Event Review: Hartstrings Warehouse Sale

    So I’ve been like a moth to light with sales lately, hence I couldn’t stay away from the Hartstrings Warehouse Sale at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center despite having a child in tow who had just received her 4 month shots (she was sleeping…she’s quite a trooper).  After perusing the Hartstrings website, I notice how darn expensive their clothes are originally.  I had my eye on this little strawberry dress until I saw the price tag. Take a guess how much....

If you guessed $40, you'd be right!  Who buys this stuff full price?  They can only wear it 3 months (if you're lucky). So you can see how a sale that promises 50-70% off ticket price, might appeal to me (and many other mothers). 

However, by the time I got to the sale, a mere 2 hours after the doors opened, all the real discount items from the previous season were picked clean.  The new stuff was out on the racks, but there wasn't a whole lot to choose from for infants.  In fact, it was disappointing how little there was for my baby girl.  We found a cute pair of lady bug pants, but after eyeballing the line that stretched for a mile, we decided it just wasn't worth it. 

The sale would be more of a bargain if you had older kids, as the selection was more diverse for toddlers on up.  However, even with half off, these outfits are seriously overpriced.  I'd pass along the info to a rich relative who loves to shop for your baby! 

Pulling on my Hartstrings

So occasionally I happen across something potentially very cool and this is it:  Hartstrings is have a warehouse sale with 50-70% off their spring collection at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks!  It's two days only: Monday, March, 28th from 3pm-9pm and Tuesday March 29th from 9am-9pm. This time (unlike the St. Luke's consignment sale) I am going right when this sale opens.  Some of my favorite dresses for baby come from Heartstrings, even though I feel like some of their clothes make Callie look like a young republican.  So I hope to see you there, and I'll review the event Monday night to give you a heads up if it's worth the bother. 

Philadelphia Premium Outlets: Take One

Yesterday after the MOMs group, I was packing my daughter into the car and realized “Wow, it’s a really nice sunny day!”  Does this warrant a trip to the park?  More like a trip to the parking lot of the Philadelphia Premium Outlets.  I have been dying to get to the Carter’s outlet as I am addicted to their incredibly adorable clothing.  Just look at my daughter in this adorably cute Carter’s polar bears outfit (It was so cute I bought it in two sizes so she could wear it longer):

Anyway, I drove home to get my daughter appropriately dressed for an outdoor excursion (i.e. the Old Navy bear suit) and collect my hubby for some fun in the sun.  What I didn’t count on was it getting much colder in the short hour between events.  While baby was sweating under her double fleece enclosures, I was freezing my butt off (mainly because due to breast feeding, my winter coats still don’t fit).  We headed straight from the car into Ruby Tuesdays for warmth and a lunch. 

I was surprised to see at least four strollers already parked in the foyer of the restaurant.  Obviously we weren’t the only ones with babies who knew about this secret family friendly haven.  I won’t do a full review here, but let’s just say they have a changing table in the restroom (and it was an aluminum space-aged looking changing table at that).  As I was leaving the bathroom, I discovered another mommy friend who also had the same idea about stroller walk at the outlets.  See it’s good to get out!

I had big ambitions to check out all the children’s stores, but I only managed two!  The Children’s Place disappointingly had no clothing for a baby under 6months (Why?). On a side note, I also tried visiting The Children's Place at KOP mall and the employees had rudely cut off access to the newborn section and obviously I had a newborn with me. Despite standing there looking longingly at the clothes I wanted to buy but could not get to, the employees continued to ignore me and, hence, lost my business.  That's two strikes Children's Place!  One more and you're out!

Anyway, back to the story at hand, we stopped beating around the bush and got to Carter's.  It was like heaven on earth.  No joke.  I bought $40 worth of stuff she’ll probably grow out of in two days, but it was all so cute, and I couldn’t stop.  Even my husband ended up going gaga over some footies. 

We emerged from Carter's triumphant.  I saw Heartstrings and OshKosh B’Gosh a few doors down, but I was already tired, cold, and cranky as soon as a gust of arctic wind hit me in the face.  Hence, I entitle this "Take One", because I will be back to properly review this beast.  It just might take a few installments!