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OT- Story and Shopping Tip: Bathing Suits



 
 
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Old January 20th 05, 05:06 PM
Kathy N-V
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Default OT- Story and Shopping Tip: Bathing Suits

This is half story, half shopping tip:

For those of us in the US and Canada, the shivery time in January
really doesn't get us thinking about bathing suits. But June will be
here before you know it, and if you have a teen, that means new and
expensive bathing suit time.

Manda is a special challenge: she likes to look fashionable, but
feels very uncomfortable in anything sheer or too revealing. That
means that cheap bathing suits from places like Target or Old Navy
are out. She doesn't want a one piece bathing suit either, since
those are only for the "jockettes" on the swim team.

We've found a nice compromise in tankinis, a tank top sort of thing
with a bikini bottom. Both Target and Old Navy carry these sorts of
suits, but the fabric is thin and leaves nothing to the imagination.
(All those years of my running fabric between my fingers like an old
lady and commenting "This'll never wear." have paid off. She's as
bad as I am!) I especially like tankinis because Manda sunburns
within seconds of exposure, and I don't want all those years of
putting sunblock on her by the gallon to have been for nothing.

Last year, Manda lost a ton of weight, and her prior years bathing
suits were falling off her. Of course, she let me know about this
the week before her class outing, and double of course, there's no
way she's going bathing suit shopping with Bob. "Here's a nice
burkha for you, hon!"

After much discussion and hair pulling, the two of them made me aware
of the problem, and I decided to throw money at it. I bought her two
tankinis at the extortionate price of $68 apiece, plus 3 day
shipping. Despite my horror at having spent so much money, the suits
arrived the night before the big class outing, and Manda looked
terrific. She also reported that her tankinis covered enough that
she could run and play games (shuffleboard? - I have a 90 year old
living with me, and never even knew it) without anything "bouncing
out."

BTW, at least in this section of the world, _no one_ wears a tee
shirt with a bikini, the solution when I was a girl. Many girls wear
tankinis and the rest wear bikinis. A few girls tried to get away
with wearing thong bikinis at the outing (at age 14? What parent
would buy their 14 year old a thong bikini? They can't all have
bought the things on the sly and snuck them out of the house)

This year, I was prepared: Land's End clears out their bathing suits
in January. I bought Manda three bathing suits for less than the
price of one of last years. If you our your teenager will need a
bathing suit, check out the overstock area on the Land's End web
site. They have a huge selection in the smaller sizes, and a
reasonable selection in lager sizes.

I highly recommend their suits. Almost all of them are fully lined,
and non have that "get wet and show everything" look. They are
durable, and if Amanda hadn't had such body changes this year, I
wouldn't be buying more swimsuits. My own Land's End bathing suits
(a lot bigger than a size six) are a good ten years old, and are as
good as new. But I only buy classic styles in navy or black, so
those puppies are going to be as unstylish twenty years from now as
they are today. The tankinis are stylish enough that other girls
asked where she got them, and later on in the summer we saw several
classmates who had gone to Sears to buy similar swimsuits. (Sears
carries Land's End merchandise)

You'll have to be quick on these, though: the bathing suits in
anything but the tiniest sizes go quickly, leaving only $68 swimsuits
that make Mama cry. The overstock tab is where you need to be -
Land's End doesn't make it obvious, probably because they would love
to sell you a $68 swimsuit.

BTW, I always buy Manda's winter jacket for the year in May or June,
as soon as Land's End starts clearing them out. Like the bathing
suits, they're less than half the cost of coats bought during "high
season." It didn't work out so well this year: Manda lost a ton of
weight, and the women's large coat I bought looks like a sleeping
bag. She was a 12 last year, and is a 6 these days, and I buy winter
coats on the big side for layering.

But even my faux pas had a good side: Manda's school has had furnace
problems, and the school is unbearably cold at times. Manda's
"sleeping bag" covers her up and keeps her very warm. The kids at
her school all wear those puffy down coats, so style isn't a problem
- these coats are the same as when I was a kid. They seem to have a
better fabric, though: I don't see anyone with masking tape over a
hole in the ripstop nylon to keep the feathers from flyiing out.

Kathy N-V

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