Anyone else NOT like Pink for their girls?

[BayGirl2]

Its not that I hate pink, just don't love it as a color. And I feel like there are so many other colors that are bright and fun, why limit a little baby girl to one color? I'm not super girly myself, and I want to let my daughter decide how girly she wants to be. I figure when she's old enough to have a preference she can pick out all pink if she wants. But as a baby, I want a varied palette of clothing colors. I'm not opposed to a little bit, especially in a design, but not 100%. (DH feels similar btw)

For DS we didn't know the gender so that forced people to get more neutral colors (although some seemed to think pastel yellow and green were the only options). This time we know its a girl, and do need girly, cute outfits (not the basics), but I've said I don't want too much pink. People say "everything for girls is pink" but I find so much that isn't - seriously just built a $150 cart of stuff at Carters that is all non-pink, not that I need to buy it all. Just opened a gift from my Mom with 6 outfits - all pink. She must have missed that part of our conversation?

Am I the only one? Maybe this should be more of a rant, or maybe I'm being over picky. If anyone else is not a huge fan of pink - did you try to make that clear to others? Return overly pink gifts? Just suck it up and keep outfits you didn't love?

[TwinFoxes]

I don't love or hate pink. But we also didn't receive an ton of pink clothes for DDS. Maybe it's not our friends' style. :shrug: Is this your mom's first granddaughter? I think it's kind of par for the course. ;) I can see how it can be annoying, and I totally agree there are a ton of cute non-pink clothes.

[crl]

I am not a fan of pink, it is just not my favorite color. Plus dd looks much better in blue and green. That said we have lots of CL clothes and hand me downs so dd wears a lot of pink. For free or a buck a piece I can put up with pink.

Catherine

[wellyes]

Pre-baby I didn't tell anyone the gender so I'd get blue and green and yellow stuff.

Post-baby, pink is hard to avoid.

[BayGirl2]

Is this your mom's first granddaughter? I think it's kind of par for the course. ;) I can see how it can be annoying, and I totally agree there are a ton of cute non-pink clothes.

It is the first granddaughter (2 grandsons) and actually the first girl in 3 generations (other than me) on my Dad's side. So yes, the girly stuff is expected. And I do want some girly stuff.

But I guess I was expecting frilly dresses and nice quality stuff as gifts. This is more pink knits - onsies and pants. I'm debating returning some if I can. I really don't see myself putting her in a hot pink sweat suit - style wise or color wise - at 6 months. (Its been sitting in the hall since I opened it this morning and now just walking by it is starting to annoy me.)

[BayGirl2]

Pre-baby I didn't tell anyone the gender so I'd get blue and green and yellow stuff.

We considered not telling for that very reason. But didn't get much variety with DS1 when it was a surprise.

[Dr C]

I don't love pink, either. While DD does wear some pink, I enjoy the challenge of dressing her in other colors and still having her look like a girl. I also enjoy pairing girly pieces (some, but not all pink) with her brother's hand-me-down's.
Lately, what's been bugging me is trying to find her a cute, comfy pair of shoes that isn't pink, and isn't too frilly but still is a girl shoe (or at least not obviously a boy shoe, lol).

[WatchingThemGrow]

I'm not a pink fan, either. ESPECIALLY the pastel pink that 99% of all "girl" stuff comes in. Of course my mother and stepmother brought only pink. MIL listened.:cheerleader1: (see, pink pom poms!)

I spent 2-3 years dressing her in non-pink combinations. Somewhere around 3-4, she decided that her most favorite thing in the whole world was "the very beautiful light pink" and that she'd try to acquire as much of it as possible. From cereal to underwear to sparkly crayons to Mary Kay cars. I still shy away from actually purchasing any of it, but we do have a zillion other colors of pink thanks to Hanna Andersson. They make pinks that are a little more tolerable IMO.

