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5 Smart Ways to Deal With the Clothes Your Baby Has Outgrown
5 Smart Ways to Deal With the Clothes Your Baby Has Outgrown

5 Smart Ways to Deal With the Clothes Your Baby Has Outgrown

Sell, recycle, save, or just keep for the future—here’s every way to handle baby clothes your little one has outgrown.

author-Latifah Miles
By Latifah Miles
Updated On
Updated On
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In This Article

👶 Hand Them Down 
📦 Donate Them
💰 Sell Them for Money
Resale Shops
Online Marketplaces
Garage Sale
♻️ Recycle Them
Recycling Programs
City Run Recycling Bins
Brand Run Textile Recycling Programs
💖 Keep the Ones You Love

By your baby’s first birthday, it’s likely that they’ll have built up an impressive wardrobe. From seasonal picks like tiny swimsuits to everyday wear like onesies and PJs, their clothes may also have a tendency to pile up quickly. But unlike buying clothes for yourself, your baby will grow out of their threads much faster, and before you know it, you’ll have a retired wardrobe of clothes they’ve outgrown. 

The good news is that you don’t have to let the clothes just linger, taking up space in your closet (that you may need for new clothes that fit!). Below, we’ve outlined the different ways you can handle the extra, outgrown baby clothes you have lying around your house. As a mom of two, including a teenager who grows a foot every year, I’ve rounded up and rehomed tons of kids' clothes, so I’ve tested out many of these tips firsthand.

👶 Hand Them Down 

For clothes in wearable condition, giving them to other children in your life can be a quick, pretty low-lift way to deal with the outgrown clothes piling up. Here are two ways to approach it. 

  • Hand them down to people you know: Once your child has outgrown their wardrobe, package them up and ship them off to the family or friend in your life that has a child who fits that size. As long as they are ok with being on the receiving end, you’ll have a happy recipient of your child’s clothes (which is truly a win-win for you both). 

  • Hand them down to people you don’t know: If you don’t have any children in your family to receive your hand-me-downs, you can use Facebook groups (like your local Buy-Nothing group) or other online communities to let folks know you have free baby clothes. From my experience, used baby clothes are very well received and go pretty quickly.

📦 Donate Them

Another easy and accessible way to get rid of outgrown clothes is by donating them. Unlike recycling, when you donate clothes, you should make sure you’re handing over clothes that are in fairly good and wearable condition, stain-free and pre-washed. Places like Goodwill and the Salvation Army are national chains that’ll take your donated clothes. But there are tons of local organizations and thrift stores that could benefit from your clothing donations, too. We encourage you to do a quick search for local non-profits, shelters and organizations that are open to receiving.

💰 Sell Them for Money

Since babies grow a size every few months, it’s not unheard of to have clothes that are in close to pristine condition, or even brand-new with tags. You can round up your best baby clothes and sell them for just a few dollars less than you paid. Here’s another tip: If you have a bunch of the same kind of clothing item (let’s say

onesies or a ton of pajamas in the same size), you can create bundles and sell them for a single price. That way, you can move more clothes even faster. Here are some other ways to sell your outgrown baby clothes:

Resale Shops

Stores like Plato’s Closet, Once Upon a Child and Kid to Kid allow you to bring in gently used baby clothes and after a quick assessment, they’ll offer you a single price to buy your items. These are national resale stores, but there may be smaller, local stores in your area that offer the same service. 

Online Marketplaces

There are several thriving online marketplaces that are perfect for selling outgrown baby clothes. They require some time upfront (for photographing and shipping) but you can set your own price and decide how you want to deliver them to your customer. Here are some marketplaces to help you get started.

  • Facebook Marketplace and Facebook Groups: If you want to skip the hassle of shipping, Facebook Marketplace is a good option for local selling. Typically, the person buying your items will come and pick them up. You can also join Facebook groups and forums dedicated to buying specific, gently used baby clothes (I’m in one where people are reselling monogrammed items with my daughter’s initial).

  • eBay, Mercari and Poshmark: These platforms require more effort but your items will be seen by a larger audience (which equals a higher likelihood of sales). Keep in mind that these sites do take a cut of your profit in exchange for handling the logistics.

  • ThreadUp: This unique platform will take your baby clothes and do all of the heavy lifting for you. They’ll

    photograph and upload all of your items and as they sell, you’ll earn cash or credit. It’s similar to a resale shop but online. There are fees associated but you still earn a profit (plus get rid of the extra clothes hanging around).  

Garage Sale

You can take an old-school approach and set up a garage sale in your front yard. Some neighborhoods have specific times of the year when everyone can participate in a large-scale yard sale, which is convenient for you because you’ll have more foot traffic. Otherwise, you can hold your own yard sale and hang a few fliers ahead of the event.

♻️ Recycle Them

Do yourself and the planet a favor by recycling your child’s old clothes. And if the thought of recycling feels time-consuming or confusing, we can assure you that these days, it’s a lot more straightforward. Here are some places that’ll happily take your outgrown baby clothes off your hands and recycle them for good. 

Recycling Programs

For a few bucks, you can go through a recycling service that’ll send you a pre-paid mailer for you to pack up with

clothes—and they’ll do the rest. The prices for these services and their capacity ranges, with some starting as low as $30. 

  • TerraCycle: Currently, TerraCycle only offers a paid recycling option for baby clothes through their Fabrics and Clothing Zero Waste Box. Once you purchase the box, fill it with your baby's clothing items (make sure to read the restrictions) and ship it back to TerraCycle using the prepaid label. From there, they’ll do everything else. 

  • Retold: You can choose from a variety of prepaid mailers, depending on how many clothing items you want to

    send back. They’ll take your outgrown baby’s clothes as well as household textiles like blankets and sheets. Retold does ask that you wash and dry your items before shipping. Check out their FAQ page for more information about what they’ll accept. Note: Retold has suspended shipping orders until early February. Check their FAQ page for updates.

City Run Recycling Bins

If you’re looking for a free option, most cities have large drop boxes where you can simply drop off your bags of outgrown baby clothes. To find one near you, check out your city’s municipal page and put in your zip code. Most bins will accept clothing and general household textiles but each one will have it’s own rules so make sure you check before your drop-off.

Brand Run Textile Recycling Programs

A few brands offer textile recycling services within their store (and most of the time, the clothes you’re recycling can be from anywhere). And even better, it’s free! Here are a few we know of:

  • H&M: They’ll accept any brand of clothing and the condition doesn’t matter. The bins are in the store so you do have to go in person for your drop off. 

  • Nike: Drop off Nike shoes and apparel at any participating store and they’ll handle the recycling process for you. 

  • Tentree: Send in your used (but must be clean) items and the brand will either recycle them or find another use

    for them.

💖 Keep the Ones You Love

We know how emotional it can be to get rid of your baby’s first birthday outfit, first Halloween costume or the tiny sweater with their name embroidered on it. For the clothes that hold a deeper meaning, you can store them in a tote box and stow them away. 

And if you plan on expanding your family in the future, you can hold on to your child’s outgrown clothes and in the long run, you’ll save some money on repurchasing all of the onesies and footie PJs you used in the first year. Plus, it can be sweet to see a sibling wearing the clothes you bought for your older child. Depending on how many clothes you’re hanging on to, it might make sense to grab storage containers, totes, bins or vacuum-sealed bags. As a certified lover of holding on to sentimental items (I still have a jar of sand from my teenager's first time at the beach when he was a baby), I understand this more than most. To help corral the stuff you want to keep, here are some storage solutions to consider:

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