Shoes, shoes, and more shoes
It is that time of year when hassled parents and reluctant kids hit the shops to purchase the new school uniform for their kids. It is both stressful and expensive, and with 3 kids, the part I dread most is the school shoes.
Fortunately the only requirement is that they are black and fairly sensible!
As a teenager my school had a set list of about 4 actual make and styles which were “approved” by the school and usually 3 of the 4 were hideous in our eyes, so the quest was on to get your shoes before they ran out of your size and width – my daughters were horrified when I told them of this. However I always remember they were always Clarks shoes, and today I still prefer to buy Clarks school shoes.
As a mummy blogger I was offered the chance to review the Clarks childrens fitting service, and was given a £50 voucher towards the purchases.
While my girls are most interested in the styles, and my son in the lights, the fit is the most important to me. Each child was measured for length and width, styles selected, fit checked for growing room, gaps on the top (note my technical expertise), the inevitable “wee walk around the shop” and then a check of the heel for any slippage.
You can view the Clarks 6 steps to fitting below
On our quest, as you can imagine, may shoes were tried, rejected, hummed and hahhed about, and these were the final winners
My 12 year old chose these – suitable unfussy, No Jolie
My 10 year old finally chose these Daisy Wish shoes, however within minutes of arriving home she had immediately doctored the shoes to remove the “fussy bits”. Let’s just say she knows her own mind …. wonder who she takes that after?!!
You can see what they did look like BEFORE she altered them here
There was no contest when it came to my son – once he spotted the flashing lights with the
have an on/off button “so they don’t use up all their energy” he was sold on the Nano Lights!
As always, there are always some additional new shoes required, and in this case my son also got some flashing trainers (notice a theme here?).
Thanks to Clarks, for their helpful staff and the opportunity to share a review of their fitting service.
So how do YOU find shopping for shoes?
UGH. I hate shopping for shoes – for myself and my kids. I know, I know … I’m weird. I’m a woman and I hate shopping for shoes. I love OWNING them, just hate buying them. My kids, however, LOVE IT. If they had their way, we’d shop for shoes every day of the year.
beautiful new shoe! Great C*larks has for each one a special shoe
Unfortunately for me I have had to purchase new shoes because of developing a painful condition – plantar faschitis. Thankfully a good set of Birkenstock inserts are able to slip into both my runners and slippers to give me stability but I had to buy a completely seperate sandal. I chose some that put me well up over $100. You get what you pay for, my feet are all happy now.
Its nice you give your children choice in their shoes. I wish we would have had uniforms when our children grew up – clothes were always a constant draw on finances and sometimes it was difficult to find a balance of value and “fitting in”.
Thx for another interesting, informative and entertaining post.
~ Barb
Hey there, thanks for visiting my blog.
You hit the nail on the head, school shopping is expensive. However, since I currently have only one pre-schooler, we totally enjoy it.
The tough part is taking a day off from work to go and get all the ‘essential’ stuff. I also tend to get distracted by the colourful temptations in the stores. My husband usually has to remind me that it’s been more than a decade since I left school 🙂
As a teenager my school had a set list of about 4 actual make and styles which were “approved” by the school and usually 3 of the 4 were hideous in our eyes, so the quest was on to get your shoes before they ran out of your size and width – my daughters were horrified when I told them of this. However I always remember they were always Clarks shoes, and today I still prefer to buy Clarks Shoes Sale
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