Teens & Holiday Dress Up

[nicolewi]

Last year I was looking everywhere for a dress for DD for her school concert. This year, just wondering what your teens are wearing if you dress up at home for holidays. Like the half-dressed up; don't need to wear the actual Christmas dress but also don't want to wear Nikes and athleisure. DD has nothing in between right now and we need to do some shopping.

Like some kind of skirt? Sweater with what shoes and what jeans? Etc. 

Thanks!

[shauni27]

I would think jeans or leggings with a nice sweater would be fine, no?

[waverly]

We don’t buy specific Christmas dress up gear but she would do leggings and a sweater.

[nicolewi]

OK, leggings, and a sweater as what we’ve done in the past. I didn’t know if that was still cool enough. All of her leggings are now like sporty ones, so maybe will just get some regular black leggings for this purpose.

She also only has like one pair of jeans, so I feel like she could use a more updated pair of jeans, too.

[penguingrrl]

My oldest has pants and a few button downs and a few sweaters, some of each so they can lean into masc or femme as the mood allows. Half their dress up stuff, though, is concert clothing since they play in 6+ ensembles and some are concert black and others are concert black and white, so black pants and black and white tops are a staple in our house. So they’ll get button downs and sweaters they can wear with their concert pants and call it good.

[Deleted]

My 14 year old got a black long sleeved dress from Target that is absolutely adorable and so versatile and cheap! She is wearing it for everything that requires dressing up this year. www.target.com/p/women-39-s-long-sleeve-twist-front-mini-knit-skater-dress-wild-fable-8482-black-xs/-/A-88809073

She also got a black cardigan from Target that is cute with jeans for less dressy occasions. She doesn’t wear leggings or jeggings, just the wider leg style that is popular now. But it would be cute with dressier pants if the kid liked dressier pants (my kid doesn’t). www.target.com/p/women-39-s-slouchy-button-front-cardigan-wild-fable-8482-black-xs/-/A-88020623

My 17 year old needs a similarly utilitarian dress for dressy occasions. She has several dresses that she’s found at thrift stores or ordered from shein, but none are quite right. We are going shopping shortly because she needs a dress for her graduation in a couple of weeks and we will make sure to get a nice dress that can be worn for any occasion.

[expectantsteelerfan]

When we're just at home, I let my dd wear athletic black leggings and an ugly christmas sweater because it's still festive and it's what she wants. And ds wears athletic pants and a funny christmas shirt of some sort. We only dress up on Christmas eve when we go to church and then to MIL's house after. And for that this year, dd has a red velvet dress from Old Navy that is a really simple skater dress.

[luckystar2]

Nov 21, 2023 9:37:16 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

OK, leggings, and a sweater as what we’ve done in the past. I didn’t know if that was still cool enough. All of her leggings are now like sporty ones, so maybe will just get some regular black leggings for this purpose.

She also only has like one pair of jeans, so I feel like she could use a more updated pair of jeans, too.

Dd (she’s 15) has Aerie flared leggings. They look a little nicer/fancier than just sporty black leggings. She’ll wear them with a cute sweaters as a more dressed up look.

For holidays at home we don’t dress up. But yeah she might end up wearing the aerie flared leggings and a nice shirt or sweater. She has some cute shirts/sweaters from aerie/hollister/aeropostale. Last year she ended up wearing a cute dress (was a red plaid) she found at kohls. Even though we don’t dress up she wanted to wear it.

These are the aerie leggings.

www.ae.com/us/en/p/aerie/bottoms/flare-bootcut-leggings/offline-by-aerie-real-me-high-waisted-crossover-flare-legging/0702_5230_073?menu=cat1090003

[CrazyLucky]

My DD is 11. One time she had to write what she liked about her mom and the number one thing was that I don't tell her how to dress. She is usually in a hoodie, leggings, and mismatched socks. That said, I do insist on dressing decently for Christmas Eve service, which for me means plain black leggings and a sweater. And matching socks. The only other times I have insisted on certain clothing are picture day and my mom's funeral.

