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Mazzy’s style has confused me lately. She’s not as interested in pretty dresses and sparkly shoes but has turned her attention to tall suede boots and… and…and… I don’t know what. I’m still trying to figure it out. We have the most stressful time picking out clothes for school in the morning. I hold up outfits from her closet and she vetoes every one. When she picks out something, it’s a mess of little girl and big girl style, that has nothing I can pinpoint as— “Ooooooh, that’s what I should shop for…”

If I were to make a general assessment, I would say Mazzy is moving away from “pretty” into the much more elusive territory of “cool.”

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“Cool” is a word I think I understood about fifteen years ago. Now, I clearly have no idea. Or at least, my daughter doesn’t think I have any idea. I’m not even sure that Mazzy knows what she is going for, but anything “babyish” is definitely OUT. Until it’s not.

Matching is another issue. Even if Mazzy has several items she likes, she thinks she can wear them all at once which is definitely not the case. I mean, she can wear anything she wants (“That’s my CHOICE,” she tells me) but I am also allowed to tell her, “Well, you should trust me. That doesn’t look good together.” I’ll usually say it once and if she doesn’t want to listen, that is up to her.

Fashion is one of those battles that is rarely worth it, in my opinion.

We’ve been working with LittleMissMatched this year and their stuff seems to be the kind of clothes that Mazzy gravitates towards. It bridges the gap between kid and cool. For instance, they sent us a jacket for the fall that went over great. It’s denim with black leather sleeves (very cool), but also has multi-color snaps running down the front (very kid.)

Just in time for the holidays, LittleMissMatched upped their “cool” a notch. They sent us a new deluxe set called “Attach-a-Patch.”

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The set includes all different patches— from smiley face emojis to cupcakes to letters of the alphabet— that you can stick on your clothes (to switch things up a bit) or iron on (for a more permanent look.)

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It comes with markers and sparkly glue so that you can hand decorate the patches to make them original. You can also do things like layer a smiley face with a floral head band or add glasses and lipstick. Very Snapchat!

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Mazzy was super excited about the set when she saw it, which is large and colorful and obviously met her new “cool” criteria.

“THIS IS COOL, MOM!” she said.

I took that as the highest compliment.

Her only issue was that Harlow was there when she opened it and immediately started crying that she wouldn’t get to join in on the fun. After a little arguing (and some threats that I would take the whole set away,) Mazzy agreed to let Harlow choose three patches for herself. Good thing we got the deluxe set.

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Harlow chose the cupcake, the camera and the hot pink smiley face emoji. (Have I mentioned that Harlow is obsessed with a stuffed emoji with heart-eyes? She sleeps with it every night and calls it Moji. I must do a whole blog post on Moji soon.)

Next, the girls picked out clothes that they wanted to decorate. Mazzy picked her LittleMissMatched jacket and sneakers, thanks to them both being used as examples on the box. She also picked a plain pink t-shirt and a shirt with her school logo. Harlow picked an old jean jacket and a black long sleeve shirt.

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Then the girls got to work, coloring their patches and sticking them on in the most ideal places.

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I tried to lead them to where I thought the patches would look best, but I was quickly rebuffed. “No, Mom. I want it HERE.”

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Alright, guys. Just like fashion battles aren’t worth it, patch placement battles seem unnecessary as well. In the end, the girls were thrilled with their clothes and had me iron on the patches they were most certain about.

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On of my favorite moments was when Harlow spilled something on her dress and started to cry. She hates getting messy. And I was like, “I know! Let’s put a patch over the stain!” and that cheered her right up. We got one of the blue denim patches and decorated it with the letter “H” and an exclamation point. I dare say, her dress is even cuter than before.

But Harlow was most excited with her cupcake smiley face shirt. She colored that cupcake herself.

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In conclusion, LittleMissMatched’s Attach-a-Patch makes for an excellent holiday gift for your not-so-little-anymore kid.

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I hope your kids like the set as much as mine!

Giveaway:

If you’d like to win the Attach-a-patch set along with a $150 LittleMissMatched gift card, please leave a comment below! Just tell me which patch your kid would fight to the death for.

Winner will be announced on November 30th. Good luck!

WINNER UPDATE:

Congratulations to Kerrin! Please contact allie@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize!

Special Offers:

From Wednesday through Sunday, All Attach-a-Patch sets are 50% off! After Sunday, you can also use the promo code MOMMYSHORTS for 25% off the entire site + free shipping. That code is good until 12/31/16.