Ruined a Borrowed Shirt! What Do I Do?

Are they "borrowed" or did she give them to you?? Two totally different scenarios. If her child cannot wear them and she has no use for them I would not worry about it! If she expects them back after you are done I would either do a gift card or replace w/LIKE NEW, but not new...they weren't new when you got them! Go to a 2nd hand store and get something!

If she told you she wanted them back, you might ask her how she would like for them to be replaced. If she just gave them to you but you were going to give them back after your son outgrew them then I wouldn't worry about it.

I am sure they were not in new condition when you got them. Does she honestly expect them back? If I hand something down, I don't really want it back. After two life spans i would figure that would be it. If she expects them all back, then I would maybe stop taking the hand me downs. kids are way to hard on clothes to get more than two life cycles out of them.

I really think it depends on what type of shirt it was...I let someone borrow some nice clothes for pictures (2 Polo shirts and a Burberry outfit) and they were returned ruined. I was pretty upset about it. I think if they are t-shirts or inexpensive clothing, I wouldn't stress out about it, but if they are nice clothes I would probably get a gift card. That's just my take on it.

She wouldn't be expecting them all back. Just what survives. :)
With that said, she may not be expecting them all to be throw aways so just give her a heads up to the "use" factor, like, boy my 2 year old has ruined another shirt in the yard, and if she has any objections, she can just ask for them back.
I have shared plenty of clothes with relatives and what survives survives. We never share something that we treasure or would hate to not get back.
A good rule is if they are going to mess something up, give them the older clothes as play clothes and save the nicer clothes to go out in but, we all know that kids will be kids and they can find a mess anywhere! :)

I would just be honest, she is family, and just tell her that you feel guilty and see if she is upset. If you get the feeling she is, get a gift card or something, but in my opinion, it is JUST a shirt! If your SIL intimidates you, then say thanks but no thanks and get cloths elsewhere. Like I said it is JUST a shirt ... cloths that your child plays in ... they are bound to get messy! I would hope that your SIL realizes that.

I would never give someone hand me downs and expect to get them all back in the same condition. Even if she does want them back when he outgrows them, she has a little boy too and knows that many of the clothes won't survive. I'm sure that you will be buying a few new things for your son to supplement the hand-me-downs, so just give those to her when he outgrows them along with the things she gave you.

Replace them. A gift card to the store where she shops is a good idea.