I ordered Elizabeth some new shirts from The Children’s Place, and also bought her some at Target. Here is a picture of one of the shirts she outgrew in TCP large (green, top), one of her new TCP extra-large shirts (pale blue, middle), and one of her Cat & Jack (Target) shirts in extra-large (white with pattern, bottom):
I can see how a parent might go either way, feelings-wise. If the child in question was jussssst out of the TCP L, or had gotten wider without getting much taller, the jump to Cat & Jack XL might give a parent the feeling that there was NO SIZE THAT FIT. But in Elizabeth’s case, where she suddenly grew a whole bunch taller and not much wider, the new TCP XL shirts already look short and boxy and as if she’s about to outgrow them: they’re only an inch longer than the old size. The Cat & Jack XL shirts are perfect for what I’m looking for: they have room to grow, so I don’t feel like I already have to start shopping for the next size up, but they don’t look enormous on her.
Speaking of Elizabeth, she would like to be Holtzmann for Halloween, and that is a request I’d like to honor because Holtzmann is awesome.
(image from third-bit.com)
But I am very, very, very low-end of the spectrum as to what I want to spend on a Halloween costume. I looked up “homemade Holtzmann costume” and found instructions that included purchasing a $40 jumpsuit and $15 goggles to be worn one single time, and I am not on board with that plan.
Our tentative plan right now is to go with this inspiration from Paul Feig, producer of Ghostbusters: “You imagine her room is just this enormous pile of clothes she’s found in dumpsters and Goodwill and bought at garage sales.” We’ll color a pair of cheap safety goggles yellow, figure out how to do crazy hair, and layer on the rest of her look from assorted household clothing and disabled electrical tools. We’ll do Holtzmann’s everyday look, rather than her professional ghost-hunting uniform.
Homedepot has safety goggles for around 3 dollars. She could embellish them with black tape.
Dollar Tree also has safety goggles…for a dollar!
AHHH! Best costume idea! Your kid is ridiculously awesome!
I saw a picture online somewhere of a toddler Holtzmann (professional ghostbusting version) and it was so awesome.
I just want to BE Holtzmann. Can I BE her?
I giggled at “Holtzmann’s everyday look.” This is an EXCELLENT costume idea, and would love a follow-up photo if Elizabeth is on board.
The discrepancy in sizing for children’s clothing is MADDENING. Your picture illustrates this perfectly! The difference between what TCP and Cat & Jack call an XL is crazy. Add to this annoyance the fact that kids are growing, like, ALL THE TIME and what you get is a bunch of disheveled-looking hobo kids wearing flood pants and wiping their noses on their droopy, flappy shirt sleeves….or maybe that’s just my kids? And I omg I love that new Cat & Jack brand at Target, isn’t it the best?! I wish they made shirts that fit me, I would totally buy them.
Yes! And this why when I shop the big semi-annual consignment sales, I always measure my kids first and bring a measuring tape so I can make sure the clothes I want to buy fit, especially since there are no returns.
My kids too! Argh!!! I thought I was good on pants at the end of the school year since everyone had growing room left. Just before school started, said growing room had vanished and flood pants had appeared in their place. Hoboz of our ‘hood.
This comment had me lol’ing. The droopy flappy sleeves was my issue! And yes Swistle, that picture is fantastic. I’m glad your girl is all suited up with new duds. (Task progress).
Nope, my kids, too. And the Cat and Jack clothes, while cute, are really randomly sized just within the brand (2 out of 2 moms I know agree!). For example, the XS (usually described as 4/5) pants in the “kids” section are wider but shorter than the 5T pants in the “toddler” section. When I did back to school shopping for my daughter, I held up the 4/5 pants, decided they were too short, and bought her about 7 pairs of 6s. I expected them to be a little big, but they ended up SWIMMING on her, even after washing. So I put them in the closet, went back and bought four or five pairs of 5T, which fit her perfectly. Shouldn’t a 5T and a 4/5 be basically the same size? Gaaah.
Isn’t the T in 5T for Tall?
The S in 5S is for Slim.
I think T is for toddler: 2T-5T comes after baby sizes but before bigger-kid sizes. An S is sometimes for slim, but in this case I think she was just making 6 plural.
I remember that frustrating stage between toddler and bigger-kid sizes! Sometimes a 5T was the same as a 4/5; sometimes it seemed like it was a size smaller (4T, 5T, 4/5, 6), sometimes it was BIGGER! I remember having a drawerful of size 4, size 5T, size 4/5, XL (in toddlers), XS (in bigger kids), etc., all different proportions! I’ve HEARD that the T sizes have room in the buns for a diaper, but that doesn’t seem to be consistently the case.
Gah the clothing size thing is maddening. My daughter is really long waisted and I have the hardest time finding shirts that fit her well. She’s in a growth spurt now so all of her shirts are becoming crop tops. Time to go shopping, I guess. SIGH.
Great costume idea!! I’m not willing to pay much for costumes either, because come on. One night.