DS (13) usually wears sweats and hoodies too, but he has to wear black dress pants, dress shoes, and a button down shirt for his winter concert. So he just wears that for Christmas Eve service.

For the actual day, at home, we don't dress up. Although I do have this fabulous outfit, which brings joy and horror to all who see it:
poshmark.com/listing/NO-Boundaries-Juniors-Christmas-Jumpsuit-Cat-in-Space-Overalls-65248c75981d48d021d2b201?utm_source=gdm&utm_campaign=19919027688&campaign_id=19919027688&ad_partner=google&gskid=pla-2009221124057&gcid=653346999501&ggid=148860216218&gdid=c&g_network=g&enable_guest_buy_flow=true&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAx_GqBhBQEiwAlDNAZrtwZLizAFw1t3qY-PLz1nyZjUOp0mcF32SNjEZL9MHR3LZs-vCXgBoC9kQQAvD_BwE

[abs]

DD has a black eyelet skirt from American Eagle she wears with a plain tee on occasions she needs to dress up more. I’m also ok with jeans and a nice top but she dislikes jeans. She hasn’t worn leggings in probably 5 years! Honestly anytime she wears something a step up from athletic shorts I consider it a win, lol.

[nicolewi]

Thanks, these are some good ideas. To be clear, I’m not forcing her to dress up to sit at home, and she wants to have something a little dressier than her normal school clothes available for some of these parties. We have a large group family photo on Thanksgiving, and all of her cousins (college/post college and then ten and under…DD in middle) dress up. And then we have two Christmas parties that are kind of dressy, plus the chance that she might do some kind of fancier night out with friends or her boyfriend. so… Something like dressier black leggings/flares or the skater dress would probably be perfect.

[quesyrah]

We don’t typically dress up for holidays but we are going out for a fancy dinner later this month.

My 13 year old DS is wearing dark wash jeans with a camel colored cable knit sweater.

My 10 year old DD is wearing sparkly black leggings with a sweater tunic.

[luckystar2]

Nov 21, 2023 13:27:47 GMT -5 nicolewi said:

Thanks, these are some good ideas. To be clear, I’m not forcing her to dress up to sit at home, and she wants to have something a little dressier than her normal school clothes available for some of these parties. We have a large group family photo on Thanksgiving, and all of her cousins (college/post college and then ten and under…DD in middle) dress up. And then we have two Christmas parties that are kind of dressy, plus the chance that she might do some kind of fancier night out with friends or her boyfriend. so… Something like dressier black leggings/flares or the skater dress would probably be perfect.

Yeah we definitely have run into a need at times for dressier clothes. Dd has had orchestra concerts and academic award ceremonies. I have been surprised that we’ve had success finding dresses at kohls multiple times. Last year she found the cutest ice blue velvet dress she wore for her winter concert. She loved it and got a bunch of compliments. She’s found dresses at Hollister but I feel like they have more warm weather ones.

[erbear]

My girls (14 and 12) won't wear jeans but will wear black leggings and a sweater to church. With sneakers. This is the best I can do.

[waverly]

I just bought DD black ankle boots. She seems to like them better than flats or strappy sandals for her band concert and they work for small amounts of snow.

[SusanBAnthony]

DD (13) won't wear jeans. She has a couple slater dresses from target that she likes and will wear with leggings, and a pair of velvet leggings. She will wear a cardigan over a short sleeve skater dress with leggings a lot. For shoes she has lace up black boots that she will wear. She also has a couple short black skirts and she'll wear leggings underneath and a slightly nicer long sleeve shirt on top (like a fitted plain colored one from target).

[redheadk]

My 11yo is either overly dressed or in athleisure so I don't know how helpful this will be.

For Christmas pics, she picked a soft black sweater, a red Christmas plaid mini skirt, black tights, and black ankle boots. She will probably wear that to one of our family celebrations.

She also has a soft bone colored sweater, she just pairs that with jeans and some jewelry. She will likely wear that for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day.

For shoes, I don't really care for the holidays. She rotates between ankle boots, Birkenstocks if it's not too cold, uggs, and AF1s.