If you are pregnant with your first or when you were pregnant with your first, did you prefer to get new things from friends/family? Or were you okay getting hand-me-downs, as well as new things?
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I liked having a little of both
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I mostly got hand me downs from my sister and SIL. For the most part I was very happy to get them. There were a few things that I declined and got new though- like, a play May that was missing the dangling toys- I could have used other dangling toys but I wanted the one I registered for. Generally though if it had a short life span, used was great!
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I wasn't against hand me downs, but we didn't have any friends with kids at the time.... and the ones that did, their kids were using the clothes/gear and/or they were way past the baby stage!
MIL had DH's old clothes, which we politely declined, save for a few items.
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I just took what i liked/needed and passed on the rest to either other friends or donated it
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I'm due with my first at the end of February and this baby already has 8 cousins. We got a TON of hand-me-downs and I couldn't be more grateful. A ton of clothes, two pack-n-plays, crib, changing table, cloth diapers, toys - the list goes on and on. It has saved us SO much money.
I also had two showers so friends and family have also gifted me new stuff. I'm very fortunate. -
I wish I had gone the hand me down/consignment route for a lot of baby gear especially short-lifespan items like jumpers, playmate, toys, newborn clothes. They were used so infrequently; my cost per use was astromical. We have a super active Facebook buy sell trade group in my community which is a godsend. I wish there was a local consignment store. We had one but it closed.
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I never got hand me downs from anyone. I wouldn't have minded or would have liked it on a lot of things, except blankets. We received tons as gifts - some hand made, some store bought. We have like a million blankets and there's no way I could have used anyone hand me downs.
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The hand me downs that we got were off season and eight years old. I don't think I used any of them.
I would have appreciated handmedowns but I was the first in a decade to have a baby in my family and all my friends had babies within six months of us. -
Hand me downs were awesome, especially toys, gear like tables, exersaucer etc. Clothes are great but we got lots that were stained or just ugly. I ended up buying maybe half of what we used and the rest were hand me downs. A lot of what I bought was second hand except when I saw really cute outfits/shoes etc. Hand me downs seem to be drying up around 18 months.
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I loved hand-me-downs. It was how we clothed our daughter for most of her first year. It was hard to buy new clothes for a baby who will be out of them in 3 months.
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I had both. But loved all the hand me downs I got ! I totally accepted hand me downs. I feel like it's weird not to....?
Now as a more experienced mom I love hand me downs even more because I know how little time babies spend in each size. -
I didn't receive any hand me downs with my first because I was the first from my group of friends to have a kid. We did buy a few gear items used. With my second, again, no hand me downs because people around me only had boys. I wouldn't mind hand me downs though!
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We had hand me down gear and clothes but then new stuff as well.
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We got all new gear, but lots of hand me down clothes. Love that I got hand me down clothes! Saved us so much money. Plus, the hand me downs were super cute! I really appreciated them.
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I got a lot of hand-me-downs, and some were appreciated, but others were worn or not my style and I didn't really want them. However, once my husband saw them, he would see no reason to get anything else. That's a communication issue with me and my husband though, haha.
The things I didn't want--stuff like wide leg pants for LO (she's skinny and I prefer skinny pants), or opposite seasons stuff--I would want something that fits her, and he would think it's fine for her to wear something 6 months too small or big.
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No one's given me any hand-me-downs! In some ways I like having a bunch of new stuff because I got just what I wanted, but we have spent SO MUCH money.
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I really liked getting hand-me-downs as long as they were in good condition. Some of the ones I got were badly stained, so I just kept those as daycare back-ups or tossed them.
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We had a ton of hand me down clothes from my niece who was a year older than DD (so most of it was like new) but all our gear was new. It was gifted to us, we did borrow a bouncer from our BIL and SIL though, didn't think we needed one but did and they offered theirs!
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For gear, I wanted all new (and I still do for anything we aren't recycling from LO #1 for LO #2); for clothing, I love hand-me-downs but I'm very selective about what I take. I'm upfront and say I'm picky about style, and will look through items and take what I know I'll actually use. No point in taking everything from everyone and then having to deal with the leftovers.
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Love hand me downs!!! Babies use stuff for such a short amount of time that everything is like new anyways!!
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We mostly only had hand-me-downs for baby #1 except his stroller and nursery furniture. I loved the hand-me-downs! I was so overwhelmed with what I needed/didn't know what I truly didn't need.
