The Girls Shop Next!

For Christmas my two girls got £30 of NEXT vouchers each from their Grandma and Grandad. This was actually my suggestion because earlier in the year I had allowed them to pick an outfit each, with a credit note I had previously got from Next. They had so much fun picking their "Going away to Disneyland" outfit, that I figured it would also make a great gift - especially when no one ever really knows what to get them.

The girls in the outfits they picked to go to Disneyland in - from Next

Christmas is an expensive enough time of year as it is, without trying to fill 2 weeks of holiday with loads of activities. In fact, I'm one of those people who really sees the Christmas holidays as a time to do nothing - other than the odd day visiting family and having yet another huge meal! However for the kids at least, staying in the house every day can get kinda boring. Another reason these vouchers were a great idea. One day, just before we all headed back to school and work, we decided to put aside some time for Next clothes shopping. We headed off to Lincoln Next, with purse full of any spare money the girls had and of course their £30 of vouchers.

Lily is a savvy shopper, a lot like me. The first place she wanted to head was to the sale rail. Promises of discounted clothes which equals lots of clothes, soon drew her in. Originally we picked up three tops and one pair of trousers, that were all sale items. I think she had perhaps spent about £20 of her £30 by that point. However after a wander around the full price items, a lovely dress was found - a little more than her budget and so a top was returned to the sale rail (much to her displeasure) and the dress was picked instead. She did have a few pounds left though and so she picked up some pretty hairclips to just take her over the £30 mark!

Megan is a fussy shopper - again, a lot like me. She must have looked through the whole shop at least 3 times before even showing an interest in any particular item. It was no surprise to me that the first thing to actually catch her interest though, was a dress. Unfortunately though, this was only about half of her money, which meant the search continued for other things she would like. I can't even begin to tell you how many skirts and tops we picked up and put down - held up against each other - and umm'd and ahh'd over. God bless Chris for holding up each thing so she could stand and study it as a full outfit. However eventually she settled on a skirt (she'd seen a dress similar but in the wrong size) and a casual t-shirt. By this point she was well over budget though and had to put about another £10 of her money towards it. Luckily her birthday was just before Christmas and she had money burning a hole in her purse.

I have to admit, I'm pretty proud of the girls choices - choices they really made all by themselves. Lily has worn her Santa t-shirt so many times since buying it and Megan loves her dress, especially with a chunky cardigan, tights and her boots. In fact, in my 52 Project photos here, you can see both the girls modelling some of their clothes.

I have to admit, I really love Next for kids clothes. They have beautiful clothes, to suit all sorts of styles and tastes. They're even a fairly reasonable price. The quality if really good too and I have no complaints about things falling to pieces or not lasting very long.

I'll definitely recommend people to buy the girls Next vouchers in the future, as I know they had a lot of fun picking their clothes. Despite them being only 5 and 9, it really makes you realise how fast they're growing up, when you spend a few hours this way.