Every summer, Mini Boden contacts me to see if I want to partner with them to promote their back-to-school clothing collection and each time, I’m like— YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS. Of course I do. Mini Boden is my absolute favorite line of children’s clothing. I like their adult clothing too (check out my awesome bird dress up top!!!!), but my clothes are kind of beside the point.

Picking out back-to-school clothes this year is an especially big deal because Harlow is off to kindergarten this fall. *SOB*

Her style is easy though. It’s pretty much in line with my own. We like dresses, mismatched tights, layers, lots of color and adorable accessories.

You can pretty much pick anything in the Mini Boden catalogue (as long as you skip the pants) and Harlow will be on board. She loves the little sequined details.

She loves the pops of color.

She loves the animal appliques.

She loves the thick cable knitted tights. (She even begs me to wear those to camp in 80 degree weather.)

I didn’t need to show her the catalogue to ensure she liked her clothes. I just picked everything I wanted her to wear and she loved it all.

Mazzy is much tougher. Last year, Mazzy and I really struggled trying to figure out her style. We both knew what it was NOT (no dresses, no pink, nothing babyish, nothing plain, nothing long sleeve…) We pretty much settled on jeans, t-shirts and sneakers. Although, exactly what t-shirts is a puzzle I still haven’t quite cracked. I know she prefers “cool” and “sporty” as opposed to “pretty” or “trendy.” But her definition of “cool” is very different than mine.

I have learned that Mazzy needs to pick out her own clothing or else nothing will get worn. When she and I first looked through Mini Boden’s fall collection, which is inspired by Wind in the Willows, I was a little worried. She selected one thing— a pair of striped sweatpants and an owl t-shirt. She also fell in love with a pair of rainbow hightop sneakers and a pair of gold sparkle hightops. That was it.

I told her we needed to pick out at least three outfits for the shoot but she insisted she didn’t like anything else, so I decided to select the rest of her clothing on my own and see what happened. Typically, when I look through the Mini Boden catalogue, I’m attracted to the show-stopping outfits that jump off the page— the striped rainbow sweater dress or the pink skirt with the big fox pocket, for instance. (I bought both for Harlow.)

I think that’s what Mazzy saw too when she flipped through and determined there wasn’t anything else she wanted. But Mini Boden has tons of more basic items that are lurking in the pages of their catalogue and I found myself earmarking things I normally wouldn’t have noticed— like jeans with heart patches on the knees, a pretty white button down, overall shorts, brown suede boots and a polka dot hooded sweatshirt.

When the clothes arrived, both girls tore through the packages excited to see what I had chosen. Mazzy was especially excited, holding up each item and exclaiming, “Mom! I actually LIKE this!” Thank god.

Her rainbow hightops came a few days late and I swear she stalked the mailman until they arrived.

The girls also got some back-to-school accessories like a backpack, a fox bag that converts into a rain jacket and an umbrella that they will have to fight each other for an rainy days.

I got a few items for myself too.

I tend to get really practical clothes because I know that’s wha will get the most use.

But in an uncharacteristic move, I ordered a navy bird button-down dress with a yellow ribbon sash. In truth, I ordered it because I thought it would look good in the photos.

I was right and I $%$#@ love that dress.

Not only does it give me a showstopping outfit to wear for once, it has these covert buttons on the underside of the closure (in addition to the regular buttons) so that there is no pulling or gaps around the chest. Best construction ever.

And it’s nice to look as cute as my girls. Well, almost.

For one last photo op, we recreated the inside cover of my book which (fun fact!) was a photo we had taken a few years ago from a previous back-to-school Mini Boden shoot.

I think Mazzy and Harlow are just as cute as they were back then.

And definitely just as well dressed.

GIVEAWAY: $500 Boden Gift Card

If you’d like to win a $500 Boden gift card to use on yourself or Mini Boden clothes for your kids…

1) You must be a daily or weekly subscriber to the Mommy Shorts newsletter. If you are not already a subscriber, you can subscribe here.

2) Then check out the Mini Boden site and leave a comment below telling me the one thing you or your kids must have for this school year.

Winner Update:

Congratulations to Rylie Burch! Please email allie@mommyshorts.com to claim your prize!

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All photos were taken by Christine Han.

This post was sponsored by Mini Boden, but we would be buying and loving their clothing regardless!