7 Tips on How to Buy Gender Neutral for Your Baby

Inside: Buying gender neutral clothes, what colors to buy for a baby when you don’t know the gender.

Let’s face it, babies don’t care what you put them in. They know they’re cute. So why do we bother buying clothes specifically for boys or girls?

Yes, we like cute clothes, but how practical is a pink onesie when you’re done with it and all of your friends just had boys?

There are many reasons why you would want to buy gender neutral for your baby, and I’ll give you 7 tips on what to look for and what to avoid.

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Why buy gender neutral?

Here are just a few reasons:

• You’re saving the clothes for your next baby and you obviously don’t know if it will be a boy or girl.
• You have a girl, and you are SO TIRED of pink. Ugh. It’s everywhere.
• You like to have a mixture of different colors, patterns, and prints.
• You’re handing down your clothes to a friend or family member who has a baby of the opposite gender.
• You want to resell your clothes. Gender neutral clothes double your prospective buyers.
• You’re pregnant and waiting to find out the gender of the baby at birth.
• You have boy/girl twins, and it’s just easier buying one set of clothes.

You may have a completely different reason for buying gender neutral or no reason at all other than just because you want to. That’s perfectly fine.

For me, it was all of these except for waiting to find out at birth, (We found out Toot was a girl at 14 weeks!) and the twins thing. Obviously Toot is just one kid.

Buying gender neutral is NOT for you if:

• You care if someone misgenders your baby.
• You have a girl and REALLY LIKE PINK.
• You just really don’t want to.

So assuming you’re still on board with this and now that you’re thinking about buying gender neutral, where do you even start? Well, friend. Here are some things to consider.

1. Avoid pink, purple, and sometimes blue

For some reason, we as humans have gendered entire colors. There are a bunch of studies done on this, and they usually say something about how we did this so we could easily tell babies apart without making an embarrassing faux pas of calling a she a he or a he a she.  QUELLE HORREUR!

I have a girl so I’m drowning in pink. Most of it was gifted so I buy other colors as much as I can.

Now, I’m not going to lie, I do buy pink. Some of it is really cute! But I try to avoid pink and purple as they’re most associated with girls.

Blue is different. Yes, blue is associated with boys but there are girls clothes that are blue! For some reason, they always have to have like one little pink bow on them just in case you forgot she’s a girl.

But there are virtually no boys clothes that even have an ounce of pink on them. So you can avoid blue if you have a girl, but it’s not entirely necessary.

Conversely, if you have a boy, I’m sure you’re drowning in blue just as much as I am with pink. So pick other colors when you can just to have a nice mix of colors.

2. Try boys clothes that don’t say something like guy or man

Boys clothes tend to be more gender neutral than girls clothes. I shop in both departments when I’m out at a store and I’ve been able to find some really cute stuff for Toot in the boys’ section.

You just have to make sure it doesn’t skew too boy. Obviously, anything that says “handsome” or “mommy’s little man” wouldn’t work for a girl.

Even if you have a boy and you want more gender neutral, still shop in the boys’ section, but when picking out clothes ask yourself “would I put this on a girl, too?”

And skip over anything that has “ladykiller” or “hunk” on it. (Unless you really want it. I’m not saying you have to buy EVERYTHING gender neutral.)

3. It’s all a judgment call, and you might get it wrong

Some shirts have cute little collars on them like little Polo shirts. They tend to skew more to the boy side.

Trying to buy gender neutral is all kinds of a gray area, (when you mix pink and blue, do you get gray?) So use your best judgment.

I’ve bought something I thought was gender neutral then when it was time to give it to my BFF for her son, I was rethinking how neutral it was. I had to throw it back in the “definitely girl” pile to give to someone who had a girl.

4. Sports jerseys or team shirts are gender neutral

We’re STL Cardinals, Chicago Bears, and Chicago Blackhawks fans so we have a lot of jerseys and sports shirts. We’ve been able to pass those around to our friends with boys pretty easily.

Even if the team color is blue, (Like the stupid Cubs) it’s still gender neutral because you expect anyone to be wearing the correct team colors.

The only reason why you wouldn’t be able to give a jersey to someone else is because they don’t like that team. My BFF is a Packers fan so she did not get our Bears jerseys.

They do make pink versions of sports shirts and jerseys but I wouldn’t buy them unless they were really cute. I have too many friends with boys that are fans of the same teams to just buy the shirt for Toot.

Jerseys resell for a good price, too. So I don’t want to limit my buyers to only parents of girls.

5. Character clothes usually work for both boys and girls

Disney and Nickelodeon are really good at merchandising. Everywhere you look there’s some sort of character. Most character clothes work well as being gender neutral.

What kid doesn’t love Minions? Or Sesame Street, Mickey Mouse, or Harry Potter? Ok, maybe that last one is for Mommy.

If your kid likes the character, buy it. Elmo is for everyone!

6. Don’t assume something is for a specific gender like tractors or Doc McStuffins

You never see tractors on girls clothes. Or fire trucks! But don’t assume they aren’t for girls.

My favorite part about shopping in the boy section for Toot is finding patterns and things that are almost impossible to find in the girl section.

We’re also big fans of aliens and rocket ships. (This may be because Mommy is obsessed with The X-Files.)

Likewise, don’t assume Doc McStuffins isn’t for boys. Yes, she’s pink and purple, but she’s also a character. It might be tricky to find something with Doc McStuffins that a boy could wear comfortably. But my BFF’s son loves Doc McStuffins and Princess Sofia!

7. You can buy other baby stuff gender neutral, too!

Toys

There’s usually a gender neutral version with bright colors and then a pink version. I don’t buy the pink version. Sometimes I’ll get it as a gift and return it for the regular toy. They’re easier to sell or give away.

Baby equipment

Ok, I made the mistake of buying pink and purple everything when it came to the Pack N Play, stroller, and car seat. But I’m here to tell you to do NOT do that!

Buy something green, red, yellow, or orange so you can resell it to anyone! Or keep it for yourself for the next baby. I knew someone that had a perfectly good swing but they sold it when they found out they were having a boy just so they could get a blue one.

Literally anything baby related

Everything baby or kid related is sold for a specific gender. It’s to get us to buy more stuff!

Baby spoons, sippy cups, toothbrushes, pacifiers… They can easily be bought gender neutral, but you can also buy specifically for boys and girls.

Buying gender neutral isn’t as hard as it seems

You don’t have to buy EVERYTHING gender neutral. But it’s really nice to have some stuff you can keep for the next baby, give to a friend, or resell with a wider buying audience. It’s really all up to you and how much you want to mix in.

And your kid may wear pink shoes with a gender neutral outfit. You don’t have to be completely gender neutral.

Colors that are completely gender neutral:

• Red
• Orange
• Yellow
• Green
• Black
• Brown
• White

How does your baby dress? Do you try to avoid the pink plague like me and buy gender neutral?

Let me know in the comments below!

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