Once I find a clothing brand for the kids (they wear uniforms to school), I stick with it. Old Navy is my go to. Since I can stock pile, I do when things are on clearance. I did buy some of the Cat & Jack uniform skirts, and they were much bigger than what I was used to in Old Navy sizes, and much longer. My middle kid who is long and skinny, wears a large in the Old Navy uniform skirts. In Cat & Jack, she’s in the Medium, with room to spare.
YES, another big fan of Elizabeth as Holtzmann!! Pleeeease ask her if we can have a picture bc that sounds amazing.
Relevant: http://kottke.org/16/10/kate-mckinnons-ghostbusters-outtake-reel-a
I am on the OTHER end of the Halloween costume spectrum, but I completely, completely understand and support you and Elizabeth in your costume fun!
I see a few options that are more in the $20-30 range online, and the pop-up Halloween stores probably still have these in stock as well, since rush shipping would bump it up. Amazon Prime has a very few depending on the size needed AND HERE WE ARE AGAIN WITH SIZE CRAZINESS.
But another option is that a thrift store (or maybe one of her brothers) may very well have tan pants and a tan shirt or a tan sweatshirt or sweater (or white which could be dyed tan – not a horrible job), or both of those in similar grays, and you could add a belt and a few accessories and it could LOOK a lot like a jumpsuit. Red/orange bias tape or even duct tape would go a long way toward that Ghostbusters look.
TL:DR; the key parts of the Holtzman look are the blond crazy hair and the googles. Everything else is gravy.
Happy Halloween!
This is what I came to say- tan goodwill shirt and pants plus orange duct tape would be great! :)
I came here to suggest that as well, but it looks like you beat me to it! You could also use fabric paint for the embellishments, if you can find the shirt and pants cheaply enough that you don’t care about not being able to wear them again later. (Or if Elizabeth wants to have a Ghostbusters outfit for everyday wear, which would be awesome!)
A friend and I are both going as Holtzmann for Halloween – she’s in the Ghostbusters uniform, I’m in the not-ghostbusters uniform. (I have some ugly glasses from Zenni that will do the trick.)
And I totally agree with the assessment of the shirts – my daughter is 9 and incredibly tall and skinny. Cat & Jack seems to be the best quality for the money for her these days.
This post is so awesome/timely for me! My rather small 10-year old kid’s entire wardrobe from last year is size 10-12 TCP tops (bought in every color on sale for $4) and Circo leggings size 7-8 (bought in every color for $5 each). I figured those tops would last two years, maybe 3. So it’s finally chilly enough for long sleeves and all of these shirts she wore last year are too small. Oh, they totally fit but they’ve shrunk from a bunch of washes and aren’t long enough. She likes long tops in case she needs to raise both her hands over her head. Which never happens! In other words, I love you for this post. I wish I had a recommendation but I literally realized I had to start looking this morning.
Have you looked at Primary.com? I have boys and I LOVE the quality of the clothing as well as the unisex factor. I don’t know how the sizing relates, except that my son likes to wear leggings under shorts and the size 10 seems to be perfectly sized.
So, I do not know that you would want Elizabeth to catch the meaning of the piece, but Holtzmann’s necklace is both very recognizable and pretty easily reproducible. (I am thinking a keychain ring on a necklace chain, a screw glued over the ring, and a U made from a piece of wire, or even cut from cardboard or foam, glued over that.) I know that the blog Epbot, which everyone should check out if they have not yet, has a much better tutorial, but in terms of items that you probably already have in your home….
This post might provide some more style inspiration! http://www.autostraddle.com/style-thief-how-to-dress-like-dr-jillian-holtzmann-345692/
(It’s Autostraddle, so super-gay and with some cussing.) Obviously the suggested purchases are a) adult-sized, and b) bonkers, but there are some good notes on how her everyday look comes together.
YES. This is the very post that made me think there was no reason we couldn’t use everyday-Holtzmann garb instead of the Ghostbuster suit! I find the first tip to be the MOST helpful.
Right now, my numbers two and three are in third and second grade. My third grade girl is pretty skinny and long and she really likes her clothes to be tight, smashed right up against her. My second grade girl has recently gotten to be kind of a chunk and it is MISERABLE to find clothes. Nothing is long enough, everything grabs her around her belly, it’s the worst. I am glad to know about the Cat & Jack clothes, I bought my number four, who is five, some C&J leggings last week and I really liked them.
Interesting on the shirts! My daughter was born 2005 too and I’d already stopped buying her The Children’s Place shirts online because they got too small. Well, I guess she got too big, but didn’t they just get bigger sizes, right? I think I should just skip to the Target ones instead. I didn’t know she would still fit in those – I’d started buying her adult or Juniors ones at Walmart. Though when we last looked at Target, everything that I thought was super cute, she hated! So I guess she would have to be with me. Or maybe we can look online, since the Red Card gives free shipping. Though I guess she’s ok with whatever thrift store stuff I found lately. Her Nanna will also buy her stuff at Kohls too.