Good sales for boy's clothes

[mommy111]

Any good ongoing sales on 4 year old boy's clothes?
Someone from my previous job is going to China next week and I wanted to send some clothes via her to DC's babysitter in China for her son. Babysitter became a dear friend, she was a seamstress in her free time and made many beautiful dresses for DD as a going away present. She is not well off but knows quality clothes since that is her business. She has a 4 year old and I want to send her a bunch of clothes for her son to get her over next summer. I think Gap may still be too expensive despite the 30% off sale, and TCP doesn't have any good sales/coupons going. Any other suggestions? I'm hoping to get him his season wardrobe for $40-50. That stretches our budget quite a bit, but what she did for us during our time there was just beyond any monetary value that we can put on it.

[wellyes]

Cheap and quality don't go hand in hand, of course. But with that budget you'd get the most bang for your buck from the Kohl's kids clearance. It is crazy cheap. See http://slickdeals.net/permadeal/56242

[tigs4999]

Don't rule out GAP. Ours was having some amazing in store clearance deals. I was able to get t-shirts for my son for $1.99 and 3.99 before the extra 30% off (post 30% off they were $1.38 and $2.79) and they were really cute typical gap graphic ones. They were all final sale but at that price i was ok with it. They also had some great deals on rash guards, swim shorts, pjs, slippers, socks, etc.

[TwinFoxes]

I'd say ON or Target. But I doubt a seamstress will be impressed. Hmm, maybe Gap Outlet?

[baileygirl]

I have a lot of luck in the sale area of Gap. Also, Old Navy has their $10 jeans this weekend.

[mommy111]

OK, you ladies have me convinced to look at Gap. I was assuming that gap would be way over budget. Plus gap is one brand from here that is very well recognized there.
I wonder if the price difference is worth a trip to the outlet mall!!

[kozachka]

I don't know how you can get a season's worth of clothes on a $40-$50 budget unless at least some of these clothese would be used or free. I can't imagine getting through a season with less than 6-7 tops, bottom, underwear and socks. Presuming you don't get any underwear and socks, that means that each item would have to be $2-4. And in my experience we can get very cheap t-shirts but not bottoms. We just got back from ON where I picked a pair of jeans and a polo shirt for $14.5 including tax. If it were me, I'd rather get a few high quality items than a bunch of cheap so-so ones. I've given gift to people whose kids live in Russia/Ukraine, and who are as brand oriented as Chinese, and GAP would be your best bet, even if you get fewer pieces.

[mommy111]

I don't know how you can get a season's worth of clothes on a $40-$50 budget unless at least some of these clothese would be used or free. I can't imagine getting through a season with less than 6-7 tops, bottom, underwear and socks. Presuming you don't get any underwear and socks, that means that each item would have to be $2-4. And in my experience we can get very cheap t-shirts but not bottoms. We just got back from ON where I picked a pair of jeans and a polo shirt for $14.5 including tax. If it were me, I'd rather get a few high quality items than a bunch of cheap so-so ones. I've given gift to people whose kids live in Russia/Ukraine, and who are as brand oriented as Chinese, and GAP would be your best bet, even if you get fewer pieces.
Its possible but not easy to get a wardrobe (minus underwear) at $40-50 with branded stuff esp for summer but at very very deep discount sales. I've gotten Hanna pants for $5ish in the past and $2 shirts are a dime a dozen(TCP, ON, gap etc) or $4-5 at Hanna....if you're not particular about color and design. My constraint this time is that I don't have the time to shop deep discount sales, and since I haven't really had the budget to shop for wardrobes for my kids, I haven't looked for the appropriate sales. But yes, I agree with you, people there tend to be very brand conscious....maybe a few gap items mixed with a few of the Kohl's ones.....the only issue that I'm having with the kohl's sale is that everything is pretty picked over in his size.

[kozachka]

You said "quality clothes", and I hope I do not offend anybody here, but I doubt it very much that you ex-nanny, who is a seamstress so knows clothes construction and fabrics, would consider ON or Kohl's clothes to be quality. DS has had items from both as well as TCP and I would not buy them for a gift to someone in a country where cheap clothes are abundantly available, let alone for a person who can sew. When buying gifts I tend to buy higher quality items even if it means there'd be fewer pieces. That means buying GAP, Gymboree or Land's End.

Also, when I shop, cost of gas and my time comes into calculation. I would not drive around from store to store and spend hours looking for a bargain to save $10-$20. If I were going to stores anyway, and had lots of free time on my hands, then sure, I'd bargain hunt like there is no tomorrow and put together a season's wardrobe for $50.

[TwinFoxes]

OP, maybe try Lands End overstock section? There's usually free shipping and/or percentage off codes floating around. Or if you have Sears, you can shop LE there.

Are you anti-consignment store? I've sold stuff at our mothers of multiples sales with tags still on. (The girls get a lot of NMS clothes as gifts).

[mommy111]

So we ended up getting some stuff from gap and some from the lands end sale at Sears. My gap had a whole bunch of final sale items with the 30% off f&F which worked out quite nicely. Thank you all so much for the suggestions!!!
Twinfoxes, I am not anti consignment store at all for myself, just wouldn't do items that are not new as a present, and in our area, finding NWT at consignment is virtually impossible!!
Thanks everyone!