Holiday plaid for Christmas and beyond

With my family spread out around the country, my husband, kids and I often spend the holidays alone, which means I don't have the greatest excuse to buy my children fancy holiday-best clothes. So instead, I tend to look for festive cloth…

Holiday plaid for Christmas and beyond
With my family spread out around the country, my husband, kids and I often spend the holidays alone, which means I don't have the greatest excuse to buy my children fancy holiday-best clothes. So instead, I tend to look for festive clothes for the holidays that still work the other 364 days out of the year.

Take the Holiday Plaid Shirt from one of our favorite special occasion boutiques, Velvet and Tweed. The bright red accents in the plaid pattern give a definite holiday-inspired look to this boys' button-down, but the neutral brown and khaki undertones make this 100% cotton shirt stand out in a sea of bright red and green holiday outfits -- and the understated style means my son can continue to wear it throughout the year. Plus, since he's already a frequent khaki pants wearer, his holiday outfit is complete.

Sure, the Holiday Plaid Shirt costs a bit more than I'd usually spend on my son's clothes. But considering I've easily spent that on dresses for my girls that aren't as versatile (shhhhh...), I think it's only fair that he get something extra special for the holidays, too. -Kristen

Visit Velvet and Tweed for a gorgeous selection of special occasion clothes for boys and girls.

Find more great holiday kids' clothes that your kids can actually wear more than once in the 2009 Cool Mom Picks Holiday Gift Guide.

More in KidsView all picks →

shannon hale princess in black book and author

Q&A with children’s book author Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale is the bestselling author behind The Princess in Black series. It's a favorite early chapter book series for kids ages 5–8 and boys love it as much as girls do. Her newest book, Princess in Black and the Trick or Treating Trouble, comes out just in time for Halloween. We talked with her about it as part of our Q&A author series and asked about a few of her favorite things too.

Explore Build-a-Bear

Some Not-So-Spooky Fun this Halloween

How can Build-A-Bear be used for Halloween costumes? Let kids create a spooky Build-A-Bear sidekick to incorporate into their costume, which can help the costume be enjoyed beyond Halloween.

Q&A with children's author Sophie Blackall

Q&A with children's author Sophie Blackall

Cool Mom Picks readers, we are so excited to launch a new series for you. We are obsessed book lovers over here at the CMP headquarters, and we have a particular soft spot for children's books (even though we're moving our kids into coll…