Looking for summer activities for your kids? Now’s a great time to teach them to be savvy thrift shoppers!

Why, you ask? For so many reasons that will serve them well throughout their lives.

Not everything “good” has to be brand new!

Value can be found in gently used stuff too! Think about that book you just read or clothing that no longer fits you… or your lifestyle. Certainly think of the clothing your kids have outgrown. These items definitely have more use left in them, but just not to you. This is a great lesson for kids who have been raised in our disposable society.

Teach kids to express themselves at a fair price

Be sure to point out the prices for items at the thrift store as compared to big box or mall retail stores. How much would that pair of jeans cost if you were shopping for brand new at the mall? Or that oversized t-shirt? How much more life do those thrifted jeans still have to offer!? Show your kids how much more they can get for the same amount of money at a thrift store.

Teach them to do some good for the community – that the community is their responsibility, period.

Both donating the items they don’t want, use or need anymore and shopping at a thrift store, are great ways to help the community. Donating equals recycling and keeping items out of land fills, helping the environment. Shopping helps to keep community members employed and local charities supported. Help them understand that while some people thrift shop by choice, a great number of folks thrift out of necessity. If you kids have an interest they might consider getting some of their friends together and organizing a community collection drive or volunteering some time! That would make and even bigger impact in the community!

Teach kids to think outside the retail box…

Kids know what they want. They want what their friends have, what they see advertised on TV and online. They want it all (and they want it now!) Make a game of thrift shopping by challenging them to come up with a new craft project using items they find on the Bric-a-Brac shelves. Challenge them to put together a fashionable outfit for themselves.  Maybe they can find a shirt to tie dye or a vintage jean jacket. Challenge them to find something – anything – wrong with a gently-used bicycle!

Have a little fun on a rainy day and challenge them to a Thrift Store Scavenger Hunt! 

We’ve put together this short list of items you can find at most thrift stores… add to this list as you think of things that will interest your kids:

• a pair of Lucky Brand jeans.
• a tea kettle
• a bowl with a yellow flower on it
• a record album – vinyl or cd – of (you name the band)
• a coloring book
• a video game t-shirt
• a book (by your child’s favorite author)
• a Christmas ornament
• something with a plug
• a cat… or dog… or goose
• cowboy boots
• a belt with a buckle
• a hat with a flower
• a picture frame with a real picture in it!
• a ball of yarn