Some good boys' dressy clothes at Janie and Jack...

Getting boys dressed up can be a bit tricky, and not only because they don't want to wear nice clothes!  I think that the hardest thing is actually finding clothes that look good.  Case in point: while Nordstrom has done a pretty good job lately overhauling what used to be a really sorry collection of kids' clothes, they have not really done the same for their boys' dressy selections.  I took my son in last spring to find something to wear in a formal piano recital and found nothing but awful polyester dress pants and ugly things to accompany the aforementioned pants.  The suits were also ill-fitting and strange looking.  Because we were in a pinch for time, I had to buy something, and it was pretty bad.  I refer to that particular ensemble as my son's "mortician" clothes.

So, I have found that for church clothes and holiday dress clothes, Janie and Jack usually has something great for boys.  Above, I picked a few things from their sale that are both good deals and great looking.  I must say that my favorite of the bunch is the wool plaid pants on the second row.  They have been marked down from $59 to $18.99 and they are WONDERFUL... one of my boys has a pair of these and I can't say enough good about them.  They are lined in nylon (not at all scratchy), and they resist wrinkling very well.  They do make a bit of a statement, but I think that it is a good one!  I also wanted to include a duffle coat.  Over they years we have owned a few Janie and Jack wool duffle coats and they have always held up beautifully.  This red one is so cheery, and is perfect for boys and girls.  It is still a bit pricey at $79.99, but has been marked down a ways from the original $119.  With items like this, I think that it is occasionally worth paying a bit more, particularly if your child has little siblings to hand it down to.  This gender neutral coat would get all kinds of mileage over the life of a family.  Here are the details and links for the items above:

port wine tattersall plaid shirt $36 $14.99

pine green plaid shirt $36 $14.99

wool plaid pants $59 $18.99

Melton duffle coat $119 $79.99

Janie and Jack carries kids' clothes in sizes 0-3 months to 12 years, though sizes 7-12 years are only available online.  I thought I would mention this in case you were not aware that they have clothes for big kids too.