Giveaway: Tea Collection Children's Clothing $100 GC {1.18; US} CLOSED

This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. I'm cross-posting it here at Hobo Mama Reviews as well. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory main entry and optional bonus entries.

Tea Collection is offering our readers a giveaway of a $100 Gift Certificate.

Tea Collection offers high-quality, modern children's clothes that are internationally inspired, wearable, and unique.


I'm a little bit drooly when it comes to Tea Collection children's clothing. I admired them from afar for a couple years before finally getting my greedy paws on some pieces. I entered giveaways like this (but didn't win, sigh). I was nearly giddy when Tea offered to let me do a review and giveaway of their precious boys' clothing. (Clothes for girls, women, and babies are also available.)

Tea Collection: The Story

Tea Collection picks a particular global region to inspire the clothing line each year: from Japan to West Africa to Hungary. Right now it's Modern Mexico, and I love the south-of-the-border details. The inspiration often turns toward the graphic and the colorful, lending a stylistic and unique touch to your kids' clothes you don't usually find.

The tagline for Tea is "for little citizens of the world." I admire the "fusion of worldwide cultures and modern design," as the About page puts it.

Decorate the Kids: Get Colorful

Let me admit that I'm not a little green when I look at the girls' clothing that Tea offers. As with most children's clothing, it's even cuter. But, I have two boys, and fortunately, Tea has got them covered with delectable options as well.



One thing that often depresses me about boys' clothing is how drab it can be. Tea says no way to boring and came through with not one but two purple shirts for my four-year-old! Mikko loves purple, and it's incredibly hard to find boys' shirts in that color. Yea for Tea!

Matchy Matchy: Range of Children's Sizes

Even better? Mikko loves to match clothing with his new little brother, Alrik, who's six months old. I figure that agreeableness won't last forever, so I try to indulge it as I can. Unfortunately, Mikko wears a size 6 or 7 now, and Alrik is still in baby sizes, of course. This makes finding coordinating clothing very challenging.



Tea to the rescue! Nearly all of the clothing options at Tea Collection start at baby sizes (a Small is 6-12 months) and go up through children's sizes, most up to a size 12. Yup, you could get a baby a romper, big sister a coordinating shirt, and even bigger sister the same one! I can't tell you how excited this makes me.



(They also have newborn size clothing for smaller babies, beginning at 0-3 months up through 6-9 months.)

Our Clothing: Sized Right

Here's what we received, all told:

• Diego Stripe Tee for the little guy (size Small) and the big one (size 7)
• Fuerte Polo in Amethyst in Medium and 7
• Fiesta Plaid Shirt just for Mikko, in 7, as an additional shot of purple
• Surplus Playwear Pants in Cliff just for Alrik, in a Medium

I chose our sizing based on the Size Chart and was quite pleased at the fit. Just for reference, Alrik is about 17 pounds right now, and Mikko is (gasp) 50 pounds.

Size Small is 15-22 pounds, and Medium is 22-27 — I chose a Medium for the short-sleeve polo shirt, since likely Alrik will be wearing that more in the spring and summer. I didn't feel that either shirt looked way too big on him, probably because of the nice elasticity, but there's thankfully plenty of room to grow. The pants were a little snug over his cloth diaper, but not a problem once we wiggled them on. Since they were in the larger size, they needed to be rolled up, but I actually like it when baby pants are too long, because then they still cover the legs when they get hiked up during babywearing.

Size 7 is 51-61 pounds according to the chart, and indeed, it looks like Mikko has a little room to grow, but the shirts aren't comically large on him. He's tall for his age, but not at a seven-year-old's height, so I worried about the length of everything — they're definitely longer than the toddler sizes he's been growing out of, but I think that will work in his favor as he continues to sprout up, considering he has such a long torso.

My recommendation is to take the Sizing Chart at its word, but don't be scared to size up if you want to get more seasons of wear out of these adorable clothes!

The Clothing: The Look, the Feel, the Wear and Tear

My first impression of the stripe and polo jersey shirts was "Oh! Sooo soft." I kept reaching out to rub Mikko's tummy and hug Alrik tight as they were wearing their shirts!

The material felt substantial and comfortable, just the way quality children's clothes should feel.

I haven't had much chance to do a lot of wash and wear on the new clothes, but I do have some Tea baby shirts and rompers that I bought for Alrik when he was born. Despite needing to be washed frequently, as baby clothes always are, they've held up magnificently to machine washing and drying and are clearly in good shape to be handed down.

I even love the little red "Tea" tags on the back of each item.

The only problem I've encountered is two little holes in the front of Alrik's Diego shirt. I'm confident that we did not put them there, because I noticed them when he was wearing it for the first time and within the first hour. (We're not in the habit of pinning medals to our baby's chest…) I've just contacted the Tea representative about it to make sure it's not a quality-control thing and will update this post as I find out more.

Holiday Looks for Stylish Kids

I'll leave you with some more photos of our kids wearing their new duds to trim the tree and enjoy our cookie decorating party.





If only he knew how many people want to do just that to his own cheeks!





 

BUY IT!

You can purchase Tea Collection baby, children's, and women's clothing online at TeaCollection.com or locally using the Store Locator. There are several children's boutiques near me that carry the line, so you can drool over the selection in person. This also means you can "shop local" for the holidays.

Tea frequently offers sales, so stay in touch (the Bonus Entries below will tell you how). You can get 10% off your first order simply by signing up for the newsletter.

TeaCollection.com currently ships only to the United States. However, you can find local stores in several international areas.

Today and tomorrow, you can receive 3-day shipping for the price of ground (FREE on orders over $150, $7 on everything else). Use code 3DAYYAY. Hurry with those holiday orders — ends 12/19 at 11:59pm PT!

Some of my favorites among Tea's current collection:

• Pinata Stripe Dress — love the vibrant colors!
• Ticking Stripe Pant — could this be any cooler for boys?
• Art To Go Deluxe Set — a perfect gift for your little artist
• Little Citizens Pajamas for Christmas Eve snuggles and Christmas morning lounging

If it's too late for you to give the gift of Tea Collection by Christmas, consider a Tea Collection e-Gift Certificate — much appreciated by any parent!

 

WIN IT!

For your own chance to win a $100 gift certificate to Tea Collection, enter by leaving a comment and using our Rafflecopter system below.

Contest is open to United States addresses only.

MANDATORY ENTRY: Visit Tea Collection's website and tell us one item you would pick if you win! You must enter your name and email address in the Rafflecopter entry system for your entry to count, after leaving a comment on the blog post.

Leave a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Email addresses in Rafflecopter are not made publicly visible. Please leave the same valid email address in your mandatory comment so we can verify entries. If on Blogger, you can enter it like this to foil spambots: mail {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com

This is a joint giveaway with Hobo Mama and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we'll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy both sites!

BONUS ENTRIES:
See the Rafflecopter entry system for bonus entries to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry. All bonus entries are entered directly into Rafflecopter. Give it a try, and email or leave a comment if you have any questions!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest closes January 18, 2012, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time.

 

Disclosure: I received the products specified for review.
Some Tea Collection links are affiliate links.
I try to seek out only products I think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If I don't like a product, I won't be recommending it to you.
See my full disclosure policy here.