There was a time when kids dressed up that looked alike horrified me.
More than six years ago, I had no children. And my opinions run strong. One such opinion is dressing my children the same way. “What is their INDIVIDUALITY?!” I will shout from the rooftop. Then came my second kiddo and my third in a row. Parenthood really humbles you in a hurry.
now? I dress both of my kids from their hats to their shoes whenever we go somewhere crowded. On our most recent trip to Disney, not a day went by that we made it from our hotel room to the lobby without at least three comments about how “cute” my daughters are. They were then and now but, damn, I winced. Why? Because I don’t dress them up to be “cute.” I dressed them both for their safety and sanity.
I dress both my children for my sanity.
For the funsies, let’s tackle the sanity piece first. Have you ever packed for a family of 5? It’s pretty scary. And then make sure everything is cohesive enough to avoid family photos that look like my 4 year old dressed us all up. Heaven help us.
Making sure everyone has their *everything* and no one is missing socks, underwear, diapers, or (gasp!) a swimsuit requires advanced materials management skills that I don’t have. have Aside from that: I’m not trying to start my vacation stressed out. I’ve done this more than a few times and the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. I am not crazy. Yet. By packing matching outfits, I can literally lay everything out in a nice grid, and visually make sure we’re ready. I don’t have to keep a mental checklist and it definitely reduces the stress of forgetting something one person.
Look at this. Everything is well organized and I can see that I lack a wetsuit and shorts for my youngest, a sleep shirt in the middle, and my oldest is already organized.
Dressing my kids probably saved my marriage. It definitely saved my vacations.
The second piece of this sanity-saver involves my husband. He is clueless. Whether it’s a weapon or not is yet to be determined, but for the sake of this blog and my marriage, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt At this moment.
While it’s certainly nice to have someone who lets me manage the household without too much pushing, there are times when I don’t want to give out GPS coordinates for him to find any of the things. Keeping everything uniform allowed me to SHOW HIM exactly what he was looking for. He is an engineer. This level of detail is important.
But mostly I dress them uniformly for their safety.
Now I know that the REAL surprising bit is the safety bit. What is that about? This is actually the main reason why I read this whole song and dance when doing my seasonal shopping.
Children who dress alike are more likely to get lost at first.
No, I’m not kidding. I spent a week at Disney in May and I can tell you that when people see your kids CLEARLY DRESSED, they are less likely to take you with them. Seriously. They’re less likely to cut you and your family off and more likely to give your little people space.
It’s amazing to watch and, frankly, restores my faith in humanity. It’s also easier for parents to spot their little people because you don’t have to remember what any particular child is wearing in a sea of people.
On our most recent trip, my kids wore bright pink shirts with rainbow striped shorts. I thought that not a few people would wear it and so I could see my children from above OR by looking down between the sea of feet. And I was right! Khaki? many. Navy? Absolutely. Rainbow stripes? Not so much.
It’s easier to find children who dress the same
Imagine for a moment that you are a parent who has lost a child. And you have some. Are you SURE you can remember exactly what that kid is wearing? I don’t and I don’t want to leave it to chance.
All the TikTok tips in the world won’t help you if you can’t remember what your kid is wearing in the first place. In a world where your kids dress the same – You will REMEMBER this information because you’ve seen it three times and/or have an exact replica nearby. It also comes in handy if you need to involve a higher authority in the search for your kiddo.
Here’s how to do it for your family.
At this point you may be thinking that this is a really smart idea (or not) and wondering how to do this for your own family. You probably have kids of many different sizes and want them to be comfortable, but highly visible.
The shopping part is easy. Find a store that accommodates both a large age range AND patterns that are cute but not everywhere. Many stores are in the “matching family” market, but I shop Primary and Tea Collection almost exclusively for this reason.
Primary almost always runs some kind of sale and Tea Collection runs significant sales around the holidays (ie Memorial Day, Labor Day, Black Friday, etc.). You really can’t go wrong either.
Last but not least…
In crowded places (like Boston or Disney, for example), I also put a safety tattoo on each of my children.
This way, if they get lost, they can easily get my phone number and they don’t have to remember a long string of numbers when they’re stressed. My wife certainly doesn’t know my phone number on a normal day, so I don’t expect a stressed-out three-year-old to get it right.
I put it somewhere easy to see so another adult is more likely to see it, as opposed to my kids trying to remember it’s there and let a stranger know it. Again, I’m not trying to leave it to chance. You can get them on Etsy.
Spending a moment NOW on safety will reduce your stress dramatically later
With a little more intentionality in your life, you’ll go on a less tiring public outing with your favorite little people. There will still be tantrums and tears (theirs and yours), but by spending a few minutes considering safety before the activity, you can (hopefully) reduce cortisol and maybe keep your shit together until trip home Take it from me, it’s totally worth it and people tend to respect the uniform. Good luck and happy adventuring.
Have you tried matching outfits for your kids?
Let us know what your experience was in the comments below!
Our next reco: Tips for Flying with a Baby (Free Packing Checklist)
