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!
Okay.. OMG! I had no idea they had boys clothes, OR WOMEN’S!! (I don’t know why I never bothered to check because I always love Mazzy and Harlow’s outfits. They have soooo much nice stuff it’s hard to choose. I’m a big fan of the boys plain tees. They have some great colours. Also, the women’s flats, because Moms deserve a back-to-school shopping spree too, right?!
The cute animal jacket!
http://m.bodenusa.com/en-us/baby-new-in/sweaters/y0079-red/baby-jam-red-fun-animal-knitted-jacket
The rainbow hightops!
Definitely the rainbow dress for my daughter who is also starting kindergarten this year. And my daughter (and I !!!) would LOVE that umbrella !
The dress with the mama horse and baby horse, she is obsessed with those!
I love the stripy t shirt. Simple yet perfect for my little boy.
OMG… Mazzy looks so mature and polished. She is definitely as cool and confident as a model. I love everything she wore for my oldest, except he is a boy so I now need to look for boy stuff. And Little Harlow looks very cute in all her outfits and her Harlow-poses and Harlow smiles are as Harlow as they can be. And I do like all her outfits for my younger one…. who is 3 right now and she is a tiny little girl. For my first-born (boy) I really like the Hotchpotch Oxford Shirt along with the Skinny Jeans. For my younger, I’d really pick the striped rainbow sweater dress with pink skirt with fox pockets.
The animal overall dresses are too cute for words!!
Love the jersey ballerina dress!!
It’s actually hard to pick just one, but the “Fun Padded Jacket” with blue stars is adorable! I would love to dress my little guy from head to toe in these clothes and take a photo shoot!
Short Adventure Overalls in Honeysuckle Pink! My DD loves it!
Can I say I love it all?? I am dying over the rainbow colored collared jersey dress. As soon as I saw that I imagined the cutest school pictures ever.
my name is also Stephanie and I literally had the EXACT same thought on school pics. Maybe its in the name?? lol
My daughter would love those jersey ballerina dresses!
Anxious for boy outfits for my almost 8 and four year olds?
I am OBSESSED with the printed wellies! We LOVE Boden everything!!
The whole collection is so much fun! But my adventurous daughter would just LOVE the Underwater Explorers pattern…swimsuit, dress, tee!
Absolutely love the rainbow waterproof jacket !
I could browse their site for far too long. So many great choices. I love the leather Mary Janes Harlow is wearing. My daughter would go crazy for the purple Chelsea boots and the warrior knee sweatpants would be perfect for my son!
My 10 year old twins are also firmly in the “anything that mom picks out, is unwearable” group. But after showing them these clothes they both loved the skinny overalls and the denim jacket.. and I loved for them their basics for leggings and shirts.
My daughter would love the rainbow Hi-tops.
My son is starting kindergarten as well! He would love the glow in the dark dinosaur shirts!
I am a subscriber and I love the animal overall dress for my daughter!
You want to only tell you about *one* thing my kid needs?! LOL Okay. If I can only share one, it would be the Sequin Applique Dress with the dragonfly applique. So awesome!
ALL of the overalls with the glitter high tops! Too cute!
My daughter could not live without the rainbow and clouds summer tunic if she knew it existed!! She has never had a favorite color because she loves them all too much! Rainbow Daah is her total spirit character!
Love the Woodlands Friends dress with hedgehogs!
My 4yr old would look super cute in the pink shorts overalls.
I have almost 3 boys (#3 is due in 2 weeks) 3 and under so I love all the animals, bugs, and dinosaurs that are available for their age group!!!
My 7 yr old needs a new pair of boots for the fall/winter, so the brown boots that Mazzy is wearing would be my choice!
I remember being like Mazzy when I was 12 transitioning to mature (read: boyish) clothing. It’s a weird phase for everyone.
I would die to have my daughter in the Summer Birds Romper. And myself in the Phoebe Jersey Dress in snapdragon!
You three ladies look amazing!. I don’t even know how I could pick just one. The clothes are amazing and exactly my daughters style. She would love the woodland dress with the horses on it. And I love the high top sneakers.