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I voted I didn't care but I think I would have been sad not to have picked out a few special things myself. We were lucky enough to get tons of hand me downs and things loaned to us because it was things I wasn't super excited about picking like an exersaucer, swing etc. I have found that the clothing hand me downs usually wind up play clothes though.
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We got lots of hand-me-downs for our first (mostly clothes and toys but we did get a hand-me-down swing too). We also bought some of our nursery furniture used from a family friend.
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We got tons of adorable hand me downs!! We bought some stuff too but was never opposed to hand me downs!
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We plan on having three kids and I prefer all new items for this one knowing gear will be re-used for subsequent children. So far I have only been offered hand me down gear not clothes.
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@Anagram: same here. I would have chucked almost all of the hand-me-downs but my husband is more, um, practice/frugal than me.
I chucked stuff that I hated or was worn out/stained. You never know when there may be a good photo opp!
I have to say, though, that at almost 2yo some of our hand-me-down toys get tons of use and not necessarily stuff I would have picked.
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I love hand me downs and really appreciate being able to borrow gear from friends.
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We had all new stuff for DD1 and only kept a few things for DD2 so she had mainly all new stuff as well. We had lots of offers of hand me downs, but living abroad made it difficult to accept them, which I didn't mind as I'll be totally honest here and say I don't like secondhand anything really.
Also, my mom was so excited about becoming a grandma that she went a bit crazy buying clothes....and still does nearly four years on. We hardly buy any of our girls clothes as my mom buys them each a brand new wardrobe every season. She loves it, it makes her happy, and she can afford to do so, so we let her go with it. We've bought all the gear though, with the exception of the odd gift here or there.
I know it might be a bit ridiculous but I just don't like used things and would rather have all new.....
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I didn't care! I got tons of hand me down's but also new things too.
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I'm good with everything! It has been amazing to not have to buy any clothes for T this first year. I am so grateful for all the used stuff! In hindsight, I feel like I basically pissed a lot of money away with E because I bought new, instead of gently used.
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I liked having some hand me down clothing, but used blankets tend to be yucky - it's hard to really clean them and there's usually a mystery stain lurking in a corner. I've put away blankets for a long time and they looked clean when I was putting them in the bag, but came out later looking yellow and stained. So I never take those.
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I love hand me downs!
Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend money on us for new stuff, I'm fine with that too. Hand me downs are totally appreciated though. We got a lot of gear and gently used clothing for L and probably 85% of it was used! There were a few pieces of clothing that weren't my taste, although even some of those got used as craft clothing or daycare spares or something.
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My friend and I have two kids each and both sets were born just a few months apart. We had opposite genders though, so with our second kids, we're just sending each other our baby clothes. It's working out fairly well, though I have bought some seasonal items and a few clothes that were just too cute not to pick up.
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Having babies is expensive. It doesn't bother me if I get new or used items. If you do buy new and can get it on sale or clearance, that's even better. Babies don't care if you paid retail for something.
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I was very grateful for hand me downs when they were offered. We actually bought a lot of used clothes and gear from a friend, enabling her to buy more stuff for her older girls. It was like the money benefitted us all twice over, rather than it all jumping into share holders' pockets.
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Love hand me downs and wish I had more for LO1. It was pricey buying everything new, and every little bit helps. Of course there was a lot that didn't fit our style/season/gender, and we donated those. LO2 had more hand me downs, and I bought more clothes second hand.
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I loved getting hand me downs, especially on the big bulky toy items like swing, exersaucer and activity mat. We also had a mix of new and hand me down clothing.
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I like a mix of both. But for LO 1, we got multiple bags of hand-me-downs from my SIL (her son is now 6), so they were pretty old and not to my taste. I felt bad because I didn't use 75% of what she gave and just picked a few pieces. I'm part of a baby re-sale group and buy lots off there... I like getting items cheap AND that I can specifically pick out what I want instead of getting bags of random stuff.
For LO 2, he's going to get all of LO 1's hand-me-downs plus some "new" items from the re-sale group, AND a few new pieces. But most of LO 1's stuff is in good condition with no holes or stains. I always toss out anything that has been through a blow-out, unless I REALLY like the outfit, haha.
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I would have accepted if someone offered, but no one did, which is fine. My husband refused to have a shower, so we just bought the stuff we needed ourselves.
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