Dressing my family for Spring!

I have really been looking forward to writing this blog post. I spotted a really fabulous competition for bloggers over at The Mummy Blogger to write a blog post showing how you would dress your family for Spring with items from The White Company's spring collection. Well I couldn't wait to get started. A nice bit of online window shopping and dreaming about what I would pick - lovely. But life being life has meant that dreaming is all I've been doing because with homeschooling the boys and having a couple of difficult days with Josh, I didn't get the chance to get enough time to myself until now.

Trinity is extremely lucky to already have a lovely dress from The White Company which she received as a present when she was born. Our friends had very thoughtfully picked a larger size for her so she has only recently grown into it. We love it because it is lightweight and cotton - perfect for spring in fact. So I know that The White Company's clothes are of really high quality, so let's see how I do on picking out some great styles for my family. Particularly as Spring is my favourite season!

The days are getting longer, and brighter, and a bit warmer. The bulbs are poking their heads out above the ground. Nature starts to wake up from it's Winter sleep and Spring gives me a sense of hope.

Now if you ask Josh what he loves about Spring, you would hear 'Easter, chocolate eggs, bunnies and lambs'. Daniel would also agree it is his favourite time of year with his birthday on its way next week.

Josh has already been getting excited about spring...

and so has mummy...

Now normally, I would rush over to The White Company's website and start to choose my favourite items but I decided to stop and think first about what would make a good spring wardrobe.

In case you can't read my scribbles...Here they are tidied up a bit...

• Spring clean your wardrobe before you go shopping. Is there anything that really doesn't suit you? Any clothes that have got so old or worn out and are beyond repair? Sort through the children's clothes and pass on or give to charity anything they have grown out of.
• Key items of clothing. Although I would LOVE to treat myself to an entire new Spring wardrobe each year, reality dictates that it would be impossible. So I try to pick out a key piece of clothing that would make me feel good and that would mix and match well with other items.
• Clothing that can be dressed up or dressed down. Think about whether your new items could take you from daytime to evening with a pair of heels and some nice pieces of jewellery.
• Layering. With warmer Spring days, it is handy to have clothes that can be layered up by adding a cardigan or a scarf for example. Or layered down, eg a top that looks great with either trousers or shorts.
• Comfort. This is crucial for kids (especially for mine with his ASD sensitivities!). If it isn't comfy, I'm going to have a battle forcing the kids to wear it. If clothing is comfy and practical, then it is going to be great for playing outdoors more in Springtime.
• Be prepared to go against the crowd. If something doesn't suit you, or makes you feel uncomfortable wearing it, then don't. Just because everyone else is, it doesn't mean you have to. (This won't be a problem at The White Company because there are some great styles to choose from, that you are sure to find something you'll love anyway!).

Now for the REALLY fun part. I looked through The White Company's fantastic range of clothing for me, the kids and daddy and pinned the items that caught my eye onto my pinterest board.

Next, I took another look through and arranged the items I love the most for each family member onto these collage-style boards to really give me a feel for what would work well. On each board, I have marked what I consider to be the 'key piece' with a heart symbol as I tried to build up the overall look based on a key piece for each family member.

 

 

The key piece I have chosen for Trinity is the gorgeous grey Floral Dress. It comes as a dress and knickers set (to cover up nappies that can look so unsightly). If we have cooler Spring days, then I would just switch the knickers for a pair of these pink or grey tights. They come in a pack with both a pink pair and a grey pair for £10 and either colour would coordinate with the dress really well.

 

Still thinking of cooler days, I have also chosen this Petal Pink Pintuck Cardigan which would keep Trinity nice and cosy. And whilst I am hoping that it will be warm enough and sunny enough for her to learn to take her first steps in bare feet on the grass, I would be prepared in case the weather wasn't so kind to us and get her these Grey Baby Pixie Booties  to protect her tiny feet and toes and keep her warm.

 

The final item I have chosen is in case of a really hot spring like we witnessed a couple of years ago. This 100% cotton Seersucker Stripe Shortie outfit would keep Trin cool. The blue stipes would also complement the boys 'contingency for really warm weather' outfits as you will see.

 

 

I have deliberately chosen to do a combined board for Joshua (aged 8) and Daniel (age 6, very nearly 7 as he would excitedly tell you!). The reason being that the boys have been very fortunate to have received lots of lovely clothes handed-down from friends over the years, which they then pass one to the other as Josh outgrows them and so they rarely get treated to anything new. So when they do get brand new items of clothing, both me and they like the idea of getting clothes that match or really coordinate well with each other. Hence the key item on their board for them both is the Chino Shorts (in Navy of course as the white ones would not stay white for very long at all knowing what my boys are like!!!).