The horse dress for my middle girl.
The Rainbow high tops and striped long sleeve shirt for my eldest.
The laundered button up for my little guy.
Our girls are all rainbows all the time this year. My youngest especially wants the rainbow dress with the blue collar and my oldest loves Mazzy’s short overalls.
My daughter is into dresses now. So, my must have (for her) is a cute dress that is practical both for fall and a few warmer days we are bound to have in Sept.
I would have to say the navy dress with the rainbow that Mazzy is wearing, I know my 6 year old would love it!
So cute! Mazzy is really looking grown up these days. I have two boys aged 6.5 and 4. The youngest just started preschool today. What we could use are new things for him so it’s not all hand-me-downs all year….rain jackets for both….and everything dino in their catalog for my oldest (someday paleontologist). And how cute are the boys pants with reinforced knees?! Oh, and courduroy!
My son had a tree frog shirt he wore constantly last year that he got too big for, but that frog sitting on the pile of books shirt would replace that easily. 😀 My daughter would want any and all of the dresses.
The rainbow knit dress!! 🌈
My little guy loves music- he would totally dig the guitar and drum shirts! I myself love the striped boys tees- would match everything! I love the fit of their tees on my skinny guy :).
Love the striped rainbow sweater dress! But there is just so much I love- as always!
I have received the Boden catalogs for years. LOVE their style! My kiddo that can recite airplane design and related facts like other kids rattle off sports facts totally needs the airplane pj’s. Oh, and they glow-in-the-dark?!?! Yes, please!
My daughter would LOVE the Woodlands Friends Dress with the ducks. She loves waddling around the house like a duck these days.
I need all the baby boy stuff 😍😍😍😍
Aside from all of the awesome dresses my little one will definitely need a pair of Chelsea boots!
I would for sure get the cardigans, both rainbow and fair isle. So cute!
The swing dress wth the floral body and navy striped sleeves is excellent! My 2 year old would love it. Though I’d probably have to do some serious me shopping….more often than not, the kids get new clothes and mine become a bit threadbare….
Love the glow in the dark dinosaur shirts and the suede boots!
The sporty hoodies are awesome!
Rainbow knitted dress = so adorable!! My daughter would love all the colors, too.
Dinosaurs dude! I have two boys the same age as your girls (and I am devastated that he’s going to kindergarten) and they make my life a lot easier. They want soft, comfortable clothes basically. I want long lasting, adorable clothes. That’s Boden to me.
Everything is so cute! My daughter would love the fun raglan “otter” shirt and the ruffle skirt. I didn’t even dare look at the shoes yet!
I love the “Short Adventure Overalls”
For my 5 year old, hands down the animal overall dress with the kitty cat face 🐱. For my 3 year old, she would go nuts for the glitter suede boots and and the umbrella 👢☔️. Girl loves her some umbrellas, lol!
The rainbow dress with the airplane!!!
J’Adore JERSEY BALLERINA DRESS:)
So many cute things to choose from. I would have to go practical first and get my son a jacket. I love the yellow all weather jacket for boys.
The glow in the dark Dino shirts or a new jacket.
I have had my eye on the Cozy Cord Jacket for weeks… I think it’s going to be a must for my daughter! Also, the picture of Mazzy sitting in the chair made me tear up. Beautiful! 😭😍
So hard to choose!! All of it! But a definite purchase is the little fox backpack, little one is obsessed.
The pink short adventure overalls
I love that little skirt with the pockets that Harlow is wearing!! And the pic of Mazzy on her bed looking over her shoulder – that is a show stopper – she looks so grown up there!
We love the jersey swing dresses! Both my girls would absolutely adore those. And with baby #3 almost here, we love all the baby clothes, too! I’d pick something out but we are team green so I don’t know what to choose!
My daughter will be 5 on 8/28. She would LOVE LOVE LOVE the Woodland Friends dress with horses on it or the Great Outdoors shirt with the bee. She loves horses of all shapes and sizes, and has been so interested in bees, honey, and how they pollinate. What an awesome line of clothes! Not to mention, Im a single mom buried in debt and she is living in hand-me-downs from friends so it would be amazing for me to be able to buy her some brand new clothes for a change.
