Val_2 Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Have just been to the Bébé9 shop to look for something for my son to take as a present for one his work collegues who had a baby 4 weeks ago. Thats a nice outfit says he looking at a cotton pair of shorts and a matching little teeshirt for 3months old........price €56!!No wonder people avoid shops like that and buy in the grande surface. Thats more that I would pay for something for myself and I'm not 3months old. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 But for new babies that is where they go to buy something special. A friend of ours bought something for our youngest, a three month old outfit, no idea how much it cost, but a lot for sure. Youngest was a big baby and wore it once as it was then too small. Wish he had bought something for a 6 month old or 9 month old instead, but there you go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benjamin Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 There's a child's shoe shop in a commercial centre at St Herblain on the west side of Nantes. At a guess none of the shoes would fit a child more than three years old.They range in price from €60 to around €100. The shop's been there for some time although I can't ever remember seeing a customer inside when I've strolled past. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I will never understand children's shoes in France. First pair we bought for our eldest was when he started to walk. Husband took him and came back with nubuck suede and would you believe 'white', cost in 1983 was around £30. I then took him for his next pair. Different shop, similar prices, they showed me what I would call boots of the sort that I had seen polio sufferers wear when I was a kid, only without the calipers. So I said 'mon enfant n'est pas handicappé'. Well if looks could have killed then I would have been dead or struck down in that shop. As I spoke, I realised that all the other Mamans were putting such boots on their tots. Well, no actually, they are ugly and horrible things and I disapprove completely. The assistant insisted that it would help him walk, but as I could walk and had not had such things inflicted on me, I decided against. She found me some lovely proper shoes for him, bright red, lace ups in leather and I would have been happy, but no foot measuring for width. And they were almost £40.The other mamans royally ignored my auvoir as I left the shop, sort of blinking and looking at one another with disdain at this evidentally sotte anglaise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemonimo Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 [quote user="idun"]I will never understand children's shoes in France. First pair we bought for our eldest was when he started to walk. Husband took him and came back with nubuck suede and would you believe 'white', cost in 1983 was around £30. I then took him for his next pair. Different shop, similar prices, they showed me what I would call boots of the sort that I had seen polio sufferers wear when I was a kid, only without the calipers. So I said 'mon enfant n'est pas handicappé'. Well if looks could have killed then I would have been dead or struck down in that shop. As I spoke, I realised that all the other Mamans were putting such boots on their tots. Well, no actually, they are ugly and horrible things and I disapprove completely. The assistant insisted that it would help him walk, but as I could walk and had not had such things inflicted on me, I decided against. She found me some lovely proper shoes for him, bright red, lace ups in leather and I would have been happy, but no foot measuring for width. And they were almost £40.The other mamans royally ignored my auvoir as I left the shop, sort of blinking and looking at one another with disdain at this evidentally sotte anglaise.[/quote][:D][:D][:D] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 I'm not sure what you mean by the "grande surface" Val, but if you mean supermarkets, I definitely agree.Carrefour and Intermarché have really cute outfits for babies which only cost about 12 to 15€.It's not worth paying more as they soon grow out of them, or ruin them by being sick etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Yes, grande surface are the big supermarkets. And they are often in CCial, and it actually took me years to work out what that meant, simply Centre Commerical, I'm slow sometimes.Buying gifts though, I always believed that one was expected to go to the sort of shop Val2 went to, to get something special. They always have been expensive. Over the years we had to bite the bullet and shop in shops that I wouldn't normally go to for all sorts of things. The posh baby shops for a new baby present and somewhere like Geneieve Lethu for something special for a housewarming. And those 'liste de marriage', never seen one from Carrefour, I'll put it like that. I think the cheapest one we ever saw was in Galeries Lafayette and that was dear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 [quote user="Val_2"]Have just been to the Bébé9 shop to look for something for my son to take as a present for one his work collegues who had a baby 4 weeks ago. Thats a nice outfit says he looking at a cotton pair of shorts and a matching little teeshirt for 3months old........price €56!! No wonder people avoid shops like that and buy in the grande surface. Thats more that I would pay for something for myself and I'm not 3months old.