Parenting, Travel

[Travel] Melbourne 2015 – Shopping for Kids

I have so much to share about our Melbourne trip but because I have something time-sensitive to share with you guys, I need to start with this topic first.

Before we went to Melbourne, I posted a photo on Instagram and asked for suggestions on where we can go shopping for Laurent’s clothes.

We got some awesome suggestions from Instagram and Facebook and I thought I’ll compile all these suggestions and add on with my own after our trip so you guys check out these shopping places for your mini arm candies!

1) dfo south wharf

Thank you to Gina for this one! DFO South Wharf has quite a number of children’s clothes outlets and the items there are really cheaper compared to their stores in the city, even for the same stuff! We bought a pair of Converse shoes for Laurent at $30 and the exact same one cost $60 in town.

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Remember to check out these outlets when you are there – Cotton On
Kids
, Pumpkin Patch, Bonds, Witchery (mummies can get some lovely clothes and footwear too), Quicksilver, RipCurl (daddies can get some really awesome board shorts for about half the price of that in town too), Platypus Shoes, Adidas, Converse.

Souvenirs for the little girls!!

Souvenirs for the little girls, Tong Tong and Emma!

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One of my fav buys!

If you didn’t bring along your pram you could conveniently borrow one from the mall at their
management office. It’s completely free and the process was practically fuss-free. The pram came in extremely useful when Laurent wanted to take his afternoon nap!

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2) bonds

You can find Bonds at a lot of places in Melbourne and they have some really cute rompers and tees for the kiddos! At pretty awesome prices too 🙂

3) h&m Kids, zara kids

Not ALOT cheaper there, maybe just some savings from the good exchange rate that we are currently enjoying. If you’re lucky, you may be able to find some items that you can’t find in Singapore too!

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Zara at Bourke Street is really big and has an entire mezzanine floor of kids clothes while H&M at Bourke Street is HUGE, much bigger than the flagship at Somerset! On a side note, pleaseeee check out H&M home while you are there because there are so many gorgeous and cheap home decor, I wanted to buy a luggage just to bring them all back!!

4) departmental stores

The 3 major ones which we went to at Bourke Street are Emporium Melbourne, Myer and our personal favourite, David Jones.

The children section located at the 5th floor of David Jones houses brands like Armani, Ralph
Lauren, Guess, Petite Bateau, Industrie, Witchery, SEED, just to name a few. Besides clothings, there are also toys and kids products.

 

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Laurent loved the car so much he refused to get down and even tried to climb back in after we carried him out.

Melbourne 2015

Sit in it all you want dude, it’s not coming home with us.

Their Christmas decorations and fringe events are already up when we were there so children can pop into the Santa’s shop, make appointment to meet Santa Claus, get their face painted, and receive free balloons.

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5) AUSSIE-designed brands

Mamas who love shopping online for their little ones will be very familiar with some of the Melbourne-designed children’s brands like Huxbaby.

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We stumbled upon one of their stockist, Hawkeye, when we stopped over at Apollo Bay along our Great Ocean Road drive towards Port Campbell. Most of the Huxbaby items we got there were about $38-$40 so very close to the price on Huxbaby website. But we liked that we could feel the material (which is of great quality) and better gauge the size we want to get.

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If you have been following Huxbaby’s Facebook page, you would know that just yesterday, they are stocked at David Jones too!

Check out this article for more Aussie kids brands! Many of them have online shops so if you are staying at an accommodation long enough, you could, as suggested by the ever-resourceful May, shop online and get them to deliver to your apartment!

Now this is the the time-sensitive bit of info I wanted to share. I stumbled upon the website of Swagger Child Design Market – Australia’s Biggest Independent Children’s Style Market. If you are going to be in Melbourne this weekend, I believe you will be in for such a treat! Their upcoming market is on 6 Dec (Sunday) 10am to 3pm in North Melbourne, with over 100 participating designers!!

