kept everything in case we have another, anything we didn’t like went to a charity shop. I hate waste – there really isn’t any need! #KCACOLS
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Great to hear it… I agree… No need for any waste! Xx
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Thanks for passing along the information! Right now I am saving everything for a possible baby No.2 however I love the idea of repurposing them into a blanket or toy. That is such a cool looking giraffe. I think it’s great that you are encouraging others to pass along or donate their old baby clothes. There are so many people who could benefit from this. #KCACOLS
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Thanks Sarah glad you found it useful… I love that giraffe too, think I might get one once we’re done with baby #2 clothes! Xx
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I have always donated to charity or friends, kept a couple of the first ones but did not know H and M did that..might keep one bag back next time so my little man can take it and get a voucher so he can pick a superhero themed clothing item! Fab post #KCACOLS
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That’s a good idea… Teaching kids about re-using/recycling and getting a reward for it… Genius! Xx
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Fabulous ideas. I am a hoarder it would seem of baby clothes – all of number one’s for number two’s possible wear! I really like the idea of a keepsake and will be saving some special bits for a blanket for when I’m old and alone. I also really like the H&M scheme – my aunt uses it a lot but I haven’t got past the passing stuff on to others or charity shops stage yet. Hostels and hospitals are a good idea. From my experience hostels often need the non-clothes clothes items like shoes as well. #KCACOLS
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Yeah we’re thinking about donating our pram etc to a hostel once we’re done with it. Thanks for calling by xx
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