First pop-up at a local coffee shop, 2018.
It was the Saturday before Easter 2017. I was watching the dirt road for any sign of the UPS truck. My daughter was 3 months old, my son was 2 ½. I had a vision for our Easter. I wanted coordinating outfits, dress shoes, bowties, the whole deal. Specifically, I wanted my daughter to have white booties and an Easter bonnet.
Looking back, I can’t tell you why I was so obsessed with her having a bonnet and white booties. Literally no idea. I can tell you that I now recognize I was struggling with postpartum depression or “baby blues”. For some reason, it was really, really monumental that she have a bonnet and booties.
About 45 minutes later, the UPS man returns in a cloud of dust. He’s found the teeny tiny missing Easter bonnet package and saved Easter for a very tired, puffy faced mama.
As you can see, despite my outfit vision materializing, the photos I had imagined, did not. This is what my kids thought of the whole thing.
In fact, Google reminds me each year that not only did I not get a good picture that Easter day, I also apparently re-dressed up my infant the next day to try and get a better photo…..I have no recollection of this but Google remembers all. That photoshoot was also a fail.
We did a little better this year with the photo. :-D One of the kids had a cold, so our plans for church and family gatherings didn't happen. We were in pajamas till the afternoon when we pulled it together for an Easter tea party. It wasn't my perfectly planned Easter, but it was lovely.
In October 2018 I met photographer and social media influencer Camille Clausen (Montana Moonlight) at a Baby Expo. At the time, she had a traveling children's boutique and I fell in love with EVERYTHING. Camille is an amazing person and as I gushed over the clothes, she encouraged me to start my own business.
I couldn't shake the idea.
Lilac Lane Spring 2022
We now carry 75+ brands. We have five part-time employees. I'm a little better at taking photos, haha! We have a website (work-in-progress) and wonderful customers who shop with us for their special photos and occasions. It brings me and the wonderful ladies that keep our little shop running, so much joy.
Are there times I wonder if our little shop will make it? Yes. Retail is the hardest job I've ever had and I've dabbled in quite a few career fields. I'm still learning, and the learning curve for a business owner is steep, stressful and expensive. But seeing our clothes on children around town, being tagged in photos from across the country...it makes me think that my original mission to make just one thing a little easier for mamas- well, maybe we've accomplished that. <3
]]>eeBoo
Woman-owned and mother-run, eeBoo is a lifestyle brand that has been creating “Always Good,” beautiful, safe, and sustainable gifts, toys, and games for more than 25 years.
The Tea Party Game is my little girl's personal favorite...the one she has is the one I passed down to her. The quality of these games is truly amazing.
There's more from eeBoo in the shop, you'll have to stop in and see!
INSECT LORE
Insect Lore was founded over 50 years ago and their products allow you to witness the wonder of butterfly and ladybug metamorphosis in your very own home.
As a former first-grade teacher and now homeschool mom, I LOVE these products!
Another plus? Another award-winning brand right here! And STEM.org authenticated.
There's so much more to share, but I had to start with these favorites! <3
There was that time I got called a "sexist". A customer searching through our racks of girly tutus and dresses found our little corner designated for collared shirts and chinos and told the lovely gal working that day that the owner of the shop must be "a sexist". Her exact words.
***I should point out before I go any further in this post that I am a mom of two, a boy and a girl. But I was a boy mom first. I experienced all the frustrations of moms that come into my shop or post on social media about Target's boy section being dismal and not being able to find "cute stuff for boys". I get it. Though I must say I think Old Navy does a great job, and I did pretty well there outfitting my son on our non-existent clothing budget when he was a baby and toddler.***
Boy clothes are hard to sell.
I know you are probably thinking, "What?! No way! Moms are always saying they are desperate to find boy clothes!" That's what I thought too. But here's what I know three years into owning a childrens boutique and watching Target and other major stores: most people will not spend money on clothes for boys.
I see it all the time, I hear it all the time. Moms don't blink an eye at spending $45 on a dress for their girl, but you show them a boy's shirt for $38 and they literally recoil. The reasoning is always the same- "The boys are too rough and they grow too fast to spend money on their clothes." Does this apply to everyone? No, nothing ever does. Sure there are moms who have been buying their little boys boutique clothes since day one and never batted an eyelash. But small business owners and big stores alike can't focus their inventory buying in an area that isn't going to be profitable. When everything sells only because it was on the clearance rack, that isn't a good thing.
The rep for one of our brands told me to keep a list of the moms asking for boy clothes...because every small business owner he works with had told him they brought in boy clothes, and....crickets. The boy clothes destined for the clearance rack. Small businesses cannot survive on clearance rack sales.
So, knowing that boys clothes are hard to sell and we might completely crash and burn bringing in more, WHY did we just bring in a massive shipment and take over almost half the store for the boys?
Because I finally found a brand for boys that wasn't crazy expensive and had the quality and style worth the investment. I've been searching for three years. And I still believe that moms will invest in clothes for their boys when the brand is actually worth it.
