SHOES, SHOES, SHOES

The boys' feet have grown by leaps and bounds and I am left with NO SHOES!!!
Does anyone have any recommendations for shoe brands? I'm thinking 20.00 for a pair of children's shoes is a little ridiculous. . . am I dreaming that there are quality shoes out there that are NOT the price of MY shoes??
THANKS!!

 

I never spend more than $20/pair either. In the past, I've gotten their shoes at Payless, (the buy one pair, get one half off sale is perfect for twins!), Target and Kohls. I typically get them one pair of athletic shoes, one pair of casual shoes and DD also gets a pair of "sparkle" ballet-flat style shoes from Target.

 

I try to stick to the shoes that the kids seem most comfortable in and those are the Stride Rite's and Sketchers (or the like Wide shoe). I rarely pay full price for them, I find a lot of them at our local twins group sale. Or even at the Outlet stores.
Good luck!

 

We mainly buy ours at Target and Payless. I agree with not paying more than $20 for a pair. Their feet grow to darn fast!

 

I usually buy stride rite on sale or at the outlet... I don't like spending too much either, but I want my kids to enjoy running around, and for that they need to be comfortable. Plus with DD's feet issues I really don't want to buy cheap shoes... the only times I did the seams broke after 3 weeks! But I usually only get sneakers, and sandals in the Summer, and I can't remember the last time I paid full price.

 

For sandals and dress shoes, I usually buy at Target, Old Navy, or Payless. But I do tend to buy nicer tennis shoes because they are in them more. I still don't spend a lot of money because I don't pay full price, but it's probably more than $20/pair. I'm also really picky with styles and laces. I just do not like character shoes at all so I don't buy them. I also don't like shoes that light up or make any kind of noises or are covered in glitter. And right now we don't do lace up but rather Velcro straps. Because of my list, it can be really hard to find shoes at most places outside of athletic type shoes stores or those stores that carry them.

 

I shop on base, so I've been getting their shoes there. If I can't get what I want at the Exchange, I go to Target or Kohl's. I agree that spending $20 on shoes is crazy! The twins' real father (we're divorced) wanted me to buy them some light up Sketchers that they saw on TV and wanted, yeah sure at $50 a pop!!

I did manage to get some light up Spider-Man shoes for them for about $12 each at the base exchange. Go me.

 

Kohls has some nice stuff, if you can catch the good sales. The twins last pair were Vans from Kohls. Target isn't too bad, but DH doesn't seem to like the styles there as much. So after the baby sizes we stopped buying sneakers there. (I still keep my eye out for what he likes for the boys.) I've never had much success at payless for sneakers. I'm not a character shoe fan either.

My boys really only have a pair of sneakers. We usually have sandals in the summer. And I use what snow boots I have from my older boys and then usually have to add a pair in their size for winter.

 

We get their shoes at Marshall's or Ross or TJMaxx normally and hand me downs. I can usually find a good mix of shoes for $5-10.

 

We get most of their shoes either as hand-me-downs or on eBay, and I usually pay around $10-15 a pair. But if I'm buying new, I think $20 is cheap for good shoes. I've bought some at Target, but in our experience they aren't as comfortable and don't last as long. (Those pink sparkles wore off the toes in 2 wearings! <_< ) I'd rather buy used high-end shoes (the kind that retail for $50 and up) than new cheap ones.

When I do buy new, I love Merrells (for myself and for the kids) and the kids' shoes are usually around $30-35.

 

You're probably better off getting new cheap shoes than used expensive ones though... if they were worn quite a bit they take the shape of the kids' feet and it might hurt your kids feet to wear them after. That's why I haven't bought used shoes yet.

 

Yeah, I've heard that, but we got so many barely-used hand-me-downs from my nieces (my SIL has very expensive taste in kids' shoes) that it seemed silly not to use them. And most of the ones I've bought on eBay haven't been terribly beat up. At any rate, my kids never complain about their shoes hurting (unless they're too small) and they seem to walk fine -- it's not like they're getting bunions or something. But it's just a personal decision, I guess!

 

I never buy used shoes either because of the concern that they have already molded to someone else's feet. When they were younger, I'd get mostly stride-rite shoes for over $30 a pair because they fit their wide feet best and lasted a long time. I've also had great success with Skechers which I find at Famous Footwear or Kohls. Occasionally Old Navy has some good deals, especially on sandals. Target is hit or miss for me.

 

Famous Footwear - buy one get one half off!

 

I got some great Fila shoes for my boy that really looked like one of the other fancy brands... they are GREAT! I second going to a Marshalls type store. They tend to have the shoes in boxes with multiple sizes there and grouped by shoe/style. instead of the shoes being on the rack by size... anyway, I've gotten some really nice shoes there for $12-17 each.

If you are in warm weather, I really recommend getting the sandal type shoes that cover the toes. Some of the styles at Target that I'd gotten before didn't cover the toes, though I'm sure they might have that style too.

I also love getting used ones... well, ones that you can feel if they have been not worn in yet...

good luck! YES their feet grow like crazy! also, the style shoe I got is great b/c the strap to tighten them is on the back... and I could really adjust it to his smaller feet... and they will probably last him through 3 shoe sizes.. b/c of how the back strap works. He's already had them for 4 months and they aren't near being outgrown yet.

 

I don't like to pay over $20 for shoes either. I bought the last pair of shoes at Stride-rite. They had an awesome sale going on and I got both pairs of shoes for around $30. I have also purchases shoes at Target and Payless. They do wear out a little quicker, but their feet grow so quickly, they have been able to get their use out of them. I don't know where you live, but by my parents they have Shopko stores and they have a nice shoe department (name brand stuff) at very reasonable prices.

 

Thanks guys!! I ended up getting New Balances at Shoe Carnival for buy one get one 50% off. I had to pay around 24 for the full price one but thought it was worth it to get a nice sneaker to last them through winter (fingers crossed)!

Skechers were my next choice and would have bought them if they had any at shoe carnival. . .

toddler shoes. . . what a racket. . .! Someones getting rich out there!

 

I buy Stride Rites at the outlet or when the have a Buy one Get One 50% at the full price stores. It wears well and they are usually in excellent condition and I can sell the very good outgrown ones, give away the more worn pairs. Overall it comes out to about $20 a shoe after selling.

 

If anyone needs it, Stride Rite has an online coupon going: STEP25 for 25% off your purchase in addition to free shipping when you buy two pair.

I've also bought SR shoes via Amazon on sale and paid under $20. You can often get such deals on the nicer brands there or at 6pm.com if you aren't picky and have a couple of weeks to watch and wait. I tend to buy sizes up in sneakers when the super deals hit so I can mostly avoid having to buy shoes when they need them RIGHT NOW.

 

Old Navy has 30% off right now as well as Kohl's. I also ordered shoe shoes from Target and they had buy one get one half off.

 

Shoes are the one thing you never want to scrimp on.

You'll hear that time and time again.

We buy stride rites for tennies or adidas or nikes. And UGGS for boots. I know enough about "bad feet" (my own! OUCH OUCH OUCH) to know NOT to!

Seriously, your feet affect your skeleton. It's VERY important to get the right shoes especially in a growing child!!

 

I agree with the stride rites and other shoes except the Uggs...while the Uggs are cute, they are NOT good for your feet at all. Especially ankle support. If you read this article you will see that experts don't recommend Uggs.
My boys love Sketchers for shoes all year round, their sneakers are pretty good!

 

I usually buy stride rites or other good quality shoes for the girls. I do not pay more than $20 either. I usually buy theirs on clearance or at the end of the year for next year when the stores have deep discounts.