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Home › Articles › Toddler Fashion › All Bundled Up

All Bundled Up

Dress-up and Play Coats
for Your Toddler

By Laura Cone

Pages:  1  2  3  

Most parents love dressing their toddlers up because they look so adorable. As temperatures begin to dip and snow falls, it's important to be practical about finding the perfect winter jacket or coat.

"I think most parents I know always have two coats for their toddler," says LaDonna Felke, a mother of three and the owner of La Bella Children's Boutique in Auburn, Ind. "They have one coat to wear to go shopping at the mall or to church and another coat that is more practical, a water-repellant one for playing in the snow."

Felke says most toddlers do not wear leggings or legwarmers. "The swing style is most popular in coats," she says. "It's basically got a flair to it. It's comfortable. It's an easier fit. It would cover your bottom."

Hats off to Fashion
When it comes to hats, most toddlers wear hats that are not attached to the coat, Felke says. Many experts warn against jackets with drawstrings, which can put a child at risk for being strangled if it gets caught in playground equipment. At the same time, it's important for toddlers to wear hats because experts say as much as 70 percent of your body heat leaves through the head.

"A lot of toddlers are still wearing hats with matching gloves and scarves," Felke says. "Scarves are still very popular. You see a lot of Himalayan-looking hats with tassels on it."

The best hats are made of wool or fleece. Felke says fleece is more comfortable for younger children and is ideal for a dressier coat. For more practical purposes, such as sled riding or making snow angels, she suggests a nylon coat that is water-repellant.

Felke says her customers, even those living in California, began purchasing winter coats in August. She has sold a lot of lighter-weight, fleece-lined coats for people living in milder climates.

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