I don’t wear an apron that often in the kitchen, and neither does my daughter, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t benefit from an extra layer of mess protection. So as she starts cooking more, I am wondering what type of cooking apparel I should get for her. There are literally hundreds of types of aprons on the market to choose from. Just do a google image search for ‘kids aprons’ and browse the many options.
Using a regular apron has its advantages. A kid won’t grow out of it as quickly, and it can double up as an art smock for other messy activities. With that said, a lot of kids love to dress up, and the little chef in the family may just want to look like an actual chef. It all depends upon your kid.
I am personally not a big fan of the cutesy patterned apron and hat sets. I’m sure kids would love them, but I like it when companies make real cooking gear for kids – just smaller. After searching the web, here were a few of the chef uniforms for kids that I liked the best.
Chef Works
Similar in cost and style to Chef Works, The Chef’s Emporium has professional looking chef uniforms in small sizes. You can buy an apron, pair of checkered pants, and chef’s coat for about $55.
One of the best deals on complete kids uniforms, however, comes from KNG out of San Francisco. Pants, coat, apron and hat will cost about $31. The sizes start at 6-8 years though, so if you need smaller items you will have to look elsewhere. The Chef’s Emporium starts sizes at 3-5 years.
Chefskin
The outfit shown above is another option from The Apron Place. The coat is a bit steep in price though and sells for roughly $39. The hat will run you about $12.
For hats, I thought Growing Cooks had a nice selection with reasonable prices. Each cloth hat will cost about $9, and they even have paper collapsable hats for kids that sell for under $2.
If you are having a kids cooking party, Designer Online has a set of six colored aprons and hats that are disposable. The whole set will cost about $27, but please note that the company is out of Australia.
And lastly, I know that I said I wasn’t into cutesy chef clothes, but the Key2Life store at Etsy has some neat patterned aprons and hats for the little ones. I especially like the pink and white polka dot set that I linked to. The little chef model is quite adorable too.
And if you want your baby to look cute/ridiculous, Best in Babies has an infant chefs outfit for $28. It’s cute but a little freaky too.
Most of these sellers also offer embroidery for an added cost if you want to personalize your kid’s cooking outfit. Also, before investing in a more expensive coat, be aware that the size ranges are usually in two-year increments, and some of the coats come with rolled cuffs already. There might be a lot of cloth to roll up if the coat runs large. In other words, you won’t always have a perfectly fit coat like the girl pictured above.
