Matching Sister Christmas Outfits: How to Dress Baby to Big Sister

The easiest way to pull off matching sister Christmas outfits is to pick one dress style that comes in every size your girls need, then decide whether they wear the same print or two prints from the same family. That one choice saves you from hunting through three stores for a baby size, a toddler size and a big-kid size that almost match.

We're a small shop run by a mom, and the question we hear most in November is some version of "I have a 9-month-old and a 7-year-old, can they match?" Yes. Here's how we'd plan it.

How to plan matching sister Christmas outfits

Start with the youngest. Baby sizes are where most holiday lines run out, so if a style fits your littlest girl, it will usually fit everyone else. Then work up the ages.

Our Christmas puff sleeve dress for girls is the one we point sister sets to first. It runs from 0-3 months all the way to 13-14 years, so a newborn, a preschooler and a middle schooler can all wear the same dress. It's $60 and comes in five prints:

• Red Plaid
• Red Candy Cane
• Green Candy Cane
• Red Star
• Green Star

That mix of red and green in three patterns gives you a lot of room to play.

Three ways to match without looking like a uniform

• Exact match. Everyone in Red Plaid. Classic, and it photographs well in front of a tree. Best for two sisters close in age.
• Same print, different color. Big sister in Red Candy Cane, little sister in Green Candy Cane. It still reads as a set, but each girl gets her own.
• Same color, different print. Red Plaid, Red Candy Cane and Red Star for three girls. This is our favorite for bigger families, because nobody argues over who got "the good one."

A tip from our own house: an 11-year-old who is told to "match the baby" may dig in her heels. Let the oldest pick her print first and build the others around it. It saves a lot of pouting on picture day.

Getting the sizes right for each sister

Sizing is where matching outfits usually go wrong, because you're buying three different sizes at once and often for a date weeks away. A few things that help:

Buy for the age she'll be on Christmas

Babies grow fast. If your little one is 5 months old in early November, she'll be close to 7 months by Christmas morning. In that case, skip 3-6 months and go to 6-9 months. For toddlers and older girls, buy for their current age unless they're right at the top of a range.

Watch the jump between toddler and kid sizes

On the Christmas puff sleeve dress, sizes go 12-18 months, 18-24 months, then 3-4 years. There's no separate 2-3 years size. If your toddler is around two and a half and already snug in her 2T clothes, choose 3-4 years. A little extra room is easy to work with; a dress that's tight across the shoulders isn't.

When in doubt, size up for the big kids

Older girls in the 7-8 to 13-14 range often vary a lot by height. If your daughter is tall for her age, go by her height and the size you'd buy her in other brands, not just her birthday. You have 30 days to return a dress that's unworn with tags, so if one size is off, you can send it back and order the right one before the holidays.

Dressing sisters for the weather

A puff sleeve dress is cozy at an indoor dinner but chilly on a walk to the car in December. The simple fix is the same layering for everyone:

• Tights. White or cream tights work with every print. Red tights look sweet with the green prints.
• A cardigan. Pick one cardigan color for all the girls, like cream or a dark green, and the outfits still look coordinated with it on.
• Shoes. Mary Janes or ballet flats in black or red. For babies, soft booties or just tights with feet.

For photos, take cardigans off for the few minutes you're shooting, then bundle back up. Your three-year-old will not hold still while cold.

If your girls want sparkle instead of plaid

Some sisters would rather go to the holiday party in something shiny than something traditional. For that, our sparkly pink sequin tulle dress is $80 and comes in 12-18 months, 18-24 months, 2-3 years, 3-4 years, 4-5 years, 5-6 years, 8, 10 and 12. It has a sequin bodice, ruffled tie straps and a layered tulle skirt that is very good for twirling, and it's lined in cotton.

It's a nice pick for a New Year's Eve party or a Christmas recital where the girls want to stand out. Note it starts at 12-18 months, so for a younger baby, the Christmas puff sleeve dress is the one that covers newborn sizes.

You can also mix the two. Put the older sisters in pink sequins and the baby in Red Candy Cane, and they still look like they planned it together. Pink and red side by side is very festive in photos.

If you have a toddler in the mix, take a look at our toddler dresses collection for other options in her size.

Order early enough to try them on

The best advice we can give: order a few weeks before your photo date or family party. That gives you time to try every dress on every girl, and to return and reorder a size if needed. Three girls means three chances for a size to be off, so build in that buffer.

Shipping is free on every order, so you can order all your girls' dresses at once without worrying about extra costs.