Shoe Shopping is More Fun with Pastry

Shoe shopping is one of those things that we do quite often in my house. Okay, more than often. Three daughters plus me makes for a lot of shoes. There are summer shoes, flip flops, pool shoes, dressy shoes and athletic shoes. I think it goes without saying that there are multiple pairs of each kind. We’ve kind of gotten to the point where we can’t really do hand-me-downs with the girls anymore. They wear out shoes way too quickly.

At the beginning of the school year, we always buy them all new sneakers. That’s back in August (I know, we start school WAY too early). By March, those sneakers have either been long outgrown or are falling apart at the seams. Take a look… embarrassing, isn’t it?

 

What can I say, my tween is a little bohemian and likes mixed matched things. I think it’s beyond time to get her a new pair of sneakers.

We normally would head over to the mall… or Walmart… or Payless… or Kohls for shoes. I have to admit, though, that this year’s styles have been less than stellar. I don’t normally shop online for shoes since shoes fit differently from each manufacturer, but I’m kind of tired of dragging everyone out shopping. Shoe shopping for myself if fun. Shoe shopping for my daughters… not so fun.

Apparently an online shoes store, LovePastry.com, is all the rage. I sat down at the computer with my kids to see if they had any styles that would work for us. Check out my Google+ Album to see my entire shopping experience. It’s fun… go look at it.

Right away the girls were excited. I got a lot of “that’s cool” and “awesome stuff”. That’s good, right?

These are some of the styles that caught their eye.

I have to admit, they are pretty cool and funky shoes. I might even wear some of them myself. After checking out ALL the shoes on the website, the girls picked out these.

 

I thought these were good choices: they both had a little extra style to them, but they were shoes they could wear to school every day. I was expecting the prices to be out of reach, but they were very comparable to the ones in the stores and the styles were just so much more interesting. They also have a sale section that was fabulous. The kids are getting to be that age where they really don’t want to wear the same things that everyone else has. According to them, it’s cray-cray. (Y’all know that means “crazy”, right? Neither did I.) Once the shoes arrive and we make sure the sizes are right, I’m thinking of trying these ones out -

What do you think? I love the quilted look on the sides. Anybody remember the Reebok high tops we all used to wear? Oh come on… some of you had to grow up in the 80’s with me. I just happen to think these are really stylish and would probably be super comfortable. I’d totally wear them. Amanda loved them too.

The kids were really excited to get the shipment and when we got back from having breakfast out and saw a big box on the porch, they literally RAN to open it.

I think the screaming said it all - they just LOVED them! Of course, being all cute and stylish isn’t the only reason to buy them. Being the pessimist that I am, I looked them over very carefully. They are actually incredibly well made. They are sturdy and sewn well. Amanda mentioned that the back heel of the shoe was really cushioned well and very comfortable. Temera didn’t love her shoe laces, she said they felt like plastic and probably wouldn’t stay tied very well, but she loved the color and said they were really comfortable as well. Amanda’s black sneakers had traditional laces and she really liked the pink & black ties.

There is no way we could have gotten such cool shoes in the local stores around us. Maybe it’s because we live in Suburbia USA. Online shopping really does give us so many more options. The shoes were cool, they fit perfectly and my kids are happy. What more could I want?

If you are interested in finding out a little more about Pastry shoes, follow them on Twitter and Facebook. Can’t wait to see what styles they think of next.

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias® #CBias #SocialFabric”All opinions are my own.