I have read I should bring my daughter's whole wardrobe for a year as clothes in Italy are expensive. Should I also be bringing toys, books and activities? Anything else I am forgetting?
Thanks

I really wouldn't bring her whole wardrobe! Zara and Pre-Natal are in the big cities and very reasonably priced - my daughter's summer t's from Zara were €3.90 each and pretty party frocks average about €22 from there. She is 4. I would bring a decent winter coat, and the bits you really like. What you need will also depend on where you will be based, Tuscany up to the mountains is colder in winter than say Rome and further south. I guess Seattle gets really cold in winter, I doubt even the alps goes much below -10C, so use that to decide. Good shoes are expensive but cheaper ones can be found in supermarkets and markets. I tend to get a mix - anything for walking distances or school I buy a decent pair, but for the beach or garden anything goes!

Toys will again depend on where you are. They are more expensive here though even than the UK. Supermarkets sell some but they aren't brilliant for toys like brio and lego. But you will be surprised at what you get away with. Most of my daughters toys were in store the first year we were here. We bought lots of books and jigsaws. HTH

I was exactly in the same boat as you 1 year ago- we were in Italy from June- Jan (so 3 seasons!), and my son lived in Sicily and Trieste! We brought enough w/ 2 suitcases each. Bring clothes for all seasons, but think about what costs the most to replace: winter jackets, heavy pants, etc... Don't bring 40 pairs of socks, extra shoes, etc.. It is unpredicitable what size shoes your daughter will be wearing, but it really paid off for us to bring the most expensive stuff from the US. Bring books in English! I brought about 10 for my, ended up buying about 10 extras (at hefty import prices) but we also bought some Italian comics as my son learned the language. Bring children's cold medicine you are comfortable with (Advil, etc...). Toys: we ended up buying quite a few toys.. but ended up leaving them ALL in Rome since we knew we were returning. Bring some toys, expect to buy more at HIGH prices! This approach worked well for us, but the MOST expensive kids stuff are quality toys, shoes, and clothing. All the best, we will start the struggle of "what to bring" next week! This time we will pack more for an indefinite stay, but remember the cardinal law of packing: am I paying more to bring this than I would to replace it?

I absolutely agree about the children's medicine. I always store up on children's tylenol when I am in the States. There is a lot more reliance here on suppositories and powders surreptitiously dissolved in juice both of which my children hate! I would add DVDs or cassettes in English (make sure they are compatable with your player first) to make your children feel more at home, books definitely. Oviesse is also good for inexpensive clothes here, but I buy almost everything for my kids at Target and the Gap sale rack when I go home for Christmas.

We went for a year with our 8 year old. I did bring a lot of clothes for him--the current size and the next size--jeans and shirts mostly. I was glad I did that because boys pants and shirts are considerably more than what I pay at Target for good quality. Shoes we bought there as his feet grew and grew and grew that year.

We also brought toys (legos, bionacles, etc.) and books, again glad we did. Meds--yes. Games. Portable DVD player and DVD's (you can make the player region free so that you can play both US and Italian dvds.)

When we left we recycled most of his clothes to the equivalent of Catholic Charities. We gave his books to friends who were trying to learn English. Oh--we also brought his razor scooter and helmet which he was very pleased to have. He then gave it to a friend when we left.

Jane and Ken:
So funny... I could just literally sign my name at the bottom of your post and it wouldn't even be plagiarism! Down to leaving the clothes my son grew out of with the local charities.

jenna, can you add a live link to your blog address in your signature? I'm going to go it myself but others may want to just be able to hit the link. Yep--I bet a lot of us could write the same stories!

did it work (the live blog address?) i added http in front... boy am i computer illiterate! I promise to go blog crazy soon... photos, links, i have so much work to do on it!