[/quote] Val as your daughter is in the UK why not get something from Marks and Spencers - the French people I know seem to think its a good make and it would certainly be different - they have lovely things , alternatively for that kind of money you can buy cute childs bowls etc from HB Henriot, they have a fresh new range of baby pottery : http://www.hb-henriot.com/W/upload/File/CATALOGUES%20EN%20LIGNE/lea%20leo.pdfOr what I have done is order a bib, individually embroidered in the traditional Breton style, colour, name, motif and border of your choice from Le Minor in Pont L'Abbe (one of my very favorite shops !) : http://www.leminorboutique.com/bavoirs.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyA Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I have been very pleased with the service from Littlewoods Europe. Very quick dispatch and only 5€ no matter what the order. M and S have also been very good with their overseas delivery service. I do sometimes buy my grandaughters things from the posh children's clothes shops here, but that is because I want to buy something a bit different for them. For French friends I always buy English stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeanS Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 My niece is about to have her first baby and like others of this thread, I will be wanting to send something nice, so as others have said, I'll bite the bullet and pay the price. I've used Littlewood Europe and Debenhams - both very good> Now I'm waiting till 16th June when you'll be able to order from John Lewis online and have it delivered to France. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 I'll put my two-pennyworth in and say I think it's the most appalling waste of money to buy expensive clothes for small babies. All they do is eat and sleep and they're almost guaranteed to posset milk down a new outfit, however cute, the minute it's put on and grow out of it in a matter of weeks [:D] The embroidered bib sounds a better bet than a 56 euros T-shirt snd shorts. Our daughter, who has a lot of friends and colleagues producing babies, always knits the new arrival a little sweater with some unique decoration and the parents just love them.I'll go away and be grumpy in private now....[;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patf Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Kathy - that's more or less what I wrote too [:D]from another grumpy person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 The embroidered bib sounds a better bet For ease you can order the bibs via http://www.brittanybyways.com/ who will pack and post, likewise the HB Henriot items. If I'm buying in the Uk I like to buy a sleeping bag thingy http://www.johnlewis.com/Baby+and+Child/Sleeping/Sleeping/Unisex+Baby+Sleeping+Bags/265/ProductCategory.aspxin my experience its being cold that wakes babies up and the sleeping bag helps to keep them asleep longer..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 When I had my kids, the sleeping bag thingys were not available in the UK. When I had my kids, pop under vests were not available in France. I agree about wasting money on babies, thoroughly agree, and believe me the money would have been more than welcome when ours were tiny rather than useless gifts. As my kids grew I would get told by british friends living in the UK that people in the UK were designer/mark mad. They would insinuate that this was unique and people in France were not so minded. Well, maybe the 'must have' stuff was not the same stuff, but from our early days I knew that in certain circumstances one was expected to follow suite and participate or simply buy certain things in certain circumstances. I have a bit of a rebellious nature, but felt that we had to conform and we did, even when we could ill afford it. Especially as from the second and third year on in France we were poor for several years. Hence we bit the bullet. We made new friends happy that we had understood. Also we had many such expensive gifts bought for us too, unsolicited incidentally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idun Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Re the sleeping bags, yes I think that they are great things. For our second I bought one and decided to make another as they were dear. By the time I had bought the fabric and the zip, it cost me more to make than to buy and it was smaller than the bought one. I cannot image a baby not sleeping in one really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 For my first baby I made a sleeping bag from an old quilted dressing gown of mine, I lined it with a brushed cotton fabric and undid at the bottom as well as in the front, handy for nappy changing without completely undressing the baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 Didn't you find the draft through your dressing gown a little chilly? [;-)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyF Posted June 12, 2011 Share Posted June 12, 2011 [quote user="Patf"]Kathy - that's more or less what I wrote too [:D]from another grumpy person. [/quote]Great minds thuink alike, Pat. [:D]I tell you, my memory is so bad now I can't even remember what i've just read on the previous page....[:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frecossais Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 My daughter asked me to buy a "Growbag" for her first baby. I think that's what you're talking about here. Great name, isn't it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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