Is it sustainable/worth buying Christmas outfits and pajamas for your baby if they will only wear it for a month? Probably not. But it’s my baby’s first Christmas and they would look SO cute in holiday outfits! Can you relate? As a mom who is trying to avoid fast fashion and make clothing purchases that can be worn year-round, this is the struggle. Especially as a first time mom with a baby who will be celebrating their first Christmas!
I have the perfect solution for you mamas that are looking for something both eco-friendly and economical – second hand seasonal clothes! These items are generally in good to like – new condition since they are seasonal and can only be worn for a limited time. There is no need to purchase all brand new seasonal outfits when you can thrift. And while in-person thrifting is not the greatest option during the pandemic, there are still a ton of ways to purchase second hand clothing online. For this particular use case of seasonal second hand clothes, my current favorite option is to use Mercari.
This post is not sponsored but does contain referral links.
Mercari is an e-commerce app that makes it super easy to sell and buy almost anything online. I have found that sellers are usually in the mindset of trying to declutter their homes and are willing to accept offer bids. Mercari also makes it easy to bundle listings so you can save on shipping. Because of these two reasons, I have found purchasing bundles of baby clothes to be amazingly cheap and individual items come down to being only a few bucks! So, when it came to searching for specifically baby Christmas pajamas, I was pleasantly surprised to see a plethora of options.
The app itself is pretty straightforward and intuitive to use. You type what you are looking for into the search bar and then can filter by category, brand, size, condition, or status (for sale or sold). I mostly used the size and status filters. There is also option to search for listings where the seller pays for shipping so that it is free for the buyer.
The trick is to look for bundles. I like to search for bundles that are around ~$15 price range. Keep scrolling until you find something that looks more like this: Multiple items and in this price range.
You then can offer a bid or purchase the listing if you are satisfied with the price. It never hurts to negotiate so I always like to see if I can get a few dollars back, especially if I am covering shipping. Mercari does give guidance on what you should bid on, usually a few dollars lower than the listing amount to avoid lowball offers. Below you’ll see the bundle being listed for $12 and an offer guidance to be between $9-$11.
Submit your offer and wait and see what happens! The seller may accept the offer right off the bat or you may go back and forth to negotiate.
This is the bundle I was able to score a few weeks ago. It had 7 gently used Christmas items. I put in an offer a few dollars below the asking price and after a few back and forth negotiating, the final price ended up being $11 + $4.99 shipping = $17 total / 7 items = each item ended up being ~$2.29!
Now for the rest of the month, you can best believe my little guy will be fully decked out in Christmas attire. We all could use a little more holiday cheer this year!
If you have never used Mercari before, you can use my referral link to create a new account. Mercari will give $10 off your first purchase and $20 when you make your first $100 selling.
I’d love to hear what deals you’ve scored! Please share in the comments or tag me on Instagram!
Cheers to finding more ways to be a little more eco-friendly <3
Grace
