Great ideas for putting together matching outfits for your large family to help you keep an eye on your kids in a crowd, on vacation, and during homeschooling outings.

Back when I “only” had 4 children, I started putting my kids in matching shirts whenever we went out to a public place where I needed to keep a close eye on their whereabouts (You can see my post from 2008 with all of them in matching shirts – blast from the past!). While this is a common Large Family Hack, I wanted to share a few tips with you about how I did it, what I learned from doing it, and some fresh ideas for making it work for your family!
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How I made matching outfits work for our family
When I first started using matching shirts, I had 2 boys and 2 girls. I purchased simple colored t-shirts from a local clothing store, but I did run into trouble finding the same color in all the sizes I needed – especially as the children got older.
However, with the advent of shopping online, this issue is solved!
One of my favorite t-shirts is from Bella+Canvas and you can get these in a myriad of sizes and colors on Amazon. These shirts are SUPER soft, and the tags are tear-away. I’m particularly fond of the “heathered” t-shirts.
Hanes also has shirts on Amazon in lots of colors and sizes and they are tagless!
Both of these companies have a variety of products in a variety of colors, so you can do sweatshirts, long sleeve t-shirts, tank tops, etc.
I did find that certain colors were easier to spot than others. That’s one reason I do not recommend blue as a matching color. It’s just too hard to spot a wandering 4 year old dressed in a blue shirt among a sea of denim. You need colors that really pop! So, orange was most often my color of choice. I did do red and green from time to time, but all the kids seemed to prefer the orange as well. (I recently saw a family dressed in tie-dye that definitely stood out – so there’s an idea too!)
What I learned from putting my kids in matching outfits
Choose the right color – Large families like to color code their children, but I’ve NOT found it to be a good idea to let everyone wear “their color” because it’s too much for mom to keep track of in a crowded room. It’s also not a good idea to choose prints or plaids. That works great for family photos, but terrible in a crowd. Consider what colors your eye will most likely go to in a crowd.
Buy short sleeved and long sleeved versions – For a long time I only had short sleeved matching outfits. Well, as soon as it gets chilly and you put jackets on the kiddos, you totally defeat the purpose of matching shirts! There does come a point where outside expeditions require coats, but then you might consider my next point…
Buy matching stocking caps – When the weather turns cold, consider doing matching stocking caps to keep track of everyone in their coats.
Kids really like to feel like a family – Wearing matching colors gives our kids a Team Roberts feeling. We are all on the same team and it is fun!
It’s a good idea for mom and dad to wear matching colors as well – If a child gets lost in a crowd, it helps if they can say, “Mommy and Daddy are wearing the same color.” I have to admit, I’m not one who likes to match, but I’ll take one for the team. 😉
Ideas to make matching outfits work for your family
Make accommodations as your children get older – Some children start to balk at the matchy-matchy stuff when they get a little older (13-ish). I have done a couple of different things to handle this “transition.”
- Allowed the older child to choose his or her own clothes. Result –> They almost always chose to wear something within the same color scheme.
- Allowed the child to “accessorize.” Result –> They felt like the outfit was “them,” and didn’t feel bothered at all that they were wearing a matching color.
So, the way to “accessorize” could include jewelry, hair things, a bolero jacket, or jeans or skirt that they really like. I’ve also allowed them to break away from the plain t-shirts, and choose something from their wardrobe that matches, but might have words on it or a pattern.
Don’t do it all the time – It can be fun and cute to match, but eventually, it will lose it’s luster and the kids may get tired of wearing the same shirts every time you go out. We only match when in a large crowd. I don’t do it in the grocery store or church (although, we do similar polo shirts for the boys and the little girls often match for church). A lot of this is my own personal preference because the kids have such cute clothes, I don’t want them to ONLY wear the matching items when going out. I like a lot of color, and I like to see diversity on my children. So, if you don’t think you will grow tired of it, then by all means – do it every day of the week!
More Large Family Hacks!
Jill Ricardo says
I was just looking at primary.com yesterday and a friend told me the clothes run really small. Is that your experience? How do they hold ip in the wash? Any shrinking, pilling or fading?
Amy says
The baby clothes have all been correct in size and not pilled or faded. I don’t have anything but the baby stuff, so I can’t speak to the older kid’s clothes, but I also tend to always order a size up or so. I like the shirts to last as long as they can.
Marion says
Your boys are adorable. Mercy looks like a little princes in her blue outfit. She is a cutie.
Marion
Kelly Retzer says
I’ve always liked the idea of putting my 11 living children in matching tops when we go out; but have seldom succeeded (due to finances). I do tend to take 2 pictures of each of my children though the day we go out (1 full shot pic from the front and 1 full shot pic from behind). Call me paranoid if you want, but at least that way I know I have a current picture of them, and what they’re wearing, in the event they go missing.
I also like your suggestion for Mom and Dad to wear matching tops as well. I have red hair, so we won’t be wearing red, orange, or pink though! Does primary.com have adult size clothes also?
Amy says
No, they do not – but they might take that suggestion into consideration!
Jen Torres says
We used to do the matching thing too. My blog has some old posts with that. But with 13 children it’s definitely hard to find all the same color in all the sizes! Plus like you said, the teens starting balking at the idea. I like the matching hat idea. Now we only do matching colors or coordinating colors in family pictures.
Nicole says
do you have a good place to get bulk socks? for boys and girls in black and white?
I am starting over with socks
Amy says
I keep thinking Primary will add those, but no – so far, I just buy ’em cheap at the store and we blow through them. 🙁
Heather says
I try the same thing when we go out. I have 4 girls so bright pink is usually our color of choice, and we have no shortage of choices already. I was concerned with the length of the primary.com dresses. Do they hit the knees on young girls? My girls range from 1-6.
One thing I always do when we go to big crowded places, which probably seems paranoid, but in this day and age you never know. I line them up in front of the house before we head out and take a picture of them all together -on that day dressed as they will be the whole day. Just in case we have a picture available that is not only current but exactly what they are wearing.
Lynn says
great,great tip…you should share it with those who educate about child/teen safety.
Adrianne says
Yeah, the dresses and skirts are too short. 🙁 I think the polo dresses hit on the knees though.