[crl]

I don't love pink, either. While DD does wear some pink, I enjoy the challenge of dressing her in other colors and still having her look like a girl. I also enjoy pairing girly pieces (some, but not all pink) with her brother's hand-me-down's.
Lately, what's been bugging me is trying to find her a cute, comfy pair of shoes that isn't pink, and isn't too frilly but still is a girl shoe (or at least not obviously a boy shoe, lol).

I like black or brown Mary Janes and managed to snag a few off LE Overstock page. :)

Catherine

[Bellabee]

I too dislike limiting my daughter to pink. Her room was painted in a tiffany blue color, my mother hated it! I love it! You're not alone on that one!:thumbsup:

[BabyDahl]

I love all the cute turquoise and orange in the spring, gray and lavender in the fall/winter, cardinal red for football season, but I'm a sucker for fuschia. My favorite is her hot pink Beatles onesie. Looooove bright pink.

So exchange all the pastel pink stuff that's making you crazy because chances are that will be the stuff that gets washed and sits in the drawer, never to be worn. Some people won't listen and will insist that your DD should look like the Pepto Bismol bottle threw up on her.

[sherry7]

I like pink, enough that I painted her bedroom a nice shade of Pepto Bismol pink. :p Pink probably makes up 75% of her wardrobe.

But, I get tired of seeing her in pink clothes so often. I love dressing her in blue, but there aren't a lot of baby girl clothes made in that color.

[Puddy73]

I like pink, but my girls are both fair-skinned redheads and pale pink just washes them out. They both received many pink outfits as gifts. I kept some, returned some and relegated some to the diaper bag for spare outfits.

[BayGirl2]

Well I'm glad I'm not the only one at least. I do find soooo many cute girl clothes, so I know I will end up buying them instead of using the stuff I don't like. (DH works for Gap Corporate so we get a big discount to support my shopping habit) I do like the pink and brown look a little - like one outfit is enough.

Just showed DH the stuff my Mom bought and he hated most of it. My Mom is notorious for buying us random, impractical stuff that is not our taste. To her credit though she tries, and she also got an Amazon gift card to put towards a double stroller.

Now I need to figure out where to return some of it - its Carters and a brand called Baby Q. And some Vitamins, but I'll probably keep that. Can't tell if its from the Outlet, the regular store, or another chain. My Mom lives in Key West and spends a lot of time in Miami but her shopping options are somewhat limited.

[Uno-Mom]

I spread the word "no pink, please" right after we shared the ultrasound results. Also, no cutesy frilly stuff. Same approach I have for noisy electronic toys: grandma can buy them for Sprog and she's welcome to wear/play with them at Grandma's house! Sprog is 19 months and still doesn't have any mostly-pink stuff in her wardrobe. Some things have pink on them, of course, but no pink clothes.

I'm not opposed to feminine - I live in long skirts when I'm not at work. I'm actually kind of "in" to finding interesting baby clothes. It's just that the pink stuff is usually so generic and stereotypical "cute." I like bright and more stimulating colors.

You know what really torks me off? The pink versions of classic toys they've released for girls. Like pink Legos or that Fisher Price ring stacker. Like, sheesh, aren't our girls allowed to learn their colors??? Sorry, I'm ranting.

When Sprog hits the inevitable princess stage, I'll put up with pink that's her style preference. I'll just encourage her to add a pair of red rubber boots and a fedora! :jammin:

[BayGirl2]

I spread the word "no pink, please" right after we shared the ultrasound results. Also, no cutesy frilly stuff. Same approach I have for noisy electronic toys: grandma can buy them for Sprog and she's welcome to wear/play with them at Grandma's house! Sprog is 19 months and still doesn't have any mostly-pink stuff in her wardrobe. Some things have pink on them, of course, but no pink clothes.

I'm not opposed to feminine - I live in long skirts when I'm not at work. I'm actually kind of "in" to finding interesting baby clothes. It's just that the pink stuff is usually so generic and stereotypical "cute." I like bright and more stimulating colors.

