Big kid
Somewhere around five, she starts picking her own clothes. Not all of them, and not every day, but enough that what's in the drawer stops being entirely your decision. A shirt she won't wear is worth nothing however good it looks on a hanger.
Which makes this the age where a swap does something a shop can't. You send back what she's finished with and take what she'll actually put on, and if you get one wrong it goes in the next bag.
Knees first, because that's what goes at this age. Then cuffs, elbows, seams, necklines, the seat of every pair of pants. Prints that have started to crack. Zips and snaps that still work.
Nothing with a set stain, nothing with a hole, nothing pilled or stretched out. If it wouldn't pass in our own house, it doesn't go in the closet.
Growth slows down here. A five year old might stay in a size most of a year, where a toddler moved every few months. That cuts both ways: things get worn longer and harder, but the good stuff is worth sending because it had a proper life first.
It also means a bag from this age tends to be smaller and better. Fewer pieces, more of them worth passing on.
Pick a plan and a bag comes to you, prepaid in both directions. Fill it with what she's outgrown, send it back with the label already on it, and what's accepted becomes credits.
Credits are what you spend on anything in the closet. Nothing is priced in dollars once you're in, and shipping is included both ways.
You can send a bag first and earn your way in, or add credits when you sign up and shop straight away. Either works, and you can do both.
Knees, cuffs, elbows, necklines, the seat of every pair of pants. No stains, no holes, no pilling, nothing stretched out, zips and snaps that still work, prints that haven't cracked.
Some things we don't take at all. Socks and underwear, anything with a stain that's set, anything where the elastic has gone.
Clothes are the easy end of secondhand. The real hazards are mechanical and visible: buttons and appliques that have worked loose, snaps and zips that no longer close, and drawstrings at the neck or hood. The CPSC has recorded 26 deaths from drawstring entanglement, and since 2011 a neck or hood drawstring on children's outerwear has been a federal safety violation. We check all three on every item
What doesn't belong in a swap at all is gear that ages out of safety: car seats, cribs, crib mattresses. Those get recalled and they degrade. Clothes aren't like that.
Big kid runs 5, 6 and 7. Below that we carry 2T, 3T and 4, and baby sizes from 6 months, so you can move down a size for a younger sibling without going anywhere else.
Sizes aren't consistent between brands, so go by height rather than the number on the tag. A 6 from one label can be a 5 from another.
It happens, and it's the reason a swap suits this age better than buying does. Anything that doesn't get worn goes back in the bag and earns credits again, so a wrong guess costs you a cycle rather than money.
A coat gets worn one winter and outgrown by the next with most of its life still in it, which makes it exactly the kind of thing worth passing on. We check the zip, the cuffs, the lining under the arms, and whether the fill has moved.
One thing we always check on outerwear is the drawstring at the neck or hood, which has been a federal safety violation on children's clothing since 2011.
There are plenty of options: resale sites, local consignment stores, marketplace apps, Buy Nothing groups. Most of them are shops. You browse, you buy, you're done.
KidSwaps is a swap. What you send in earns credits, and credits are what you spend. The bag comes prepaid in both directions and it keeps going round.
If they meet the same standard we hold everything else to, send them. Fill the bag, use the label that's already on it, and what's accepted becomes credits you can spend.
What we can't take is donated rather than returned, so send what you'd be glad to see go. We always tell you which items didn't make it and why.
There are four plans depending on whether you want clothes, toys, or both, and round trip shipping is included in all of them.
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