The gift that never gets worn is almost never the wrong piece. It's the right piece in the wrong size, handed over in the wrong month.
You're buying for a child you can't measure, from a parent you don't want to interrogate, in a size system that doesn't agree with itself. Here's how to do it without a return.
Ask for a height, not a size
One message does the whole job. How tall is she right now. A parent either knows or can get it against a doorframe in ten seconds.
Ask what size the child wears and you get an answer about a brand you aren't buying. A 3T from one label and a 3T from another are two different garments, and a European label doesn't print 3T at all. It prints 98 or 100, which is the child's height in centimeters. Height travels between brands. A size name doesn't.
The size guide lines the European numbers up against the sizes you already know, and there's a longer explanation of how brands size by height if you want the reasoning.
When you're guessing, guess up
A piece that's slightly too big waits in a drawer for two or three months and then gets worn for a year. A piece that's slightly too small is a return, or it's a thing nobody ever mentions again. The cost of the two mistakes isn't the same, so lean one way on purpose.
This matters more with European labels, because they're cut slim. If a child sits between two numbers, the larger number is the safe one.
Buy for the month it will be worn, not the month you hand it over
A winter coat given at a June birthday will be worn in December. The child in December isn't the same size as the child in June, and a coat bought in the size that fits today will be tight in the shoulders by the time it's needed. Same for a summer dress bought as a Christmas present.
So the real question isn't what size the child is. It's what size the child will be in the season the piece belongs to. Add a size and you're usually right.
Some shapes forgive a bad guess
If you would rather not gamble, pick a shape that has room built into it.
Cardigans and front button knits. Sleeves that are long roll back, and a knit that opens at the front never has to fit over a head. Ours are on the cardigan shelf, and the single piece that has sold more than any other in this shop is a button front knit cardigan.
Sweatshirts and long sleeve tops. Roomy by design. A size too big reads as a size too big for about a month, and then it reads correct.
Elastic waist bottoms. Joggers, harem cuts, pull on pants. No fixed waistband to be wrong about.
Hats, socks and tights. Small, useful, constantly lost, and the size range on them is wide. The hats and scarves shelf is the low risk end of a gift list.
The shapes that don't forgive: fitted dresses with a waist seam, anything with a buttoned waistband, and shoes.
Shoes are the one thing not to guess
Feet are measured, not estimated, and a shoe that's one number off is a shoe that never leaves the box. If you want to give shoes, ask the parent for the foot length in centimeters rather than a size, and read the European to US shoe conversion before you order. It's fifteen minutes that saves a return.
Two shelves that cover most gift buying
For a first birthday, a baby shower or a new arrival, the baby range up to 24 months is where to start, and the sizes there are shallow enough that you're choosing a piece rather than sorting a catalog. For ages two to four, the toddler shelf is the same idea one stage on.
If the size is wrong anyway
You've 30 days from delivery to send a piece back, unworn and with its tags. Shipping inside the United States is free, and orders placed before 2 pm Eastern on a business day are packed the same day in Brooklyn.
One practical note on swaps. The quickest route is to return the piece and place a new order for the size you want, rather than waiting for an exchange, because the size you want can go while the first piece is still in transit back to us.
Why we say that about the size going
This shop isn't restocked in the usual way. The stock came in as one European buy, and most sizes are here in one or two pieces. That's not a sales line, it's the reason we never link a specific item in an email and never put a timer on a page. What the size selector shows is what's on the shelf.
If you're between two sizes and want to be certain, send us the child's height and the piece you're looking at, and we'll measure the actual garment and tell you what we find.