You know what really torks me off? The pink versions of classic toys they've released for girls. Like pink Legos or that Fisher Price ring stacker. Like, sheesh, aren't our girls allowed to learn their colors??? Sorry, I'm ranting.

When Sprog hits the inevitable princess stage, I'll put up with pink that's her style preference. I'll just encourage her to add a pair of red rubber boots and a fedora! :jammin:

:yeahthat: I thought I spread the word too. I've been pretty clear with friends, and I KNOW I told my Mom specifically. I mean like a couple days before she went shopping. I almost feel like she did it just to p*ss me off, but I think she just gets caught up in shopping at low end stores and doesn't look very hard.

ITA about the pink toys. There was a thread on here about that not too long ago. Although I admit buying a pink lego set for a friend's daughter. But they LOVE the pink thing, and I figured at least with legos it gave her some "unfeminine" mental stimulation.

[Melanie]

LOL. *waving hand wildly* I told my mom "NO PINK!" when I found out we were expecting a girl. She grumbled and griped how hard it was to find things not pink. We painted her room a lovely light green and blue and bought lots of color baby clothing, but NOT PINK.

Then we got some hand-me-downs and gifts that were pink, so I put them on Dd. Wow. My girl looks good in pink. She looks nauseous in those pretty girly-green colors.

Around age two she very clearly showed a preference for pink, out of left field BEFORE going to school and becoming under the peer-influence.

There's a lot of pink in my life now.

I even wear (dark) pink now. I used to loathe pink. MY favorite color is blue!

[lovebebes]

i disliked it with my first two girls and love it with my third one-simply because i am so overjoyed that i scored another little girl!:heartbeat:
The pinks i like are more dusty, powdery pinks...she looks gorgeous in those shades:loveeyes:

[sunnyside]

I feel your pain.

I'm going to say that I felt and still feel similarly about clothes and toys. I realize that I am picky. It is a bummer when you don't like something that is a common theme because you will have that feeling a lot. I don't prefer clothes with words on them (daddy's sweetheart, etc), and of course received a lot of that at my shower etc. My girl just had her birthday and there were some gifts that I certainly liked more than others.

I think that in general, you cannot ask people to give you specific gifts or steer away from gifts. All you can really do is register and hope that people check the registry. Even though it is hard sometimes, you have to try to remember how blessed you are that people want to give you gifts and are excited about your baby. There are a lot of people who don't have that luxury.

That said, my mother always is really open to my suggestions. We talk a lot and she knows my likes/dislikes. She is open to me returning things if I don't like them. If my mother was purchasing a LOT of gifts for my girl that were in a category not to our liking for some reason, I'd probably help steer her to some other items. I would NOT do that with anyone else.

It is fine, IMO, to return or exchange gifts that are not up your alley. I understand you not liking pink and not wanting a whole closet of that. I like pink, but am quite particular about clothing. Someone bought an outfit for my girl to WEAR on her 1ST BIRTHDAY! Then the person wasn't at the party, but my MIL pressured me to have her wear it or at least get a picture in it. I was none too thrilled, but graciously had her wear it for a couple hours in the morning while she had breakfast. Then I put her in her birthday dress I'd picked out and later I put her in the other outfit I'd chosen. It turned out fine.

When I was pregnant, my MIL bought a lot of clothes, and honestly most of it wasn't to my liking, but she was getting a Grandchild she thought she'd never have and a girl at that after never having a daughter, but having two boys. Needless to say I was inundated with stuff and even hand me downs from her neighbor, but I tried to just be gracious and not stop her fun. She was obviously excited and how lovely to have her enjoy this special time in her life. We can't all have the same taste and I would not have wanted her feelings hurt and while we did ask her to please buy less quantity, I did not bother her about style.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is this. You wont always get loads of clothes and gifts for your girl. It will mostly be when she's born and maybe 1st bday etc. If its your mother and you feel you can talk to her, then just tell her gently. If it is others, just maybe let it go or exchange the gifts.