I love the teal sweater that Mazzy’s wearing. My favorite color! I want it for myself!
The bunny dress,rainbow hightops,and the rainbow winter jacket
Oh we hit up there fall presale back in March and stocked up, boys cannot wait to wear their first day of schoolool shirts – the big appliqué t-shirts with a frog on top of books!
I want all of it! But my daughter picked the squib appliqué car dress. I’m obsessed with baby Boden!
I think my daughter would love the heart pocket dresses!
I love the brightly colored striped shirts and raglans. My boys love boldly-colored clothes, and they would definitely have fun picking out what to wear from this collection.
The appliqué tops are so cute. My granddaughter would love them!
OMG. I love Boden so much! We need the polka dot jersey ballerina dress, the animal overall dress, the teddy hoody and all the leggings, socks, and tights 💙💙💙
Well besides all the adorable appliqué t-shirts for my girls? I can’t stop drooling over all the ankle boots for me 😍
I love the bird dress for me and the rainbow high tops for my daughter. Everything is so cute though!
The graphic raglan shirt for boys!
My little one would LOVE to wear the raglan shaggy hoodie in London grey jets. It looks super comfy.
Boys pull-on cords (especially the star and foxes) and any of the applique shirts — huge fave in our house for the boys!
I love love love the casual linen tunic in pink + turquoise (I think it’s called pewter floral vine pop). No kids to dress at the moment, but I would love to be as stylish as Harlow, Mazzy and you! 🙂
I’m in LOVE with the textured creature beetle shirt for boys!
Can I say I want it all? So many cute things I can’t decide. Love the surf suits and all the rainbows, even on the boys stuff. And I love the polkadot shirt you picked out for yourself!
My daughter fell for the flower sequin yellow hightops the second she saw them, and I love the zipper on the side with “faux laces instead of Velcro.
The animal overall dresses are to die for!! Pick me!!!
The cord duffle coat. It’s cute and preppy- I have 2 boys so no dresses, no PINK and usually not anything besides pants and a shirt. This little coat totally makes an outfit!
My daughter would flip over the bunny knit dress. She’s obsessed with bunnies!
I love the jersey ballerina dress!
My daughter would love those brown boots!
The stripey jersey dress. Without a doubt. They are both going crazy thinking I have ordered for them. So now I might have to. Though I also loooove Mazzys striped rainbow top. And both girls are dying over the gold glitter high tops. Please pick me so they aren’t too disappointed when I tell them we can’t get everything they’ve picked out (it’s a lot!).
Rainbow dress
Love the rainbow dress! I also love the fact that their pieces are so well constructed! My very picky 6 and 5 year olds loved the looks too!
My little guy would love the stripped hoddie with the fox on it
So many amazing things! Love the rainbow cardigan and the green duck fair-isle cardigan and the car applique dress.
OMG. The textured creature shirt!!! Brb dying
There is no way to pick one thing. Maybe one of everything 😉 The appliqué tees and the Raglans would get the most use in my house though!
I love the rainbow rain jacket for little boys! My son would love it. He likes rainbows just like his sister but they never make anything with rainbows for him!
I love it ALL but my eight year old adores the mouse jumper. So cute!
So many to choose from! The striped tees, shaggy hoodie, racecar oxford, fox tee, train or ice creams tees and since we are coming up on potty training some undies! My little guy is just starting preschool and we love mini boden!!
I need the smock dresses and cord dresses for my daughter. So much cute stuff! I also see so many adorable things I want for my baby due in November.
My daughter is almost 6 and is obsessed with cats and rainbows! She would love the overall dress with the cat face and the cat ballet flats!
Love the Pretty Smocked dress! Also would be interested to know what size Harlow wears there. She seems similar in size to my girl and I never know what size to get there
My daughter would love the gold sparkle high tops! Golden is her favorite color. I also love be all the bold colors and prints!
All of these outfits are so cute! 23 Edna the rainbow striped T-shirt for sure.