 

Then for the top for Joshua, I would chose the Balloon Motif Sweater. The reason why I have chosen this one for Josh, is firstly it actually looks quite warm and cosy and Josh seems to really feel the cold more than most. Secondly, he loves hot air balloons. So much so that I remember him drawing pictures of Santa in a hot air balloon one Christmas and he kept it up for months afterwards until we had to explain that Santa needed a rest from having to trek over from the North Pole each night to keep collecting the drawings.

 

For Daniel, I would chose the lighter weight Cotton Linen Sweater. In direct contrast to Josh, Daniel actually seems to feel hot most of the time and so the Cotton and Linen mix makes this lightweight sweater the perfect choice for him.

 

Teamed up with a pair of Superga Plimsolls (again in Navy not white in an attempt for them to stay looking cleaner for longer!), both boys would look and feel great for Spring.

 

I have added one final touch for the boys as a contingency for really warm weather. These Striped Vests would help them layer up warm for cooler days underneath their sweaters and on really really warm days, the boys would happily strip down to these vests because with these fab stripes, they look really great.

 

We would have to get the Striped Jersey Boxer Shorts to match because for some reason my boys love to receive underwear! I am guessing it is because they don't often get brand new items of clothing, that pants seem to be the one item they do get from new, so they get rather excited.

 

Both the vests and the boxer shorts come in a pack of 2 - so that's perfect for us. Josh would get the dark blue stripes and Dan would get the lighter blue stripes as that would suit them best.

 

 

Decisions, decisions. Mummy found it the hardest to pick out the perfect spring outfit because there are just so many lovely clothes to chose from. I would have loved to pick this Short sleeve knitted tunic in charcoal grey as my key piece but I had to take into consideration how much the style would suit me (or not in this case as I am still carrying some post-pregnancy baby weight). So far better for me would be this stunning Cotton Broderie Notch Neck Tunic dress. I think the style would cover my lumps and bumps well and I know the notch neck style would suit me as I used to have a favourite top with a notch neck. I would chose it in white (although it is also available in Navy).

 

I really feel I have found the 'key item' of all key items with this dress because it would work as a dress for warm days (and those days that I am brave enough to get my legs out to get some sun), and it would also layer up as a warmer outfit combined with trousers. I reckon it would look great with any of the trousers and jeans in The White Company's range but I have chosen the Navy Slim Capri Pants  combined with the Superga plimsolls in white as my day look. For a special occassion or to 'dress up' the outfit, these Washed Linen Trousers in white would look stunning combined with a pair of gorgeous sandals or heels.

 

For really warm days (in case of that heatwave we are dreaming of), I would be prepared with the Bow front swimsuit with blue stripes (linking in with the colour scheme of Josh, Dan and Trinity's warm weather outfits).

 

And for cooler days, this stylish pink scarf would help keep the chill away.

 

Now, I want to say last but not least, it's Daddy, but actually Daddy does get the simplest outfit of all. Simple but stylish. Daddy works so hard all week in stuffy suits that he deserves some comfy clothes to lounge around in at the weekend. I know he'll like it and it looks super comfy so I might even be caught wearing it on a jim-jam duvet kind of day.

 

 

The Men's Henley T-shirt is relaxed enough to team up with these pyjama trousers at home, and yet sophisticated enough to wear it out and about with a pair of jeans.

One of the things I really like is that so many items of clothing from The White Company can be mixed and matched as they coordinate well together. I think we would also look great as a family because the whole look seems to coordinate well throughout each family members board.

There is a big selection of natural fabrics which will help as the warmer weather comes and natural fabrics like cotton are kinder on my childrens skin.

Another big plus point is that the collection seems to ooze an effortless style and sophistication that I would definitely normally struggle to acheive. Yet with a few key pieces working so well together, I would feel confident that I had 'got it right' rather than risking a big fashion faux pas by buying different items from different stores.

This is my entry into The Mummy Blogger's fabulous "Dress your family with The White Company Competition". If you are a blogger, and fancy joining in (I promise it is great fun!!!), then do pop over to The Mummy Blogger and find out more. Even if you don't fancy joining in with this one, then there are lots of lovely competitions, reviews and more over at The Mummy Blogger.