I do totally understand how you feel, but I think it is easy to get wrapped up in it and forget that everyone loves you and your baby and are just excited. I know that probably didn't help, but just giving you another perspective.


Just opened a gift from my Mom with 6 outfits - all pink. She must have missed that part of our conversation?

Am I the only one? Maybe this should be more of a rant, or maybe I'm being over picky. If anyone else is not a huge fan of pink - did you try to make that clear to others? Return overly pink gifts? Just suck it up and keep outfits you didn't love?

[brgnmom]

I don't mind different shades of pink, but I do like other colors (shades of blue, purple/lilac...) on my DD as well, and I like to vary the colors in her wardrobe and not limit the choices to pink or even red.

DD received a few gifts with "daddy's little girl" expressions from the ILs and I find them to be a tad cheesy and prefer her not wearing those particular outfits. I guess that might sound a little harsh to some people, but I think that the "daddy's little girl" phrase tends to sound trite. I'm writing this openly online, but I wouldn't state it IRL.

[lenad]

I like pink. It looks good on dd. But I didn't like that it was *everywhere*. So as long as I could, I dressed dd in rainbow colors minus purple (and no pink). Then at ~4, she got stubborn. These days (she is 6 3/4), we do a lot of gray (her other favorite color), but we definitely have a good chunk of pink too, esp. t-shirts.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I think I've seen the brands you mention in Marshall's & TJ Maxx. Unless you have the receipt, you cannot return them to Marshall's IME. Diaper bag, 5th change of the day, when grandma visits are uses for those in my book. Or...you just put them on her and wear them out to shop for stuff in the next size up in colors you like.

[lizzywednesday]

I positively DESPISE pastel pinks. Hot pink, I am OK with - I prefer saturated colors like hot pink/fuschia, magenta, etc. - but pastels make me want to hurl. Maybe it's my dislike of liquid Pepto Bismol or maybe it's my rebellion at the "pink is for girls; blue is for boys" attitude that my Dad's side of the family seems to have. I have no use for perpetuating that kind of stereotype.

It's one of my secondary deciding factors for not choosing to find out DD's sex while I was expecting!

And you can find plenty of little girls' clothing that is NOT pink. At regular stores as well as more "luxury" brands.

The way I see it is, since DD can't speak up for herself (and pastel pink is too frickin' hard to keep clean) I don't like the idea of imposing a color that, in my opinion, has a lot of gender-role weight to it. And I don't like setting up those kinds of expectations in such a little kid. If, when she has an opinion on such things, she chooses pink clothing for herself, I won't object.

But that's me looking at it as a rebellious adult.

Mini Boden, Hanna, Zutano, Gymboree, Children's Place, OshKosh, Carters, Target (OshKosh, Cherokee & Circo) and even WALMART have plenty of non-pink options.

Some people are just going to buy what they're going to buy, though, like my dad's mom.

I've had relatives ask me why DD doesn't wear pink; I tell the truth: I can't stand it, so as long as I'm the one buying her clothes, I'm not buying it. I've also been pretty emphatic about not liking or wanting to dress DD in pink anyway - she looks a lot better in bright, saturated colors than pastels!

[BayGirl2]

I think that in general, you cannot ask people to give you specific gifts or steer away from gifts. All you can really do is register and hope that people check the registry. Even though it is hard sometimes, you have to try to remember how blessed you are that people want to give you gifts and are excited about your baby. There are a lot of people who don't have that luxury.

ITA and would probably feel differently if it was anyone other than my Mom. I'm very grateful a neighbor is throwing me a shower and I will appreciate anything I'm given there. (may return for practical purposes, but I wouldn't blame the giver for not knowing my taste.). My SIL made fun of me for putting clothes on my registry for DS, since everyone gets you clothes anyway. I did it to give an idea of my style, which was not pastels. Honestly the Lamaze "fruit stripe" onsies we got for him were one of DH's favorite outfits.

In this case I think my irritation mostly comes from it being my Mom. That's probably the only person I would expect to be somewhat attentive to my preferences, especially after a conversation about it.