Cool kids clothes, amazing decor for the kids’ rooms, toys, and so much more, honestly, I’m pretty bummed we couldn’t be there 🙁 So if any of you happen to be there, could you please please take some photos and leave a comment below to let me know how it went and whether it is really worth going?

BONUS – Baby Food

I guess “shopping” for baby food is also considered, well, shopping?

For those of you who love the Bellamy’s brand (we Laurent loves having their food pouch added to his cereal for the extra taste), since it is an Aussie brand, you can actually get it cheaper at the supermarkets there.

Another brand, introduced to us by 2 of my Cynthia friends (it happens that both of them who mentioned the brand to us are named Cynthia!), is Rafferty’s. It was only $1+ at Woolworths (promo price), we bought 1 flavour each for Laurent to try and it was an instant hit! I pinched some too, while feeding him, and they do taste pretty yummy! NTUC sells it here, but at $3+ per pouch so yeah, definitely worth it to stock up there.

I guess that’s all from me on shopping for kids stuff in Melbourne, do link up or leave a comment below if you have more tips to share with us!

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Let’s connect on Facebook and Instagram if you have enjoyed this post, I would love to know more about YOU too!

18 Comments

  1. Danessa Foo

    December 8, 2015 at 2:01 pm

    One thing we Singaporean like best whenever we go to Australia or any other countries, is shopping! Why pay more here when we get cheap them cheaper elsewhere (provided we go overseas to travel, yeah)… thanks for sharing your shopping experience. Laurent is very blessed to have parents who have good tastes in clothing 😛

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:11 am

      Yes! But a pity they weren’t really big on Black Friday sales in Melbourne unlike the US!

  2. Mummy Edlyn

    December 8, 2015 at 6:58 pm

    I have not been to Melbourne in quite a while, but those are great tips! Time to start planning for the next trip 🙂

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:12 am

      Yayy! Melbourne, in fact I think most parts of Aussie, is pretty great for travelling with kids 😀

  3. Waiwai

    December 8, 2015 at 8:17 pm

    Wow, nice clothes! I am opposite, I don’t do much shopping while traveling, usually spend money on food hehe.

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:14 am

      Thanks Wai Wai! Hahaha oh yes, food took up quite a big portion of our budget too 😛

  4. Cynthia Koh

    December 8, 2015 at 10:48 pm

    I like that Adidas jacket too! And I would have spent just ask much as you shopping for kids clothings. Glad you like the Rafferty’s!

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:16 am

      haha I know you would, Cynthia! Oh yes now I’m thinking of asking my brother to bring back some for me when they travel there next week 😛 Thanks for sharing such a great recommendation!

  5. May

    December 9, 2015 at 12:31 am

    Hahah tips for shopping for kids in Aussie. Certainly something a lot of Singaporean moms might need!

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:17 am

      Hahaha I was searching for something like this before I went Melbourne so yeah, I guess there will some mamas out there who might wanna know too heehee 😀

  6. Meiling Wong-Chainani

    December 9, 2015 at 9:44 am

    Awesome List!! Will share this with my friends when they visit Melbourne. I love the place – can’t wait to read about where you guys went in Melbourne.

    1. daprayerfp@gmail.com

      December 9, 2015 at 10:19 am

      Thanks Meiling! I can’t wait to blog about the trip too! But have to wait until I clear some backlogs and Christmas prep!

  7. Angie.S

    December 9, 2015 at 4:46 pm

    The last time we were in Melbourne was when Dana was only 8 months old!! Time to plan a re-visit. I love the outlet shopping in Oz, more variety!

  8. Susan

    December 10, 2015 at 12:07 am

    Love the shopping choices you get in Australia especially for summer wear! I’m going to note down the places you recommended as I’m planning to head to Melbourne for my next holiday.

  9. Julian Adrews

    January 23, 2016 at 3:14 am

    Good choice on Huxbaby, I love this brand! They make the cutest items 🙂

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