Monday, April 9, 2012

Kids - Coloring Coordinating, Not Matching

For Easter Sunday, my kiddos looked like this in our front yard:
















This one was taken at my aunt and uncle's house before they went for an egg hunt:












And I had so much fun looking for shirts for the boys and a dress or Sarah. The thing is, I finally found a store that had sizes which would have allowed Caleb and Gabriel to have identical shirts, and Sarah and baby girl could have had matching dresses (you know, when she arrives). But I just couldn't do it. I'm not sure why!

I love to color coordinate the family, but I just can't have them matching exactly. I usually find Sarah's dress first, and then I go off of those colors. She had pink, green, and white...so I found shirts for the boys with green and/or white in them.

Maybe it's because I read an article about this once, it particularly was speaking about twins and parents who always match them. I just found it to be interesting, the truth is each kid is so different (even non-twins) that I just like for them to have their own look...even if it may be color coordinated! :)

I do find it to be cute when I see matching kids, so don't be offended if your kids match and you're reading this! It's just that for my kiddos (just Caleb and Gabriel for now until baby girl gets here) I've never matched them exactly.

An entire, professional family picture may be different...I've thought of wearing all white shirts someday for an outside shot...not sure, though.

Maybe this non-matching thing is because my mom never matched me and my sister? Oh...thanks, mom, by the way! ;)


Do you match your kids, color coordinate, or neither?

14 comments:

accesskas27 said...

You know me... I love matching... in fact when i can i dress all 3 boys the same... not only because I think it's cute but they actually love it when they wear the same thing and request it alot. Anna I don't have to worry about so much, but don't be surprised if someday you see me and her in matching shirts or outfits.. (until she is old enough to tell me that it's not "cool" anyway)

Now as for me when i was growing up I don't remember my mom ever matching us for holidays or anything like that. I think she just bought us each something we liked and looked good in, so I don't know where I get my need to match. :-)

accesskas27 said...

Oh and your kids look adorable by the way! Since we had family pics taken the day before I didn't snap pictures of them on easter... they were sick of smiling.. lol :-) but the boys all wore their white shirts they wore in pictures on easter morning :-)

Chrissy said...

Oh, my. Mom and daughter matching...I never considered this...ha!

Shelley said...

Ok where did you find a store that you could get matching shirts for the boys? I have been looking for quite sometime. My kids are 6 and 2 and now its getting hard to find them matching or close to matching shirts.

Love the pictures of the 3 of them all dressed up, can't wait to see pictures of all four of them dressed in similar colors.

I was an only child so I never got a chance to be dressed like anyone in pictures which is why I want to do that for my kids.

Chrissy said...

Crazy 8 - a store at the Chesterfield Mall. I really liked the clothes and prices there! crazy8.com

Mindy said...

Super cute! I think coordinating outfits look better than matching outfits. And in professional photos too so everyone doesn't blend together! It is more visually appealing, in my opinion. We encourage clients to not match! :)

thechattymommy said...

They look great!
I always want to do the beach picture with the jeans and white shirt thing.
I always say next year when I lose weight- lol- hopefully that is true this time.
I have a new Monday linky- come and link up if you can.
http://www.thechattymommy.com

Jess said...

Too funny! I just had a little something in my blog post about matching and coordinating before I saw your post. I like to match the girls occasionally, but Ross hates it, so I try not to very often. Matching is cute, but color coordinated is even better. Your kids always look nice when they are all dressed up! Well, even when they aren't dressed up they are still cute too!

Causey Fam said...

Well, with one boy and one girl, I don't have that dilemma. However, growing up my younger sister always wanted to match me if she had something the exact same OR even the same shirt of a different color and I would always change clothes before we left the house :)

Bld424 said...

My mom used to sew us Easter dresses that coordinated. As a twin she and her sister wore the same pattern in complimentary colors. I think she carried this on as a family tradition from her mom. She stopped doing this when I was old enough to select my own things and want to be different -maybe age 11?

I would like matching kids, and more than not I try to plan what they will wear when they get out of the house. Sometimes I realize I dressed them in my outfit colors, and I keep it that way as long as it doesn't look TOO matchy.

I'd love to match the kids in the future, put probably won't do it much since I love second-hand stores and buying on clearance the year before in the next year's size.

For this easter, the kids just wore bright clothes. It didn't match a bit.

Nel said...

I pretty much just try and color coordinate. The girls ages make it almost impossible (unless if I spend a fortune) to get matching for their size differences.
I like for their colors to go together - you know for pics ;o)

Devin said...

Your kids look adorable, and very well coordinated:) When we were younger I'm pretty sure my mom had us coordinate or match on special occasions. I've dressed my girls the same and/or coordinating forever. I think it's cute, but for the most part, it's was just easier for me. Several years ago I tried to let them practice their independence and pick out different outfits and school clothes, and they ended up picking out the same things anyway. So, I'm fine either way for everyday, but I enjoy the challenge of finding coordinating outfits for the family for special occasions.

Ashley said...

I love matching kids!!! I know I would've done it all the time if I had had my twins/triplets when they were babies, but getting them older, I imagined that they would NOT want to match. I did buy 3 polos before the boys came home in hopes...and guess what? They choose to match themselves as often as possible! They love to match! I think a small part of it is that it's another way to "claim" each other as brothers. It's really hard to find matching things in the wide size range (newborn and 8 / 10/12)...but I succeeded for Easter! Here's to hoping I can continue for as long as they want to!!

Jamie said...

We do a bit of matching and lots of coordinating. I like to sew dresses for the girls and make tie shirts for Micah that match. He loves to match his sisters! It's hard to find clothes that match with the size difference of my girls so if I want them to match I have to make it myself. So, for special occasions they usually match but not always. I'm partial to both ways! ha!

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