Preschool Fashion Week, *Sponsored by Totspot*

I’m excited to partner with Totspot for this post about how we recently celebrated Preschool Fashion Week in our house. (Ok, that’s not really a thing. But it should be. Because it would be far more entertaining — and maybe even more outrageous — than the runways in NYC. Right?!)

If you know Pink, you know there’s absolutely nothing about her that screams — or even whispers, for that matter — “conformist”. So, when we recently had this conversation, I was a bit surprised.

“Mom, I have to start wearing dresses.”
“Oh. Why is that?”
“All my friends at school are very fancy.”

Of course I smiled and continued with the rather entertaining conversation. But I couldn’t help but wonder, does peer pressure really kick in at age three?

I should have known better (especially since one of her examples was the boy who has the best tutus). I quickly realized that it just so happens Pink is in a copycat phase. When I run my fingers through my hair, she mirrors me. When her brothers dribble a basketball, she joins in. And, when the girls at school wear dresses, well, she figures she’ll give it a go too.

After all, dresses are fabulous for spinning. And she does a lot of spinning. With mismatched leggings, oddly colored polka dot socks, fuzzy boots, and a sweater, they’re even ok on a cool morning. They’re also great compliment wranglers. (Which may explain why this trend is sticking…for now.)

We were very lucky that a friend gave us some beautiful hand-me-down dresses that fit Pink now, but some of them are even fancier than preschool “fancy” (read: not a canvas for finger paint). And, given Pink’s fashion whimsy (along with her uncanny ability to outgrow new clothes overnight), I didn’t want to invest a lot of time or money in her latest must-have collection. (Have I mentioned that I hate shopping?)

I was recently introduced to the Totspot app and figured it was the perfect fashion fix for my fickle, yet stylish, Spunkerella. It’s a great, user-friendly app that helps you easily search and buy (or sell, for that matter!) gently used kids’ clothes at great prices. Within a few minutes I found…

…a purple butterfly dress:

…a fun cotton skirt:

…and the most preschool perfect dress with a ballerina on it:

(Did I mention this girl chassés and passés everywhere we go? Ok, ok, I do too…)

Since I purchased each one from a different Totspot seller, it was so much fun watching the USPS delivery man leave little packages of precious on our porch. A couple of them even came with cute thank you notes from the moms who sent them (one threw in some party mints…my my kids’ favorite!).

Some things I loved about the Totspot app (beyond thrilling my mini fashion maven, of course):

• You can mark your favorites as you scroll through the for-sale items and see them all together before deciding what to purchase.
• There’s a comment stream on each item, so you can easily communicate with the sellers — before and after purchasing items. I found each of the sellers I interacted with to be very proactive and responsive.
• You can now bundle your purchases — meaning if you want multiple things from one seller, you shop using the bundle button and they’re all shipped together — saving on shipping fees and packaging — without extra back and forth to the seller.
• I got email updates letting me know the seller and USPS were making the magic happen. (Note: While they were all shipped Priority Mail, the orders arrived many days apart, so order a couple weeks in advance if you have an important date coming up.)
• Oh, and with the app and your smartphone camera, you can set up your own shop to make some quick cash too. Goodness knows we all have barely-worn baby/kiddo clothes around the house, right?

But be warned, while you may get just as many great deals for your kiddos, the styling Pink does is not included. But, should you be looking for tips, I’ll leave you with one complete outfit rundown. This morning, Pink paired the purple butterfly dress with flower-embroidered jean shorts (long enough to peek out from under the dress a couple inches, of course), pink Hello Kitty rain boots, gray socks (long enough to peek out of the boots an inch, of course), and a navy blue hoodie. That, my friends, is style that can’t be bought.

Ready to style your little one? Then click here to download the Totspot app.

Disclosure: I was compensated to partner with Totspot for this post, but all opinions and experiences are my own. And, as you probably guessed, all unique outfit pairings and awesome spinny moves are Pink’s.