I positively DESPISE pastel pinks. Hot pink, I am OK with - I prefer saturated colors like hot pink/fuschia, magenta, etc. - but pastels make me want to hurl. Maybe it's my dislike of liquid Pepto Bismol or maybe it's my rebellion at the "pink is for girls; blue is for boys" attitude that my Dad's side of the family seems to have. I have no use for perpetuating that kind of stereotype.

It's one of my secondary deciding factors for not choosing to find out DD's sex while I was expecting!

The way I see it is, since DD can't speak up for herself (and pastel pink is too frickin' hard to keep clean) I don't like the idea of imposing a color that, in my opinion, has a lot of gender-role weight to it. And I don't like setting up those kinds of expectations in such a little kid. If, when she has an opinion on such things, she chooses pink clothing for herself, I won't object.

Those stereotypes and expected gender roles are part of my issue too. I want my daughter to feel like she can be a CEO-if she wants to. We will not be giving her a cutesy name for the same reason. If she chooses to follow a stereotypical gender role, I am fine with that, but I don't want to assign one to her before birth.

It's not that a color will totally control who she is, but I do think there is some association for a lot of people. I'd like to raise DD and DS the same and allow their natural roles to develop. So far DS appears to be the sensitive one, DD may be the stronger kid, who knows. But I guess I am a bit rebellious in this area.

[AnnieW625]

Yes I do not like items that are all pink, but I don't mind a little pink either.


Pre-baby I didn't tell anyone the gender so I'd get blue and green and yellow stuff.

Post-baby, pink is hard to avoid.

This was us too (we didn't know the gender though), however I did get some pink things when DD1 was born, and then would buy pieces of here and there. I do like all colors and if someone gave me something that was pink each time I usually just kept it, I didn't return it unles it didn't fit or was a duplicate. I wasn't nearly as bad as one friend who will tell you absolutely no red or pink and would probably take it back if it wasn't just quite right. The only color I really avoided with DD1 until she was older (and it's still not prominent) was black. I am not a fan of black on babies (which was super popular when DD1 was little), even during the holidays. My DD1's favorite pjs were Carters Truck print footed sleepers and she is very much in a stage now where certain colors are for girls and certain colors are for boys.

[deborah_r]

IYou know what really torks me off? The pink versions of classic toys they've released for girls. Like pink Legos or that Fisher Price ring stacker. Like, sheesh, aren't our girls allowed to learn their colors??? Sorry, I'm ranting.




No girls in my house except me, but I noticed that trend too, and I just don't get it. Pink legos? Why don't they just add in some pink Legos to the regular sets?

I find it so strange when I am walking across the ends of the aisles in the Target toy section, and there's that one aisle that is absolutely bathed in pink!

[SpaceGal]

I'm not that crazy about pink...but if there's an option I will pick other colors for her, purples, blues, oranges, anything really. I don't love it but I don't have it dominate all the girls stuff...it is hard to avoid in some cases...but I do mix it up.

What kills me is when I get the big puffy pink dresses! Those are the worst...like seriously?!!!? But I get it. I save those to pass onto others and or special occasions.

[jvs195]

I think some people are obsessed with their baby girl not being confused for a boy (why do I care if a stranger thinks my girl is a boy when it's a baby? ) so maybe that was the rationale behind the pink basics. I admit after DS I bought SOME pink when I found out #2 was DD. Her room is pale pink walls, but mostly just swapped the red that DS had for Hot Pink and kept the yellow and turquoise already there (white furniture).

I buy a lot of navy for DD now and love all colors so I try to give DD multiple options (because she does make the decision) Today she is in a blue LE tie dye tshirt that I ordered for DS, but mistakenly ordered Little Boy instead of Big Boy so it fit her. She's got a denim skort on with it but she specifically asked for it today.

I have one relative who always gives us super frilly impractical and NMS outfits. I thank her and donate or consign them with tags on.