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I can’t remember if the groundhog saw its shadow or not, but the fashion world has already moved on to spring.
If you’re in the market for a lightweight cardigan for warm days and cool nights, consider this one from Uniqlo. Made from a cool-touch, slightly-sheer fabric blend, this lightweight V-neck cardigan will slip into your wardrobe as easily as it slips into your bag. The roomy cut is perfect for layering, and the seven colors work with any wardrobe.
This cardigan is $39.90 and comes in sizes XXS–XXL.
P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day!
Sales of note for 9.10.24
(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)
- Ann Taylor – 30% off your purchase
- Banana Republic Factory – Up to 50% off everything + extra 20% off
- Boden – 15% off new styles
- Eloquii – $29 and up select styles; up to 50% off everything else
- J.Crew – Up to 50% off wear-to-work styles; extra 30% off sale styles
- J.Crew Factory – 40-60% off everything; extra 60% off clearance
- Lands’ End – 30% off full-price styles
- Loft – Extra 40% off sale styles
- Talbots – BOGO 50% everything, includes markdowns
- Target – Car-seat trade-in event through 9/28 — bring in an old car seat to get a 20% discount on other baby/toddler stuff.
- Zappos – 26,000+ women’s sale items! (check out these reader-favorite workwear brands on sale, and some of our favorite kids’ shoe brands on sale)
Kid/Family Sales
- Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
- Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
- J.Crew Crewcuts – Extra 30% off sale styles
- Old Navy – 40% off everything
- Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
Anonymous says
Happy valentine’s day! I admit I like helping my kids do their class valentines- we get a bunch of those cheap boxes from Target but I love how thoughtful they are about thinking about which one their classmates might like.
Anon says
We just do paper cards, nothing fancy, and my 5 year old did hers independently this year. I gave her the class list the kindergarten teacher sent and she copied the names. It felt like one of those parenting milestones that’s small but also big.
Anon says
Yep, same. I sit with them and chat, but they do all the work! I’m trying to be intentional about finding opportunities to give work over to them and let them own, especially relating to school, and this is a perfect one. I do double check that they didn’t overlook anyone at the end, though
Anon says
agreed. this was our first year doing it for school cause at our jewish preschool they dont do valentines day and they spent so much time deciding who should get which one and what colors people like, etc.
Anon says
one of my kids kept telling me that she had to choose the right one because she didn’t want her classmates to be distressed about the valentine they received…it was hard not to laugh
AwayEmily says
Both my kids classes (K and 2nd) requested that they not put the “to” field on the valentines, just the “from.” I guess it helps with distribution, but I’m sad they don’t get to experience the joy of picking out JUST THE RIGHT ONE for each person.
Anon says
I’m all for streamlining a teacher’s workload, but this seems overkill (and I’ve heard of it happening at other schools, too). It depersonalizes an inherently personal activity! Kids are so familiar with their classmates’ names, it can’t add more than 10 extra minutes (at MOST) to let the kids have the fun of passing them out.
Maybe the reason is to preserve feelings in case some kids don’t like the message selected for them? But again, bringing in Valentines is a relationship-based activity, so either embrace it or scrap the whole enterprise!
Anon says
Yeah. I think “you have to give one to everyone if you hand them out at school” is a fine policy, but not letting kids put names on them feels so impersonal.
anon says
My kids’ school does this, too, and my daughter was sorely disappointed that she didn’t get to pick. The rule seems like nonsense to me, but whatever.
Anon says
Ugh, I got a text from another parent this morning that they noticed that one kid was left off the of the Valentine’s Day card list for my kid’s class. That poor 2nd grader. I can’t even imagine.
Anon says
That is awful! Though I wonder how none of the other kids realized while doing their Valentines in order to alert the class sooner — including the kid himself! My son also had a classmate left off, but when he came home the name was written on the sheet in pencil because the kids pointed out the mistake right away
Anonymous says
oh nooooo, that’s awful.
Anonymous says
Oh no! I hope the class can do something special for the kid who was inadvertently excluded.
CCLA says
Oh that poor kiddo. I like to send in extras that are blank in the “to” field just in case for situations like that.
Anonymous says
Oh no! We had a box left over and I sent in with my K kid just in case something like that happens or someone forgets.
Anonymous says
Received an evite for a birthday party for a child in my son’s preschool class. Praise the skies, it specifically says “Please, no gifts. Your presence is the present.”
I don’t know really who this child is and could likely not pick him out of an empty room, and that goes even more so for his parents (who I am sure are good people and probably could not pick me out of an empty room either, were never at drop off or pickup at the same time). Now I don’t have to think about selecting a gift, wrapping it, or remembering to bring it. I know everyone has different feelings on this topic, but I am happy by this news/the clarity in the invitation, and wanted to shout it from the proverbial rooftops of this anonymous Internet forum!
Anon says
At the other end of the spectrum, we recently received an evite from a classmate with a three paragraph essay about what presents the child would like. I’m perfectly happy to bring a toy to a kid birthday party even if we don’t know the kid well, but that had me clutching my metaphorical pearls a little bit.