Me & Henry is impressive. It's designed in London and has all of the classic style with modern design that photographs wonderfully and never looks embarrassing years later. The fabrics are beyond comfortable and the quality is amazing. My son will probably never wear any of his other shirts again. And I'm actually ok with that, because those shirts get rough and mishapen after just a couple of washes. Those shirts I can't pass down to family or friends' little ones. But investing a little more and pairing down his wardrobe a little (a sort of capsule wardrobe) I can actually get so much more out of what we do buy.
We're giving this a try. If you've made it this far into this blog post, you deserve to know that if this all ends up in our Semi-Annual Clearance Sale after the holidays, we'll probably go back to carrying one rack worth of boy clothes and being called "sexist". But I really, really hope you love this collection as much as I do. <3
- Bre, Owner of Lilac Lane
]]>Color has reemerged as a Fall 2021 trend, and we couldn't be happier. Neutrals are wonderful and certainly have their place, but after a steady year of family photos in tan and greige, we're ready to start adding in some color to shake things up! Don't be alarmed- we still brought in earthy tones and some great options for the "color averse".
The truth is, kids don't care about trends or Instagram grids or branding. When they see something that lights their soul on fire they show you or tell you, and I have to say, I have not once witnessed a little girl joyously grab a tan minimalist dress. (The boys tend not to care as much, though I have seen plenty of excitement over cool hats and jackets!)
Sometimes we have a really specific vision for our photos, which is great. But I would encourage you to try to let your children's personalities come through as much as possible. Years from now, you really want your kids to look back on those photos and not feel totally muted.
I think you'll find that we have brought in some beautiful options that fit a range of visions and color pallettes, but keep the whimsy and the fun. Personally, I am loving the family photos with a lot of black attire in the mix, but I love adding in a cream tulle top with black polka dots, a modern floral dress with hints of black but with lilac (a major trend for AW21) and other colors sprinkled throughout.
For boys, this looks like taking a modern slim fit black denim and pairing it with a chambray denim shirt that will make the skin tone more vibrant and look striking in an outdoor setting.
So, it's almost August. Buuuuut, we brought out all of our halloween stuff Saturday evening and here's why.
We have no clue what is going to show up and when. We don't know what we'll have at any given time this season or what will be available. Manufacturing and shipping are still fully submerged in Covid-related delays and issues. We can't order in last-minute like we did before. Mamas. I am totally a last-minute, throw-it-together person when it comes to photos and outfits for events. I am the notorious Christmas Eve shopper, except female. But not this year. Literally, if you don't plan now, it might be nearly impossible to make your vision happen, whether it is photos, event wear or gifts. So, start thinking ahead now, let us know what you need and how we can help!
Make an appointment for help styling your family photos! It's free, and I will personally help you figure it out. Bring in that shirt you really want your son to wear, or that top your daughter is insisting on. I'll do my best to make sure we have a cohesive look you won't regret in a few years. :-)
That's all for now, mamas! We so appreciate you. Thanks for making it possible for us to keep doing what we love and being a part of this community.
-Bre Staal
]]>I was really, really unsure about this. I love gifting. It's something I get excited about, but it's also a lot of effort and it can be really tough to find just the perfect thing- even if you know the person really well. And I don't know exactly who will be getting this gift...but I do know who this gift is for.
Mother's Day gifts are tough, right? You want to get mom something she'll love, but for some reason all you can think about is how she is always cleaning or cooking and running around and there has to be giftable stuff to make all of that easier. But what? You ask her and she says she already has everything she needs and maybe the family could just have a nice breakfast together. You remember the potato peeler broke, and her car charger is on the fritz....but that doesn't really feel like a gift.
Or maybe you're like me, and this Mother's Day people are asking you what you want for Mother's Day and that feels like a loaded question. What do I want? Honestly, I want to feel rested and somewhat normal and maybe open a little gift that has nothing to do with anything I have to do. But that sort of feels like a jerk thing to say. And it also feels a little impossible. It may be "Mother's Day", but for most of us that doesn't mean a day off. It means the same day-in and day-out keeping little humans alive, very likely without a lot of support because so many of us living in the Bakken are here without close family and living on a partner's unpredictable work schedule. Mother's Day is a lot to navigate for some of us. And then there's the heartbroken mamas dealing with loss on this day that's supposed to be all about celebrating motherhood. It's heavy. It's hard. There isn't a gift for that, besides staying present. There isn't anything more meaningful than that.
Is there a perfect gift for Mother's Day? Probably not. That seems like the wrong thing to say as the owner of a small shop that just released a Mother's Day gift box. But it's true. It's why putting this box together was so hard. I think though, that this year instead of trying to find things that are helpful or better versions of what I (or my mom) already have, I went with things I would love to have. I would love to have a cute t-shirt that is totally different than anything I've seen before. I would love to have the surprise items in this box (believe me, I way overthought it and I am 99% sure any other mom will love it), and I would love to have the gift card to use on whatever I want (which will honestly probably be big bows for my daughter's hair because that gives me joy, LOL) and I would love to have the freaking hat box because goodness knows I need some cute organization in my closet. This box makes me happy, and I really believe it will be totally unexpected and so much fun for the mom that gets to open one too.
(But just in case she can exchange anything out because this gift-giver at heart can't bear the idea of someone not liking their gift!) :-D
Love you mamas.
Bre
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So what do you think? is Mauve mauvelous (see what I did there?) or...not?
B
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