Anon says
thats absurd. what are people’s thoughts on birthday party invites asking for cash? my friend was horrified, but her son insisted that people should give him $8 for his 8th birthday, and she said some people after said it was easier than buying a gift, but i think it is just so tacky, though at the same time it is easier…
Anonymous says
OMG I am embarrassed just thinking about that! Your friend lost an opportunity to teach her son a lesson in etiquette.
Anon says
I think it’s incredible tacky. I also don’t think it’s easier – I almost never have cash and would have to make a special trip to the bank. Whereas a birthday party gift can be ordered online (and we also keep some generic kid gifts lying around so we don’t have to shop for every party).
Anonymous says
A friend of my daughter’s used to request donations for the food bank in lieu of gifts at her birthday party. She would send the cutest thank-you notes with a picture of herself dropping off the giant box of donations at the food bank. One year my daughter decided to try it for herself and requested donations for the animal shelter in lieu of gifts. It backfired spectacularly. Nearly all of the guests, including the friend who requested donations at her own party, brought both a donation and a gift. We thought about just requesting no gifts the following year but decided it was futile.
Anonymous says
This is the norm in our area (DC) and I love it. My MIL, on the other hand, was horrified I would deprive my children of getting presents from their friends.
anon says
Bay Area, and I also love it, as both the parent of the birthday child and the parent of a guest. My kids are in elementary and are still happy to not receive presents at birthday parties, from aunts and uncles, etc.
Presents = work for them (writing a thank you note, finding a spot for the new thing, which in our small home generally means finding something else to rehome).
anon123 says
Bay Area, and I also love it, as both the parent of the birthday child and the parent of a guest. My kids are in elementary and are still happy to not receive presents at birthday parties, from aunts and uncles, etc.
Presents = work for them (writing a thank you note, finding a spot for the new thing, which in our small home generally means finding something else to rehome).
Anon says
i always put that on party invites and then half the people bring gifts. my kids are now at the age where they’d be upset with no gifts, but gifts from half the guests is more than plenty!
CCLA says
This was super common for our preschool group, less so as we got into elementary. We said please no gifts for all parties until this last fall when my older one turned 7 and had a smaller party.
I heard it here first, but still swear by the gift stash – a couple of times a year I’ll stock up a bag in the garage with lego sets, craft kits, books, etc. I also keep a stack of generic bday cards. For good friends we try to go out and let our kid select a gift for their friend, but for whole-class parties or times when we just forget until morning of, that gift stash has saved our sanity many times.
Anon says
+1 to the gift stash.
I like gifts at kid parties because I think it adds to the excitement for the kids. But of course I always abide by the no gifts request if an invite specifies.
Anonymous says
Same! Unpopular opinion, but I actually really enjoy shopping for and giving gifts, even to classmates we don’t know especially well. I also think it’s a good chance to teach kids about being thoughtful and giving to others and since preschool have involved my kids in the shopping, wrapping and making the card. Like you I abide if the invite says no gifts, but it dulls the excitement a bit for me, and I think for my kids (even as the gift-giver, not recipient).
SC says
It’s the norm in my area to bring gifts to a birthday party. We’ve never received a “no gifts” invitation or a request for cash. I do feel that, at the all-class parties, nobody would really notice if someone came without a gift.
On the gift giving side, I used to RSVP, calendar the party, and order a gift as part of one task. It took about 5 minutes to do all 3. Now that my son is a little older (2nd grade), I make him participate in choosing a gift, either online or at an actual store that gift wraps.
On the receiving side, it can be a lot of stuff. But last year, when my son turned 8, we had a relatively small party (10 kids?). He received several graphic novels and a few small Lego sets, and it was great.
Anon says
I really wanted to do this but my 3 yo was so excited about his friends bringing gifts for his first ever birthday party.
Anon says
I think it’s fine to do what he wants. We had a no gifts party for my kid’s 4th birthday. It was still Covid times and we threw it together last minute in the park and didn’t provide any food except cupcakes, so I didn’t feel we could expect people to bring gifts. My kid had a huge meltdown afterwards. She’d even never been to a friend birthday party b/c of Covid, but she thought “birthday party = gifts” and was just so sad.about not getting presents at the party. Since then we haven’t said “no gifts” but we throw real parties with food provided.
We’ve never received a “no gifts” party invite in either daycare or school. We rein in the total number of gifts by not buying her physical presents ourselves. Between the party and what close friends and relatives send, she has plenty of stuff to open.
Anonymous says
I think it’s sad not to give your own kid presents! If there’s too much stuff, it doesn’t seem fair that the parents are the ones who have to skip choosing a gift.
Anon says
To each their own – there’s nothing sad about it to me! We typically give her an experience gift, which I prefer to giving physical gifts anyway. And relatives almost all ask us for suggestions, so it’s not like we don’t have any say in her physical presents. She knows she could forego the huge party and get more gifts from us, but right now this is what she prefers.
Jellybean says
We recently went to a 4th bday party where the invite said something to the effect of “no gifts needed, your presence is the present, but if you must bring a gift here is a link to an amazon list”. The amazon list was set up like a gift registry and all of the items on it were less than $10. At first I thought it was strange but my attitude shifted when I saw the low cost all the options. I liked being able to get a low cost gift that I knew would be liked by a kid I don’t know that well. If I had gone to Target on my own I likely would have spent more on something he wasn’t as into. My DH was appalled by the registry concept for a bday, so differing minds!
Anon says
i really think toddler girl clothing designs should come in sizes up to at least 7 or 8. much of the girls clothing (dresses with cut outs, crop tops, etc.) and shoes is not what i want my kindergartener wearing (nor is what she wants to be wearing).
Anonymous says
I miss the division between the 4-6x and 7-14 departments. It makes it harder for both little kids and big kids to find age-appropriate styles.
Anon says
yes, what is appropriate for a 10/11 year old is not the same as lower elementary schoolers. and too many open toed sandals for my clumsy Ker
Anon says
Solidarity. My kid is super tall and has been in size 6-7 at least for tops since about age 3. I’ve found H&M to be a good source. They have many styles in both toddler and girl sizes.
Anonymous says
Gymboree usually has good options and good sale pricing. H and M can also be very solid for basics or ‘character’ clothing. Some is definitely like you describe but not all.
I also like Old Navy’s girls activewear line for ‘cool’ clothes that are active play friendly. Or resale Iviva
lulu says
Cat & Jack at Target also tends to have a lot of the same clothes in Girls’ sizes, as toddler.
Lily says
If you can afford it, Mini Boden. It goes up to size 11 or 12 I think, and it’s the opposite of vulgar/inappropriate. It’s insanely adorable and really classic, but there are some strappier (but still age appropriate) dresses and bathing suits. I’m sure when my daughters are 10 or 11 (hopefully not before!) they won’t want to wear the stuff, but until then, that’s what I buy.
Flight Question says
If you were booking travel with a 4 year old who has never flown before, would you take a 5 hour direct flight or book a flight with a layover to have a break partway through? I always try to avoid layovers because the potential for a delayed or cancelled flight increases, but I’m not sure if 5 hours is too long for a first trip. We’d have both parents (and possibly a couple of other family members) on board. We’d likely fly during the day, and I generally assume this child will not nap while traveling (it hasn’t happened on many of our longer car trips). We can bring an iPad, snacks, window clings, and whatever else people recommend as a distraction.
NYCer says
Direct flight without a question.
Anonymous says
Definitely direct. With a connection you are prolonging the day and adding disruptive transitions.
Anon says
Direct. It will ultimately be less time on the plane (potentially a lot less, since you are opening yourself up to more delays). Five hours doesn’t seem like too much
Kate says
Another vote for direct! Running through Dulles (connection) with a two-year-old, car seat, luggage, etc., was not something I’d like to repeat.
Lily says
Direct flight. A 4 year old is old enough to watch two full movies plus other activities like coloring.
Anonymous says
Direct flight for sure.
Avoid screens until after take off. Meal and favorite movie. New colouring book or other book. Nap maybe, more screen time. Land.
Anon says
Definitely direct. Long flights aren’t especially challenging by that age. They’ll likely just watch TV the whole time if you allow it.
anon says
100% direct, no question. Yeah, it’s longer on the flight, but it’s a much shorter travel day over all and less potential for something to go wrong. A 4yo can almost certainly be entertained with shows/games on an ipad, snacks, coloring, new fidget toys, etc.
Vicky Austin says
Just need a little solidarity, gang. My new job is WFH (for now) and DH (still searching for a job) is not having a great time with this SAHD gig. I’ve been listening to our 10mo screaming most of the morning.
Anonymous says
Just want to send you hugs and solidarity — I WFH and my husband has been looking for work for 9+ months now. We took some time off from daycare to cut costs, but we recently put our son back in a preschool and it’s been 1,000% better for both my work productivity and his job searching.
Anon says
Hugs, that was peak separation anxiety for my daughter. I didn’t work from home then but she clung crying to my leg every morning when I tried to leave. Hopefully things will be better soon.
Anonymous says
I feel this so much. 8 month is out of daycare sick and my partner and I switch off who is working and it is so hard I hear him shouting and fussing while trying to work.
Anonymous says
How long has he been a SAHD? My DH took a year off when our twins were ages 1-2. He really struggled with how to occupy them. I found a few toddler drop in active play groups, and library story times and he got into taking them for walks with the stroller no matter the weather. Their usual routine was activity out of the house in the morning, home for early lunch at like 11:30, nap 12-2, snack then play at home in the afternoon. That meant it was pretty quiet from 9-2 most days.
Vicky Austin says
We’re on the second full week, but going for a drive, grocery shopping, etc. really seems to help. Thank you for the ideas!
Anonymous says
It’s early days yet! You’ll figure it out.
DH used to do grocery shopping too – twins loved seeing different people but DH did get annoyed by how many old ladies acted like he was the world’s best dad because he took his kids to the store by himself. He was like ‘I’m not sure if I should be flattered they think I’m a great dad or offended that they seem shocked I am able to take care of my own kids’ 😂